Too Early for Infant Swing?

Don't do it!!! If he get use to sleeping in the swing which he will because its rocking him you will have a very hard time getting him back to his bed. Trust me from experience it's a bad idea!

I put my daughter(preemie) in the swing right from the start she was about 2 weeks old at the time she came home but wasn't even due for another month and half.Good head support and they should be just fine.

Hi A.,
Congrats on the new baby!! I think 2 weeks is certainly not too young to use the swing for comfort, naps, or to give you a free set of hands. But I would avoid using it at night, not only for fear of any safety issues, but also because it might be creating bad sleeping habits. If she's comfortable sleeping in it without it moving, you might be better off in a carrier or something (which my pediatrician recommended when both my babies had reflux). I once had an ECFE teacher tell our class that the constant motion prevents their little bodies from ever getting into a deep, recuperative sleep, so while she might seem comforted by it for short periods, it might not be giving her the rest she needs to grow. There's a great book I found helpful, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" (I think) by Mark Weissbluth, that helped us get over some of those "humps." Good luck... I know sleep is a blessing any way you can get it! :)

I started using the swing right away with my second child. He was really colicky......and the swing was the only way I could get him to sleep at night! I just put the swing in my bedroom....and was thankful for the few hours of sleep it allowed me :) Good luck and congrats on ur newborn!!!

We put our daughter in a swing right away. Later on, at like 5 weeks, we started putting her in it at night...and what a great thing. We turn it off once she is asleep. She sleeps really well in her swing. Once she wakes up the first time at night, then she comes into bed with us and nurses. Ours is reclined like her carseat. Also, it goes side-to-side, which might be better when they are really little. We can switch ours so that it is either side-to-side or front-to-back. My husband thinks it doesn't matter when they are really little, but I think it does. She is now 3 1/2 months old and still loves her swing. It will be a sad day when she is too big for it. As long as she is gaining weight and happy and mama is happy, then do what works best for you. Our daughter sleeps well without her swing too and once she is older, I don't think she will have issues sleeping without her swing. We know she will do fine because we have gone on overnight trips including a week long trip with her and didn't have the swing and she still fell asleep according to her usual routine. She gets plenty of cuddling and holding during the day and at night once she comes into bed with us.

It sounds like a lot of people have used the swings without incident for longer periods of time, but both my husband and I are product liability attorneys and I believe if you read the warning labels and manufacturer's instructions they are not supposed to be used without adult supervision for safety reasons. You can't check on them and supervise if the baby is in it at night while you are sleeping. There are concerns about babies slipping out or becoming entangled in the straps and choking. It doesn't happen often and maybe the newer swings are designed better to prevent it, but it has happened. I don't always follow the instructions perfectly myself, but I would double check the manufacturer's recommendations or perhaps do a little research on this issue before I left him in it all night. Another concern is that if they get used to swinging to sleep they won't be able to sleep well without the swinging once they outgrow the swing and he will have sleeping problems down the road. Congratulations on the new baby and I know how desperately you want all of you to be able to get some sleep!

I to would say not to let your little one sleep in there at night,with my son we would put him in his swing for naps, he had gotten so used to it, he would not nap any other way, it was hard enough to break him of the napping in the swing. I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but in the long run it would be easier to get accustomed to the place you want him to be sleeping rather than what's the easiest.

I'd be careful having your son sleep anywhere but a crib. If you do the swing thing, he could get used to sleeping there and when you are ready to move him to a crib full time, he may not want to sleep there at all.

I guess it depends on the temperment of the child. My oldest, is one that gets into a routine (of his choosing)very easily and once he's there, it's hard to get him out of it. His thing as a new born is he wouldn't sleep unless he was being held. Kind of our fault, he was the first grandchild on either side, we had so much company the first month, I just let people hold him. Then when company stopped coming...he would NOT sleep at all if he wasn't being held...it took us a long time to get him to sleep in a crib with out waking. But then my second is a little more go with the flow type. We used a swing for a few weeks for him, but not for overnight sleeping, we used it while we were up before we went to bed. When we went to bed, he went in the crib. It worked for us and he didn't have any issues when we stopped using the swing.

