UPPAbaby Mamaroo Smart Swing review

The full review

The Mamaroo started life at 4moms and is now sold in the UK under the UPPAbaby name. Its party trick is still its MultiMotion movement: a combination of up-and-down and side-to-side that's meant to feel like being bounced and swayed in your arms. There are five motions, five speeds and four built-in sounds, which UPPAbaby says adds up to more than 400 combinations.

The current version adds Bluetooth control through the UPPAbaby app, Alexa or Google Home, and MotionSync, which mirrors your own movements in the app to create a personalised motion. UPPAbaby says it's used in more than 600 US maternity wards, NICUs and paediatric units. There's a soft newborn insert, a five-point harness and a mobile with detachable toy balls, and it comes with a three-year warranty.

MadeForMums tested an earlier 4moms version and loved the design and the convincing movement, but found the bounce noisy at high intensity and the footprint large, and value was its weakest score. The current manual is clear on use: keep the seat fully reclined until your baby is at least four months old and can hold their head up, never use it for sleep, and stop at 11.3kg or when your baby starts trying to sit up.

Worth knowing if you're buying second-hand: in 2022, 4moms recalled around two million older mamaRoo swings with three-point harnesses in the US and Canada, after crawling babies became caught in the strap under an empty seat. The fix was a free strap fastener. The current UPPAbaby model has a five-point harness, but check any older unit before you use it.