apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

You know, I had rockers with both of my girls. I really think it was more because of that picture in my head of a mother with the baby sitting in a rocker. I used them very little and did most of the nursing in bed or on the couch where I could stretch out and relax, watch TV if I liked, etc. If you want one, get one, but if you don't have the space or money, I honestly wouldn't sweat it.

BTW, there is a LOT of stuff like this out there that looks like a must have, but will turn out to be a "didn't really need it at all".

I am going to try using the eames-knock-off we already own as a rocker. We don't have the space for a giant glider--plus my friends who spent $$$ on them basically use them to toss clothes and books and toys on--not for nursing. Otherwise I'll use the couch.

We bought the Nurseyworks Sleepytime Rocker for our first child. Although it was nice and comfortable, I didn't use it as much as I had anticipated. Having a rocker back in the nursery was isolating and my daughter didn't really need to be rocked to sleep--holding was good enough for her--and late night feedings could have been accomplished in a chair or rocker. Now we've moved it to our master bedroom and it has been repurposed into a nice reading nook. We are expecting number 2 and I think I will use it some but again not as much as I first thought. Looking back on it, I don't think a rocker is as essential as I thought when I was expecting and a comfy chair would have done the trick for us.

I had a glider with our 1st baby and it was nice. Our second baby we decided to get an Ikea chair bed for her room and it is nice too. I think this is better because it's fairly wide and I my 5 year old can sit on it. For me I don't see a rocker/glider as absolutely necessary. In my opinion, a comfortable place to sit, ESPECIALLY if you are nursing, is more important than the gliding function. If you nurse, make sure it's wide enough to fit you with your nursing pillow(s). Comfort is key! If I had had the $$ I would have bought a nice looking recliner, so I could take a snooze & nurse. They do have nice looking ones that even rock- hey there you go!

I would suggest seeing if you could borrow a rocker from a friend to test it out for awhile after baby is here. I used mine for the full year that I breast fed and still keep it in my son's room for a place to sit when I'm in there while he's playing. I would fall asleep in it some nights and really appreciated the head rest. Ours is a standard dark wood with cream covers and isn't so stylish, despite it's newness. We've also got a Modernica rocker in our living room but I have yet to test it out in a nursery setting. We're expecting #2 in November now so I guess we'll soon see!

Good luck with your search and congratulations!

As long as you have a big comfy chair (or couch) somewhere in your house to nurse or feed the baby, you'll be fine. For the first three months when it took him forever to nurse, I would sit on the couch and watch TV. As far as rocking a baby to sleep, I found "bouncing" worked better. We bought a cheap yoga ball ($25) and would sit on that, hold the baby and bounce him gently and it did the trick.

Here in mainland Europe rockers/gliders are not as common as in the US and are not considered "essential" at all. A comfy chair that`s wide enough to fit also a nursing pillow (see comment above) and a good armrest for you to support the baby`s head as they get older and heavier (depending on how long you want to nurse) worked perfectly fine for me!

I have an old fashioned rocking chair in my daughter's nursery that I had had for years before she was born - was actually on the point of getting rid of it. I've used it about twice, not because its not comfortable but because I never nursed her in her nursery. We would either be downstairs on the sofa during the day [or out and about] or on my bed.

I agree - great in theory but used less than anticipated. I think a great armchair that's comfortable for you to nestle into for storytime is far more practical than a rocker to rock your baby to sleep. It's a bad habit to get into anyway. I also have those leather ottoman/stools with the tray flip tops in both my kids' rooms and they are practical to pull up in front of the armchair as an ottoman or to use beside the chair to pile books and a milk/water bottle and they hold stuffies and such in the base.

I've been discovering lately that nothing is really necessary (except a Bjorn. I'm not sure what I would have done without that thing). I didn't have a glider with my first daughter, but was given a hand-me-down one when baby No. 2 came. It was comfortable, but like a previous poster said it can be kind of isolating to use it in the nursery.
Figuring we won't have any more kids, we've given away a lot of our "must-have" baby gear, including the glider. Sometimes I kind of wish I'd get pregnant again just to see how things go with less stuff.

