Thoughts on the Rock & Play

Michellelasenburg · April 2014

My daughter doesn't sleep in her bassinet & she has slept well in her swing. Our pediatrician advised against her sleeping in her swing so we purchased a rock & play. Has anyone had experience with that or does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

fllgstr8 · April 2014

My dd slept better in the swing too. Honestly if you want/need baby to sleep do what works for you. Baby is used to motion so it makes sense. Don't stress about everything pedis say - follow your gut. You're the mama. You get to decide.

Abcollins57 · April 2014

Our LO sleeps in his rock n play every night. He will nap in his crib during the day but the rock n play stays by our bed. It's a life saver!

Michellelasenburg · April 2014

She's slept so well in it the last couple of days (the rock & play) but then I read some reviews about flat heads & how it's not safe since they're technically not flat on their back. It all makes me nervous!

fllgstr8 · April 2014

If your holding baby plenty during awake time I wouldn't stress about flat head issues.

lcr23 · April 2014

DH doesn't want her sleeping in the rock n play now that the hospital drilled "flat surface" in his brain. LO will only sleep if held right now so I hope we can use it eventually during the day.

misskristina21 · April 2014

We use the rock and play, it's the only place we get good amount of sleep time. We hold her a ton when she's awake, and our pedi isn't concerned with the "flat head", she said it would take months of non-stop sleeping in it to cause a flat head. LO is not in it 24 hrs a day. I'd say she spends more time in my arms then in it. I'm doing whatever it takes right now for both of us to sleep. And my pedi agrees with that.

MissWhis · April 2014

I ordered one off of Amazon and it was delivered yesterday. Last night was the best sleep I've had in 2 weeks. I'm a huge fan so far. Fingers crossed it keeps working its magic.

patunia7321 · April 2014

Our pedi office recommended the rock and play for sleeping for the first few weeks- I think up to 2 mo or so. Something about the angle? I'm not sure, but he does well in it and I like that I can have it right next to the bed and see him without even lifting my head,

Mrs.Kohalic17 · April 2014

We wouldn't be surviving without ours! It's the only thing besides our arms that he will sleep in.

maelic · April 2014

Our pedi told us to use ours for sleeping too. She loves it and is only in it at night, by our bed, and she still mostly sleeps in my arms during the day.

The "only flat on the back!!!" thing freaks me out too (but I'm anxious) so we're going to trust the pedi on this one.

mamahann · April 2014

My LO uses it for naps during the day along with napping in my arms. DH has been back to work and I'm alone with her all day and it's a life saver in being able to get things done and shower etc. I'm not worried about a flat head as she sleeps great in the co sleeper next to our bed at night.

nursewinnie · April 2014

Our LO loves her rock and play. She sleeps in it every night, she didn't seem to care for the bassinet very much at all. I think the angle is comforting to her. I try to hold her as much as possible in the day time and she usually will go down for a nap in her pack and play. I say do whatever you need to do to get them to sleep for the first little bit and then make a transition.

Avion22 · April 2014

Our pedi recommended he sleep on an inclined surface for a little while because he's had a lot of congestion, and the incline helps it drain. He didn't come right out and say "let baby sleep in the RNP" but he did say we wanted something "on an incline similar to the carseat, but don't use the carseat...does that make sense?" So he naps in the RNP during the day and we use the Newborn Napper attachment of the PNP at night (not as big of an incline as the RNP, but still a little incline). We actually put him in the RNP so he'll fall asleep, then transfer him to the PNP. The pedi also said we could put towels underneath the PNP mattress on one end to raise it up and create an incline.

We're not worried about a flat head from the RNP because he gets held a lot during the day and it's not like he's in it for very long in a single stretch.

cgoldie7 · April 2014

I'm a lurker but thought I'd share... I had dd in the Rnp for the first 2 weeks but the other night she must of spit up and choked on it. She made these horrible gurgling sounds and I grabbed her. Anyway I think her neck was too close to her chest and she choked a bit. I took her out of the Rnp play after that and now she's in a graco mini pack in play by our bed. It scared the crap out of me. I should add that my dd is very small- under 7 lbs which may be why her chin to chest was more than it should've been.

After that happened I looked online and there are a ton of cases of people saying the Rnp gave their child flat head because of the hard plastic holding tupright and that the babies have less head movent in the Rnp. Also some cases of neck issues. Both things were enough for me to stop using it at night. We still use it during the day here and there.

I think it can be really helpful if your child has reflux issues or just a hard time sleeping. You may just want to put some extra padding on the plastic part which I've read a lot of people do.

Andrewsgal · April 2014

Everything causes flat head. The RNP is the best baby invention ever ever ever. We only use it for nighttime sleep but he is sleeping in 3-5 hour stretches in it, totally worth every penny. We hold him during the day for naps and will make sure he gets plenty of tummy time when he is a little older. The RNP doesn't cause flat heads, parents that overuse it do.

cwm11985 · April 2014

We use it every night and did with my first LO for about 4 months, too. I have no concerns about flat head or torticollis, she could get those from her car seat or swing, too. A lot of babies can't sleep flat on their backs due to reflux, so the rnp is definitely very helpful (FTR, with my son we had to put the PnP on an incline, too, once he switched to it, but he wouldn't sleep in there the first few months).