I strapped my girls in the swing right away but for entertainment and not as a tool to have them sleep longer. I didn't use it much and didn't have a pattern because I didn't want a habit of rocking to sleep to start.

We too thought it was a great contraption to help our first child sleep. Not so bright on our part. We created bad sleep habits for her and had to break them. It was not fun. If I were you, I would not let him sleep in the swing. We didn't let our second child sleep in his swing and he slept better earlier.

Infant swings are great! I'm sad that my son is growing out of his. BUT I caution you against using anything to help your baby fall asleep. Not sure what your first son was like, but it is really easy to get into a habit you don't want to continue. I've heard that babies under the age of 3 months can't be spoiled or get into a habit, but parents certainly can! It's really easy to continue something that's been working after 3-4 months when you're really tired at night. That can lead to your baby expecting to fall asleep a certain way. Even babies under 3 months can get used to something though it's easier to break a "habit". One peice of advice I've heard is to start the way you intend to go. If you are in favor of a family bed, go for it. If you want your baby to sleep in a crib, start that way. Keep the swing reserved for soothing and such. He'll sleep as long as he needs to at night otherwise.

At 2 weeks he's not going to sleep all that long anyway, and putting him in a swing isnt the best way to get him to sleep longer. I would nurse him, swaddle him, and put him in his crib or basinett and let him sleep as long as he needs to. At 2 weeks, when he wakes, he needs to nurse. He will fall into routine soon enough, but for now when he wakes he needs to nurse, and I dont' think that putitng him in a swing to urge him to sleep longer is a good idea. Swaddling him and putting him in his bed after nursing is a good routine, and will encourage healthy sleep habits.

Hi A.,

We used the swing for my daughter from about 2 weeks on and it was really the only way she would sleep, unless it was the car seat. She cried a lot - the kind of colic where nothing else is wrong (no reflux, gas, etc.)My husband was like that too as a child. I breastfed her also and kept my diet bland, but she had no food allergies or anything else wrong. Simply put, she needed motion and white noise to be calm. At two months we tried swaddling her again which was a miracle because then she could sleep in a crib or pack n play when we traveled. If I had to do it over I'd do a combination of swing, co-sleep with a side sleeper, sling (wish now I'd had one) and swaddle. Swaddling really is good too as I was able to position her on her sides safely so she wouldn't get the flat head. A lot of babies need motion, white noise (hair dryer, oceans waves cd on loud volumne, vacuum cleaner, etc.) to sleep. Don't worry about this becoming a habit! Babies and children change so much and when they're ready, it's easier than you'd imagine to transition them gently to something new. Right now, you're still recovering and you have a newborn so things seem so overwhelming and new. It will change.

Just remember to strap them in as even little ones can slip and wiggle down and out.

Just to let you know, my swaddled, and swing-sleeping baby is now a three and 1/2 year old who loves to sleep in her big girl bed and sleeps through the night and loves overnights with friends/families. Of course, when she's had a nightmare or is sick, she'll still seek out the comfort of mom and dad's bed. In other words, she outgrew the need for a swing/swaddle/co-sleep, etc. Infants are different and they need whatever helps them calm down. Trust your instincts and know that your little one will change a lot this first year.

I was reading some of the other posts too and I do disagree with the book, Healthy Sleep Habits..by Weisbluth. I read it cover to cover and while he is a doctor and has lots of research on sleep patterns, he bases his sleep methods on his own obsevations and ideas and desire for quick fixes for exhausted parents (which I do understand!!!), rather than research. Plenty of doctors and pediatricians disagree with him. Again, these funny habits of children can be very soothing for them, which positively affects their brain development. The need some children have for different certain sleep arrangements goes away when they grow up.

Best to you and congrats!

I think it would be fine, as long as it's on a low setting so not to knock the brain around and I'd also use things to keep the baby as upright as possible to make sure the baby doesn't fall through. Baby's tend to get a little curled up after a while and so I'd somehow wrap something around his waste and head so he doesn't curl up too much. Which could be a bit of a concern if there's too much bedding to get caught in...you know, the sufocating thing.