When my son was born, I borrowed (on long term) my mom's gorgeous wooden rocker and recovered the pillows so it looked really striking. Then I hardly used it because the arm rests were wooden and the wrong height to hold a nursing baby! I ended up getting a less attractive rocking recliner that has been well loved and well used. At first, you nurse so frequently that it happens all over the house so a couch will do (so long as you don't mind getting milk on it--which I thought wouldn't happen but it does). As my son got older, he was so easily distracted that the chair was the only place he could calm down and nurse. The rocker/glider function is nice at 3am when you don't have the energy to rock and soothe but it isn't essential. Comfort is essential. As someone else noted, bring your nursing pillow with you and make sure that the arm rests are a comfortable height and that it is wide enough for you to get very comfortable in!

My mother insisted a rocker is absolutely necessary. Part of her reasoning was that the movement is good for baby's development. We got a Modernica rocker, good size for our small apartment.
I don't think a rocker is necessary. If you walk with your baby in the sling, baby will get some good developmental movement. I wear our baby in the sling all the time, around the house, running errands, etc.
It's true the rocker in the bedroom is somewhat isolating, and I don't think rockers fit the style for most living rooms. The up side is that I end up reading books while nursing in the rocker in the bedroom, instead of watching any old program on TV in the living room!

Like Ciriella said, here in Europe, we don't consider gliders at all essential. Save your money, get a cheaper armchair if you have space and a nice v-shaped nursing pillow that you can tuck round you and baby can lie on - they get heavy when you're nursing for a long time!

Congratulations on your baby!

I always nursed either on the couch or in bed, so you don't need one for that.

And as others have said, when you *do* have a rocker, it doesn't seem to belong in the nursery.

I rocked both my children quite a bit, and so made sure to get a rocking chair that had good head support and was comfortable for me.

For my first child, we borrowed an ugly uncomfortable glider (the arms were hard and flat, and my arms kept falling asleep when holding the baby), which our friends didn't want back!, and for my second, we splurged and bought a Yrjö Kukkkapuro Moderno Rocker from Lepo.

http://www.lepoproduct.fi/pics/tuotteet/L66.pdf

I'm glad we had it, because my son had colic, and it saved my sanity to be able to rock him.

It's such a great piece of furniture that we have always kept it in the living room, and now use it for storytelling (it is so wide, that both of our kids can squish in, which is great -- no fighting!)

We never had a rocker or chair of any sort until she was done nursing, now i use one to read to her at night with!

We still use our glider with our older daughter (she's almost 3), to read to her and get her to relax before nap. The rocking motion really calms her down. My husband also rocked her a lot when she was a baby and I think he would consider it absolutely indispensable. As a result, we've gotten a a rocker for the nursery for #2, due in a month. This one's much more stylish though:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3162034

It totally depends on the baby and so there's really no way to know before it gets here! If you can borrow to see if the baby likes it, that might be the best strategy.

for my fussy baby, it's a must-have... it's often the only way we can get her to sleep at all.

I used the glider all the time with baby #1 and fell asleep in it often. I liked being able to comfortably breastfeed him in his own room. The idea of carrying a sleeping, just-fed baby from the living room to the bedroom never appealed to me. I wanted to be as close as possible to the crib! I nursed in bed, too, but found it uncomfortable (always hunched over). When my son turned 1, I put the glider in the basement and bought an IKEA Pong chair for his room. (I really like having a place to sit and have story time.) Now that baby #2 is on the way, I'm hauling that old glider up again and putting it my bedroom. My guess is that I'll use it less this time, but that it'll still be a must-have for night feedings.

We just bought a Poang rocking chair from Ikea. We went to the store w/ the intention of buying the Poang chair, which has some bounce, but doesn't really rock...and when we got there, we saw the rocking chair! We were told that it is a brand new product and are very excited. I looked for it on the website and did not see it.

