You’ve probably noticed that smart bassinets appear on a lot of must-have lists and baby registries. What is their purpose? Do you need one for your child, and why? Well, the purpose of a bassinet is to provide a resting/sleeping place for an infant that is not older than six months. Bassinet’s firm but thin mattress provides the baby with precisely that kind of a sleeping place that he or she requires at that age.
Back in 1930s New York, Herman Fisher, Helen Schelle, and Irving Price founded the Fisher-Price company. Originally established as a toy-manufacturing business, the company has grown immensely and now also makes all kinds of juvenile equipment.
Their fisher price soothing motions bassinet is an intriguing model that looks quite similar to other popular options featuring full-mesh sleeping areas. It’s a breathable product that comes with a mix of entertainment options whose purpose is to soothe the baby and lull it to sleep. Moreover, it has a storage tray, a stable base, and comes at a genuinely reasonable price.
In the following paragraphs, we’ll take a closer look at this model and help our readers determine if it’s the right bassinet for their baby’s needs.
Specifications:
- Weight – 22.3 lbs
- Weight limit – 40 lbs
- Dimensions – 28.3″ x 36.2″ x 22.4″
- Materials – Plastic Polyester
Features
Ease of Use
Assembling this smart basinet is extremely easy – the whole process takes around 10 minutes. The user needs to put together most of the structure, but that’s not an issue since the process is quite simple due to the excellent directions in the manual.
Fisher-Price Soothing Motions is also quite small and can be kept bed-side. Because of the mesh-like material on its sides, a parent can have a very good view of the baby. The model’s height, on the other hand, is somewhat lower than on most of the other smart bassinets. As you can already guess, this might pose a problem to some parents when it comes to getting the child in and out of the sleeping area.
Portability
With the weight of 22.3 pounds and the dimensions of 28.3″ x 36.2″ x 22.4″, the model is a bit on the heavier side. This is mostly due to the presence of a large metal base with no wheels. It’s pretty easy to see that this bassinet was not designed for travel – lifting it or moving it around is somewhat awkward. However, this shouldn’t be an issue for the parents who aren’t planning to move it from one room to another very often.
Quality
The frame of Fisher-Price Soothing Motions is a robust oval base. The model can be purchased in a couple of bright colors and has an overall sleek design that makes it look very charming. However, it also has a few loose strings hanging out of its fabric, and it has nothing that would hold its mattress in place.
For that matter, we can conclude that its overall fit and finish aren’t as compelling as on the competing models – hence the lower price.
Breathability & Sleeping Surface
When it comes to breathability, this model is a real champ. With a large mesh panel on all sides and only a couple of panels of full fabric, it’s a genuinely breathable smart bassinet and one of the currently best models in this category.
However, these words of praise can’t be applied to the model’s mattress. The mattress compression is less than desirable, and it’s not secured to the bottom. This means that it can slide around, as there is some space between it and the edges, particularly at the corners.
Additional Features
The model comes with soothing sway motions, moon and starts projection, vibrations, sounds, music, and a mobile. This entire “entertainment center” is removable and can be utilized as a tabletop entertainment when needed. It also has its own storage tray, located under the sleeping area.
Eco Health
Although the model is JPMA certified, the Fisher-Price has not stated what materials they did use for its manufacture. When it comes to the use of flame retardants, the company is listed on CEH’s website as “unknown”.
In other words, Fisher-Price did not respond when asked about the use of these chemicals, which means that they’re probably not making much effort to limit their use in the manufacture of juvenile equipment.
What’s wrong with the product?
-Unstable Mattress
The pad coming inside this bassinet is more compressible when compared to the competing models. As you can already guess, this means that it doesn’t provide ample support to the baby back, and this is probably the most significant downside of Soothing Motions. We hope to see this fixed in the next revision of the model.
-Large Base
The metal loop base found on this bassinet adds to its stability, but also adds to its weight and makes it practically immobile. Lifting this model or moving it around the room is somewhat awkward, as it was designed to stay in one place and not to be frequently relocated. Parents who do a lot of traveling should definitely look elsewhere.
Conclusion
Although the number of this model’s advantages outweighs the number of its flaws, some of its shortcomings might be a deal breaker for some parents. The most significant disadvantage of this smart bassinet is that it comes with an unstable cushion – it has more compression than the competing models and could leave the child unsupported. Moreover, the fact that there are no wheels makes it pretty hard to move Soothing Motions from room to room.
