Graco's latest swing may soothe your baby but not your wallet

Sometimes I'm sad when I see new baby gear out there that I missed with my kids. I was a total "gear girl" and love, love, loved colorful crap to fill my living room. Today, however, my focus is on getting it out of my living.

But last night at a DC Metro Mom's event I had an chance to see Graco's latest piece of gear for new moms. Hot off the assembly line, Graco's new Sweetpeace Soothing Center is the latest and greatest. If I was a first-time mom, this would be on a registry as a "nice to have" because there is NO WAY I would pay the $169 for this. If I was a second-time mom, I might pay it so that it would keep my baby busy while I managed a toddler. If I was about to be a third-time mom, I would probably let this gadget slide because it's big and with three kids, you already have enough junk.

Graco's taken Dr. Harvey Karp's Happiest Baby on the Block and made a piece of gear to do a new kind of swinging you. (You know part Dr. Karp's Five S's of Swaddle, Swing, Side, Shushing, Sucking.) For all those babies who don't like the baby swing, this machine will turn it into swaying. The Soothing Center actually mimicks the mother's side-to-side rocking/swaying a of a baby. And with the Soothing Center it has a few different directions you can turn it to suit how your baby likes to be rocked--whether it's the traditional baby rock side-to-side, one facing front or one facing you.

When I first checked it out, I rolled my eyes. Do we moms need something else to hold our kids? I can hear my mother in law cheering me on for saying this. We have swings, bouncy seats, car seats, strollers, Baby Bjorns, slings. All of these do the work of Karp's "swing" to soothe the baby. Plus, the Soothing Center takes up a lot of room. But new moms often have trouble transitioning into mommyhood during the first few months and something like this would give some relief. I got sleepy just watching it rock back and forth. Do they make them from grown ups too? I also think that when I had my second baby (my son was only 16 months old) I would have paid money for this. My daughter wanted to be held all the time and rocked as much as possible. She would have lived in this thing.

The one thing to note is that babies don't sit in swings for more than a few months so while this investment might be good, by five months I think you'll find many babies will be ready to graduate on to the other giant structure in the living room--the Megasaucer (which you can find from friends for free). Someone is always willing to clear the Megasaucer from their living room.

My opinion on this: Big, expensive and a bit silly. But if you have a fussy baby you will do anything to sleep or get him/her to sleep. Ask your rich aunt to buy it and then pass it along to your best friend who's next in line for all the cool gear.