I went thru 6 months of breasfeeding absolutely fine without a rocker or glidder. If you take a class on lactation, they will tell you the most important thing is that you have an armchair that you can place your arms comfortably (you'll be doing this feeding gig for an hour at a time, with only 20 minutes rest in between feedings in the beginning), while holding your baby and breastfeeding at the same time, your legs have to be parallel with the floor to make you comfortable. Same would go I guess for putting him to sleep.

hmm, this post says there are 18 comments, but when I click on the post, there are zero. So sorry if this is repeat info.
I didn't have a rocker when my son was born 4 years ago -- I never found one I liked and never really missed it. A rocker would have been too slow to calm my very fussy baby anyway - I had to lie him on my lap and move him side to side really fast and do the "shhhh" thing (Dr. Karp's 4 s's) and a rocker wouldn't move that fast anyway. For nursing, I was most comfortable on the couch with some pillows to help prop up my arms.
Most people do swear by them though, including my own mom who had 6 kids...

now the boppy pillow is an essential :-)

Necessary is subjective and depends on things you can't predict.

Yup, I have one, and if you're going to buy one, just think of it as a piece of furniture you'll keep around after nursing. Mine stays in our bedroom now. I use it with a massage pad.

The word armchair makes me a bit nervous...can you prop your feet up on a pouf and schnooze while the baby nurses for the 3rd time since midnight?

Go for a super-comfortable overstuffed kind of chair. Gliders have a really short lifespan for the price and ALWAYS look like baby furniture. Layer blankets. Get cool little pillows to stuff under your arms. SAVE YOUR MONEY!

Here's a link to mine...in case you need an inspiration point. Best wishes!

http://tinyurl.com/c65fuu

I also think rocking/gliding is over-rated.

I got a glider and hardly used it at all. It was too narrow to accommodate my Boppy nursing pillow so I ended up doing most of my nursing on the couch. My now-toddler is too wiggly to want to sit and just rock with me. And the glider totally looks like nursery furniture so I can't just move it somewhere else in the house without it looking silly. I wish I hadn't bothered!

If you do get a glider, my favorite thing about mine is the lock on the side that prevents it from gliding when I don't want it to. It also allows me to lock it in tipped-back position, which we used a lot when the boodle was smaller and fell asleep on one of us. Family nap time!

This is another one of those cases where it would be great if you could get a little checklist of your baby's likes and dislikes before birth. "Dear mom and dad: I dig swings, will scream if you even get me near a sling/bjorn/ergo, am not going to sleep in that bassinet EVER, have zero intention of drinking my milk directly from the tap, and you're going to be washing a lot of bottles, woman. Oh, and those little hats you bought? Ha ha ha ha ha good luck with that. However, I promise to giggle uncontrollably when you put me in the bouncer or gym-mat. See ya soon (sooner than you think, but I'll save that surprise for later...)!"

As much as I enjoy a rocker, it may not be necessary in a nursery. I don't have one. It may depend on your parenting philosophy... If you intend to rock your child to sleep, then get one. As lovely as it is to rock your baby to sleep, nothing better than a babe asleep in your arms... it's not a good habit to start, then your baby will expect it and become reliant on rocking to sleep. Hope that wasn't more than you were looking for... but that's how I made my decision, it's worked for me and I'm on baby #2

I would have liked one, but there was no room and we did just fine without it.

I found an old stylish rocking chair second hand and had it reupholstered.
I rock my son back to sleep in at 3am almost every night, it saves my life. I love it and it looks great in the living room.

I think an arm chair would be okay. I wish I had a real rocker instead of the incredibly disappointing IKEA Lillberg "Rocking" Chair (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S59850956) - and that is a liberal use of air quotes on the rocking. I didn't think I would care but there is so much else wrong with the chair besides the fact that it doesn't rock.

My little editorial on the Lillberg aside, I think a non-rocking chair is okay so long as it is comfortable and snuggly.

Many a night has our reclining glider rocker come in handy. Although not the most attractive piece of furniture, nor the least expensive, I would spend the money and learn to live with the look of this indispensible piece of furniture. We love ours and use it every single day with our now 11-month old.

