Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Bouncer Review

When our first daughter was born, we didn't buy a bouncer because she was constantly held by my father who would stand for hours rocking and bouncing her in his arms.  After our second daughter was born, I still didn't think it was a necessary purchase.  But when we found out we were expecting our third baby with our youngest still being 6 months old, my husband bought this bouncer at Toys'R'Us for about 45 dollars.  He figured it would come in handy while I was at home with all three kids. I have to admit that he was right.

With just one screwdriver I was able to put this bouncer together very easily despite being a total klutz when it comes to assembling things.  And unlike another similar bouncer, this one only required 4 size D batteries.  Two vibrantly colored toys hang from the toybar to help develop your baby's sense of sight and touch: the seahorse's tail curled around a spinner and removable teethers dangling from the fish.  The toybar also houses a little aquarium with swimming fish, bubbles and lights. When it's activated, the bubble action causes the two fish to kiss and the starfish to spin while the lights make the tank glow. It plays 3 different lullabies and 3 aquatic sounds (a babbling brook, ocean waves, and the pattering of summer rain) with a switch to adjust the volume (low or high) and setting (continuous or baby activated). I am easily annoyed by noisy toys, but even having this on continuous play didn't bother me. Personally I think the best part is the gentle vibration feature which works separately from the music. Clean up was also a breeze.  Speaking from experience, you'll love this part because babies are messy. Just unhook the seat cover and toss into the washer and dryer.  

This bouncer definitely kept our babies entertained.  While still pregnant with our third child, I used this frequently with our second daughter.  I couldn't hold her for long periods of time so I would just strap her into the seat and let her watch the aquarium.  She was already big enough that she could reach the toys with her hands and activate the sounds by kicking them.  Nap time was simple with this too: turn the lights off, set it on continuous play with the vibration turned on and strap her in the seat. The soothing sounds combined with the calming vibrations would put her to sleep every time.  It even put me to sleep.  After our son was born, I would move this all over the house so that I could keep an eye on him while still doing chores.  He would cry if he couldn't see me in the room with him so I'd buckle him in, turn on the baby activation setting and let him amuse himself while I cleaned house around him. He loved the seat so much that he would cry until we put him back in the bouncer.  Some nights we would just set the bouncer by our bed and let him sleep in it.

The downside to this bouncer is it's durability.  Because it's basically just a padded pillowcase over a metal frame, our oldest managed to bend the seat so far back that it was practically just laying on the floor.  I was able to return the seat to it's proper height and angle, but it would sag lower than before once a baby was using the seat.  Every couple of months I would have to readjust the frame again, but I blame that wear and tear on our son who turned out to be a vigorous bouncer.  And it didn't help that our 2 year old kept climbing into the seat for her naps.  The vibration feature took a beating as well.  When on the baby activated setting, it would take a stronger kick to get it started.  Sometimes it would only start if you tapped on the battery compartment too.  I finally had to get rid of it after only using it for a year and a half between our two youngest.  It probably would have lasted longer if I had one bouncer per child so that our 2 year old would stop trying to share it with her brother.

Despite it all, I was very happy with this bouncer while it lasted.  Although if you have vigorous bouncers in the family like we do, you might want to consider something a little more durable if you want it to last for many years or just make sure you don't let your older kids mess with it.