Do I NEED a baby bouncer/chair?

[Strawberry06]

I'm about to give birth and this just occurred to me! (FTM)

I'm talking about one of them bouncy/rocker chair things that you put baby in when you want to do stuff.

They seem ridiculously expensive given how long baby is in them? Or can they be in them a while? I've checked locally and there's nothing second hand either.

We have our pram bassinet which is up to 6 months so I was planning to just put them in there if I need to put them down?

My mum is telling its an absolute must item but I'm not so sure, please correct me if I'm wrong!

IME yes! the bassinet doesn't bounce, and they are flat on their backs, they can't watch you are doing. Doesn't need to be fancy or ££££

I had a vibrating chair from Fisher Price that my two loved.

Not just yet you don't no. You might in a few weeks, so just keep an eye on market place - one will come up!

Yes I would highly recommend getting one, the baby won’t be able to see you if in the pram bassinet. You should be able to get a cheap one on FB marketplace

They much prefer a bouncy chair where they can see you, to a pram bassinet where they can just see the ceiling. Plus the bouncing helps them to sleep.

It’s not 100% essential of course, but it’s really, really useful.

There are tonnes for sale near me (I know because I’m trying to sell one!). You don’t need them for a month or so, so perhaps keep looking for a secondhand one?

Not necessarily from birth so as Pp said, you could wait for one to come up second hand. Alternatively, this one on Amazon is awesome and only £17

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Kite-Baby-BAMBNCE-Bambino/dp/B07X3ZS52X/ref=mpssa113?crid=3SZGRKPUXMN06&keywords=baby+bouncer&qid=1706632901&sprefix=baby+%2Caps%2C1497&sr=8-3

I’d wait and see. We ended up buying a swinging chair thing for my first just to try eat our dinner with two hands when she was a month or so old. Didn’t use it much tbh so it wasn’t a necessity. Your baby might be happy being placed in the pram, on the floor etc.
Definitely not a necessity and containers etc such as this generally aren’t recommended by OTS.

Save your money and wait and see if you need/want it.

The one your mum had in the 80s/90s would have looked like a pillowcase stretched over a bent coathanger and been cheap as chips. An adult could bounce it easily with a toe and the slightest kick by the baby themselves would rock and sway it soothingly. Today's ones are utterly rubbish compared to this - they are rigid, plastic, neat footprint, much too sculpted and moulded. They look a lot cuter, but they aren't the same thing!

You don't need one, mine would never stay in one for longer than ten mins anyway and it just takes up loads of space. A blanket on the floor or car seat is fine.

Perhaps DM would like to buy it as a present given how essential they are? 😜

We've never used one for either of our two and won't with our third. First we used to just put on the floor with a blanket to kick about! Or in his pram bassinet, great for pulling the hood down for naptime. Second we did the same but had to stop the toddler trampling on him, third will be fighting for his life 😂

I think it's something that's nice to have but you don't NEED one in the way you need other things. We also chose a highchair that has a recline function so they can lie it in from a younger age and used that when we were having meals and stuff.

imo yes. You do need some kind of bouncer or swing. Of course you can cope without, people do, but there's times when baby will settle much better on an incline with some movement.
My 1st and 2nd I just had the red kite one posted above, 3rd I also got a joie swing. Wish I'd had that from the start as well!

We used ours all the time when our three were tiny. They preferred them to being on their backs in the pram and it meant I could have my hands free while still interacting with them.

I hated slings and so did my children so the bouncy chair it was.

Yes. We used out babybjorn bouncer (simple fabric type) from day 1.

1. keeps them slightly inclined after feeding so they don’t puke everywhere

2. portable. Use one in bathroom whilst I had bath, garden, kitchen whilst cooking etc

3. used a lot when we ate. My Ds hated laying down so would scream in pram carrycot if not walking, so somewhere hands free you can bounce with foot whilst you eat breakfast and had a hot drink.

For us no we didn’t need one but it sure made life a lot easier to have it! I’d put baby in it in the kitchen so he could watch me cook and wash up and I could see he was safe.

One baby hated it and would only be held (I used a fabric sling a lot), the other liked it and it was a useful place to put her while I was cooking or showering. But I could absolutely have managed without it, and just put her down on a blanket on the floor for those times when I absolutely couldn’t use the sling.

Yes I loved mine but got it second hand from Facebook marketplace and then sold it on again afterwards so only cost a few quid.

For me yes..my LO had colic and was always screaming and i couldnt stand there rocking her for hours. Any bouncer or rocker tbh that rocks itself 😂 so in worst case scenario shes a screamer you can at least grab 5 mins for a coffee.

Mine was also secondhand from marketplace, ive recently got a baby automatic swing from tesco that was over 50% off for 30

I had a cheap £30 bouncer and an expensive swing with my son. He hated the swing 😅 but he lived in the bouncer! Not for naps but if I was taking a shower, cooking. Anything that meant I couldn't hold him while he was awake but he could see me. He was a clinger! We used it from not long after birth until he broke it at about 3 years old as he had definitely outgrown the weight limit 🤣

To add, we lived with a dog at the time too so I didnt like to put him on the floor, just incase the dog jumped over him wrong! And he was colicky so lying flat was rarely an option 😅

My son liked it and we used it a lot (I didn’t have a bassinet just a normal cot that obviously stayed in the nursery). It’s useful because you can bring it into the bathroom whilst you shower or the kitchen whilst you cook etc, so they can sit and watch you.

It was more essential for my daughter because my son was a toddler when she was tiny, so leaving her on a play mat on the floor was more difficult (my son had a tendency to run around very fast without looking so it kept her out of harms way). She did seem to prefer the sling though, whereas my son loved the bouncer and would happily sit in it for ages.

I would say that you definitely don’t need an expensive one though (simple is fine). So if you can’t find one secondhand then something like this is ok: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8874661?clickPR=plp:3:48 (in my experience the expensive electric ones that vibrate/rock are pretty hit and miss anyway- both my kids hated them).

I find it depends on the baby and their unpredictable whims... definitely try to get a second hand one if you go for it.

They are essential

I had a 3 storey house and had one on every floor, usually in or near a bathroom so I could put baby down to pee/shower. Would get moved into the kitchen when I was cooking or doing washing etc.

They are also excellent for sicky babies.

I had one that vibrated/played songs but rarely used those functions.

Ours was probably the most used piece of baby equipment.
A non fancy one (ie no vibrations/music etc) are fairly cheap.
Doesn't IKEA do one?

For me it was essential & my 2 boys loved it, I had the fisher price infant to toddler rocker chair, it vibrated & had music, it was a godsend honestly esp just to have a quick few minutes, & it was relatively portable

to be honest we got an expensive swing seat that plays music and vibrates and we didn't use it that much because we were both at home all the time or he was at the child minder, and we were happy to play with him. We also got one of those activity tables that the baby sits on a swiveling fabric harness in the middle and can spin around and play with things around the edge, but it got the same lack of use for the same reason. Also he wasn't that interested in them to be honest, other than listening to the music when he was older.
We took them to a mums table top sale, and although the essentials (clothes, high chair and cot) flew off the shelf, no one wanted the swing seat or activity table so we ended up taking them home. So maybe they're just not as useful as you think.
There's a whole industry about selling expensive and unneccesary stuff to first time parents, don't get sucked in (unless you're in north london in which case we'll sell you our nearly new ones! )