It's important to have a comfortable place to sit, with a source of entertainment near by (and hopefully food and water as well). That doesn't have to mean a glider/rocker, though it certainly can. I set up a tv table with a laptop on it next to our second hand glider, and was very happy. Once the baby was mobile though, I worried about him pinching his fingers in the rocking mechanism, and sold it. It was also nice to open up more floor space at that time. Another useful feature for a nursing chair is padded arms -- as my son got bigger, he had a habit of kicking off one arm of the chair, and trying to crack his head into the other arm.

We had a really comfortable chair in our bedroom and used that instead. Most rocker/gliders aren't comfortable enough and/or wide enough to nurse comfortably.

An inflatable exercise is a good cheap alternative if your baby has colic.

Some babies seem to need rocking more than others, so it's hard to know what kind of chair, if any, you "need" until you see what kind of baby you get. As a matter of personal preference, *I* really like rocking, which is why I've gotten a huge amount of use out of rockers with both my children.

If you really like the armchair you already have, it's possible to have a wooden rocker base put on it, a la the Nurseryworks rocker.

As others have said, it probably depends on your baby. I resisted the glider-a gift from my MIL who was insisting I needed one. Just like we needed this, and that, and this, and because I was so "difficult" and didn't want any of it, our baby was surely going to suffer! Ok...I digress, when the rocker arrived I was eating my words! I was 7.5 months pregnant, huge and swollen. I had my hubby put the rocker in our living room and I came home every day from work and put my feet up and soothed myself into napland. I loved it then, and beside the crib I've slept many a night holding our collicky boy. So I would say must-have.

But I would also say don't scrimp. A cheap glider from toysrus is not likely to have the arms at the right height or have enough cushioning. We got a dark wood, fancy-ish Duatelier glider which cost about 770 all in with the ottoman included. It will likely last a lifetime. I would have preffered something like the Luca Glider from Monte...but reluctant beggars can't be choosers ;) http://www.shopgenes.com/10450.html

Oh and btw...I never did need that ugly Winnie the Pooh Mobile... and my son never suffered for it. There is always time to run out and buy some stuff once baby is here...trust me. You will want reasons to get out of the house. DOn't sweat having it all right away! Congrats and good luck!

Thanks so much for everyone's opinions! I think I'll give it a try with the chair I have which is really very comfortable with nice padded arms but also doesn't take up too much space but if it seems like a good idea I'll get one then. It's really hard to know, as baby gear is completely new to me which things are necessary and which will collect dust. Thanks everyone!

My airchair is a rocker. If you breastfeed it really helps to make those late night feedings more comfortable. And the footstool is great too, if you have the room.

Our ugly La-Z-Boy recliner rocker was absolutely the ultimate in nursing comfort. Like a big giant pillow for me and baby with support in all the right places.

Wow, huge thread. I'm chiming in anyway - ask and you shall receive! Where you sit matters, because the first six months, breastfeeding is all that matters and you have to sit for that.

My advice: buy one secondhand with a nursing stool, and get a new slipcover to make it fresh. With a brestfriend pillow and a side table, you're ready to go.

Personally, we got a chair-style (no wood) for $280 at Babycenter, and I sat in it for six months nursing - the gliding soothed ME, for one. We put it away when our baby started pushing her toes into the arms, making nursing tough, and switched to a chair the same shape as the Anthropologie Corrigan chair.

Then we dragged it back out when she started getting sick a lot now she's one, to have somewhere to comfort her in the middle of the night when she had to be upright. Now the glider is in her room and the nursing chair is in the living room.

A slipcover will help you feel like it's a clean, pure space for your new baby, I promise...skip the brand new part.

Voila, good luck!

"breastfeeding is all that matters and you have to sit for that. "

Side-lying nursing doesn't count?

I disagree that the rocker looks totally nurseryish. That really depends on the model of rocker. Some just look like big-ass chairs.

comfy arm chair-- definitely. nursing in bed is also really nice in the early days when you need some time to get a good rest in.

