You can also switch it to music mode and choose to make the chair move, with a rhythmic heartbeat motion - the most soothing part. So much so, we even took the mechanism out of the chair at night and attached it to the moses basket!
What we love
The cradle is very lightweight, so even if you want to pick it up with baby in and move it round the house it’s quite easy – although it would be better if there was something to hold onto when doing this.
My son loved the toy arch over the top and an added bonus is that it’s removable – sometimes he just wanted to sit and look at the toys and reach for them. Other times he wanted them out of the way so he could see what’s going on around him. We also found as he got older, he didn’t need the arch there so much, so we were able to put it away.
The harness is nice and secure and keeps him safe, so there’s no danger of him falling out. This is particularly important as he got a little older and learnt to push himself forward as otherwise there’s a danger of him falling off the front of the chair.
What to watch out for
The chair itself is quite upright, but the biggest downside is that the position is not adjustable so you can’t change how much your baby is reclining. This is only a problem when your baby is very tiny – we found even with the headrest, which doesn’t actually attach to the chair, my son slumped over to one side because he wasn’t able to hold himself up.
Having said that, it proved a great place for him to sit and watch the world go by from about two months onwards, and by three months the upright position was ideal.
One small issue is that, once we took the sound box out to replace batteries, it never seemed to go back in again properly, and fell out quite easily. But as we chose to take it out every night anyway this wasn’t a major issue.
The velour covers can be removed for washing, but are handwash only and then need to be hung out to dry naturally, so it’s difficult to find time to do this with a newborn or young baby. A wipeclean surface would be preferable – but then it wouldn’t look as nice, so that’s the choice you have to make. At this age, milk stains are the main issue, and they’re not too bad.
Who is the Mamas & Papas Capria bouncing cradle best for?
Mums who want a good-looking seat that keeps your baby entertained and soothed.
A versatile and function-packed bouncer, which offers both a relaxing and enjoyable place for your baby to spend time in the early months. As you’d expect from Mamas & Papas, the styling is lovely although this makes it slightly harder to keep clean.
