When to put baby in the swing?

Bri&Shane_3/8/08 · July 2009

First time mommy question:

When do I start putting Jackson in his swing? After the last few feedings, he's stayed awake and I feel like I need to "stimulate" him with a swing/toys or just something to look at besides me oogling him....am I getting way ahead of myself here?

pearly1 · July 2009

Right now his favorite thing to look at is your face. I remember feeling the same way you do when j was first born, like I needed to be stimulating or teaching him somehow. But he's just learning your face and the sound of your voice, and that's plenty stimulation for him right now! J is 5 weeks today, and still when I put him in his bouncy chair, more often than not he stares off into space rather than at the toys on his chair.

pearly1 · July 2009

BTW your siggy pic is too precious. What a cutie!!!

KNemo · July 2009

This is a really cool article about what a newborn can actually see. As it turns out, your face and other people's faces are their favorite thing to look at (along with strong contrasts and black and white patterns).

https://parenting.ivillage.com/newborn/0,,3q4g,00.html

ETA: Max didn'tlike his swing until he was a month old. Maybe because, like Annette said, it was too fast. Now he sleeps in it.

scarletii · July 2009

both kiddos were using the swing when we came home from the hospital! For a few days, it was nice to put them in it at dinner. They'd sleep in it and we could eat dinner!

AnnetteWalker · July 2009

We used the swing a lot from pretty early on. He loved it and it soothed him to sleep often.

At first it was too fast even on the lowest setting so we just pushed it. Once he weighed more then we used the motor.

Seattle_JiLLn · July 2009

you don't need to "stimulate" your baby. Your baby gets stimulation from being with you and interacting. The whole craze about stimulating your child came from neglected children who had no interaction, and then crazy type A moms took the stimulation so far that they wacked their kids out with overstimulation and made kids with no attention span.

You can put your kid in the swing if you want and if he likes it. Don't leave him there all day - they need to have time to support their own head and get stronger. And laying flat/against something all the time can flatten their heads too. So use it as a break or even as a bed, but in between, hold him. that's the best stimulation for him!

Bri&Shane_3/8/08 · July 2009

Thank you so much for this advice! I had only planned on putting him in the swing for 15 minutes max. but now that I know I need to be in his face - that's what I will be doing

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