In Depth Baby Product Reviews Led by a Pediatrician
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The 4moms mamaRoo is an expensive yet attractive and stylish baby swing that has terrific curb appeal. From the smallest surface footprint (400 square inches) in our baby swing review to an MP3 plug-in for your own music selection, the 4moms mamaRoo will appeal to the modern family who is apt to select high-tech over old-school. The 4moms markets the mamaRoo as a having a more natural soothing mechanism, one that simulates a parent bouncing their baby up and down while swaying from side-to-side instead of vibrating bouncers and traditional swings. Although every baby is different, we aren't convinced that the majority of babies needing soothing prefer this over the tried and true front-to-back or side-to-side swinging motion of old standbys. After all, swinging is one of Harvey Karp's Five S's.
REASONS TO BUY
Attractive
Small footprint
Contrasting toy mobile
MP3 hook-up
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
Disappointing soothing ability
3-point harness
Shallow seat
Update — October 2017
4moms has released the 4moms mamaRoo 4. This new version features 50% increased speed, a new LCD control panel (below left), and the ability to connect via Bluetooth to a handheld device so you can control both sound and motion and speed remotely (below right).
Our Analysis and Test Results
The second most expensive swing we tested, the 4moms mamaRoo is a stylish baby swing that takes a high-tech approach to the soothing market. At home sitting next to your newly released iPhone, it bears a striking resemblance to Asimo, the humanoid robot from Honda. Sleek and modern in appearance, we initiated the review process with high hopes for this looker. When in action, the mamaRoo does 5 different robotic dances that are sure to impress your friends and family. But, the old adage "you can't judge a book by its cover" comes to mind after reflecting on our testing experience. Unfortunately, this baby swing misses the mark in terms of soothing ability. Thus, though this expensive piece of equipment is nicely geared toward parental sensibilities, your crying baby may be less than enthused with it.
Performance Comparison
The colorful infant insert is attractive and machine washable. The mobile ball inserts can be flipped from black and white to color.
Credit: Dana Ellis
Soothing
The mamaRoo scored a 5 out of 10 in soothing which accounts for 70% of the overall score. Like the Graco DuetSoothe the 4moms mamRoo has a shallow seat which seemed to consistently leave our infant testers feeling unsettled. The cute and reversible accessory insert when used as intended for a small infant was too thick and cumbersome for the seat.
Although 4moms uses the tagline that the mamaRoo moves like you do, our feeling is that it is designed too heavily on controlled, mechanized movement to feel comforting to an infant. There are 5 movement settings: car ride, kangaroo, tree swing, rock-a-bye, and wave as well as 5-speed settings. Instead of a swinging momentum as with traditional baby swings, the mamaRoo's motion evolves directly from the base in varying directional rhythms that tend to appear more jarring than relaxing.
We like the MP3 docking station at the base so that parents can choose their own white noise or music for baby. The speaker actually sounds pretty good although a bit canned. And, as mentioned above, the new 2015 version of the mamaRoo can control both sound and motion from a smartphone, and speed is claimed to be 50% faster than the previous version which we tested.
A highlight of the 4moms Mamaroo is the fancy, squishy mobile which can sides can be flipped for either black and white or color contrast to accommodate baby's visual development. For smaller infants, a machine washable insert is available. Among many things on our Mamaroo wish list, is a 5-point harness and deeper seat.
Credit: Dana Ellis
Ease of Use
We scored the mamaRoo a 6 of 10 in ease of use. The best thing about it is its small footprint of 400 square inches, by far the smallest of all swings we tested in our review by a wide margin. And, second lightest at 15.3 pounds, it is pretty easy to move about the house. It operates only via an AC adapter which is nice as batteries aren't necessary. But operating it away from an electrical outlet is not possible unless you have a long extension cord. The 3-point harness is easy to use and of good quality and the static mobile can be moved to the side when placing baby inside.
We did not find the controls, LCD screen, and MP3 hook-up at the base of the swing to be very user-friendly, however. With the new 2015 version, if you should decide to operate both motion and sound via a Bluetooth device, this issue can be circumvented.
The mobile shifts out of the way, making placing baby into the swing an easier task.
Credit: Dana Ellis
Quality
The mamaRoo scored a 7 of 10 in quality with nice fabrics as well as a sturdy fit and finish overall. With clean lines, a small footprint, modern design, it is a looker. Although we did not encounter an issue with the LCD screen, 5% of Amazon user reviews report an obstruction error appearing on the screen with complete device failure. This is with the old version, so time will tell if the 2015 version has fixed this issue or if the new LCD screen is merely a new packaging on a still problematic issue. User reviews also report problems with 4moms customer service being substandard for such an expensive swing. Again, the jury is out on the new version.
Safety
We gave the 4moms a 6 out of 10 in safety. The three-point harness is sufficient for small babies as the adjustable reclining seat ranges from 26-47 degrees from horizontal. However, the seat is quite shallow so watching baby closely is important (as with all swings) to make sure they do not scoot downwards within the seat. As soon as baby can sit upright unassisted, the use of the mamaRoo needs to be discontinued.
Value
At a list of $220 and $20 more for the 2015 version, we do not feel that the mamaRoo is a good value as in our experience, it just didn't soothe as well as traditional swings.
Conclusion
For a family looking for a stylish baby swing, at first glance, the mamaRoo seems like a good option. However, our little testers did not find it to be soothing. Neither are we convinced that a 50% increase in speed with the new 2015 model will fix this issue; our opinion is that its core lies at the mechanical nature of its 5 various movements. Our recommendation is to spend less and go for a traditional baby swing. Sure, they will take up more space, but in the end, if a fussy baby is soothed, the value of this is truly priceless.