Like you, I was dismayed at how ugly most of the affordable gliders/rockers are. We found the Simplicity rocker and ottoman on sale at Target.com for $300, and we've been happy with that (both aesthetically and comfort-wise). Although I agree with other commenters that a rocker probably isn't necessary. We do use it every night to rock our daughter to sleep, but you could easily do that without a rocker (and I did do that, many times, in the early days when she was sleeping in our bedroom by just holding her and swaying side to side). The thing about babies is that you just don't know what yours will be like - and yours may not need to be rocked. As for the breastfeeding issue, I do nurse her in the rocker sometimes, but otherwise it's the couch - and again, in the early days, our bed.

Congratulations and have fun!

for me: my feet had to be up when I nursed, and there had to be somewhere to rest my arms! ... to repeat much of the above, we also didn't use a rocker... our chair is just a comfy IKEA armchair with ottoman... my mom was adamant that you must have a rocker, so we borrowed one from them and never used it. The armchair and ottoman is now a great spot for reading in the corner of her room, and a good surface for her to look at books on her own. Like everything baby-related, probably no dogma will sum it up... choose whatever is comfortable for you. And like complainypants said, you'll probably enjoy little trips out of the house if you realize that you need something different.

We've only just started (baby is 4 days old), but also found the glider/rocker situation completely frustrating -- either they are hideous or insanely expensive. We opted for the Ikea Karlstad Chair Ottoman (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70117761) instead -- not quite as glidey as rocker or cozy as a Lazyboy but a heck of a lot more attractive and way less expensive. We couldn't be happier with it -- very comfortable, makes visual 'sense' in our Living Room, and is a great place to sit while nursing or not.

Because we had triplets, there was no room for a glider or a rocker. We needed a loveseat since there would be more than one adult in the room at a time feeding babies. So it just wasn't going to happen.

But I'm sad we never had one. There are nights now when my 15 month olds aren't feeling well that I dearly wish I could rock them, but I can't.

So that's just one viewpoint. If you have room for one, I'd get one.

Wow. Do I remember the panic I was feeling about this very subject as we were preparing for the arrival of our daughter. Everyone has an opinion (shock) and as with everything having to do with parenting, everyone's opinion is a strong one. What I can say from my own experience... we didn't end up needing the baby-specific glider/chair that most people told us was so essential. We just could justify the $900 price tag for the cool looking ones and the $300 price tag for the ugly ones. Everyone said we would regret it but we ended up going with Ikea's POÄNG chair (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S89825201) and stool (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S49825161) combo. Not only is it stylish and relatively cheap, it's got just enough bounce for soothing a baby on a crying jag and it's just comfortable enough. I also have to say it's just "uncomfortable" enough that you don't get lulled into sleeping with your kid in the chair, which in my opinion is a bad habit for both parents and baby. But like I said... this is only in my experience.

When my first daughter was born we were living in a one bedroom apartment in London and there was no room for any baby furniture other than her bassinet. We didn't have a glider (which I never even considered) or a changing table (which I did consider, but ending up using a changing mat on the floor!). I nursed her on the sofa, in bed or on an Ikea armchair with wooden arms that we already had. That turned out to be my favorite place as the arms were just the right height for support. After we moved to the US and had twins, I still never thought about getting a glider as I'd learned to be flexible by then and in the early days of double nursing, I needed to be on the sofa or bed so the baby who was waiting to be nursed could lie beside me. The downside of nursing on the existing furniture is that all my girls spit up a lot right after feeds, but we just cleaned up and moved on!

Now we are well beyond nursing, none of the girls have chairs in their rooms - we read stories cuddled up in bed which they love!

Good luck - and don't worry about having everything perfect before the baby arrives - you might find you have spent a lot of money on perfectly the wrong thing!!

I agree with laughing sarah! Every baby (and mom!) is different. It would be amazing if we could know ahead of time what works!

For me--I found that nursing a baby ALL THE TIME makes me want to be in different spots just to keep my sanity. So we nursed in the rocker (we have one), on the couch, in the bed, in the backyard, on the backporch. Even for middle of the night feedings, I always switched it up. Worked for us! So much of this just depends on your personality (and baby's!)

I used our Modernica "Eames" rocker with a Boppy if I wanted to rock my baby. Though it was a bit cold in the winter! Otherwise, my Ikea Poang chair w/ the matching footstool was quite comfortable.