BabyBjörn Bouncer Balance Soft Review

Pros
● Clean, modern design
● Can be folded flat
● Baby can sit at three different angles
● Machine washable

Cons
● Toy bar is sold separately
● Doesn’t vibrate or make noise (if that’s what baby prefers)

Bottom Line
This beautiful bouncer is comfy for baby and perfect for small spaces. Thanks to its sleek Scandinavian design, it doesn’t add to the clutter of other bulky infant items around the house.

Rating: 4 stars

We registered for the BabyBjörn Bouncer Balance Soft as we were getting our Brooklyn, New York, apartment ready for our first baby’s arrival. I decided to add it to our list after seeing how happy a friend’s 4-month-old was in his. My friend said it was one of the baby items she used the most and recommended it, even though it costs as much as $199 new. We ended up getting it as a generous shower gift and used it daily until my daughter learned to sit on her own. It came with us on our recent move to Minneapolis and will be put back into use when our new baby arrives.

Features
This stylish seat bounces with baby’s own movements or a parent’s gentle push and features four different angle settings, ranging from fully upright to folded flat for storage or travel. The bouncer feels very sturdy on the floor, and the simple three-point button harness is easy to fasten and keeps baby secure. Note that it doesn’t come with any bells and whistles (like music or vibrating movements) to keep little ones entertained, which means no batteries or electric outlets are needed.

For my family, one of its best features was that it’s light (at just under 5 pounds, it weighs about as much as a large 2-liter bottle of soda) and easy to move from room to room. We’d set it up in different spots around our apartment where we needed to put my daughter down—it was my go-to every time I needed to take a shower during maternity leave. We also often placed it near one of our chairs at dinner time.

Performance
Our little one was very content looking around and bouncing in this seat. Once she was big enough to hold her head up well, she especially liked to sit in the bouncer at its tallest setting and watch what we were doing. However, some babies—especially fussy ones soothed by vibration and music—might get bored in the Balance Soft. BabyBjörn does make several cute toy bars that attach to it, but they’re sold separately (at a list price of $60). If the toy bars weren’t so expensive I would’ve bought one, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay that much.

I had dreams of gently bouncing my daughter to sleep in her Balance Soft, but this happened all of one time. In the end, the bouncer didn’t totally replace a swing for us—we still used an electric swing to get her to nap longer (although we ended up using the bouncer much more than the swing). Once she was a little bigger, we set up a brightly colored Jumperoo (complete with annoying battery-powered songs) that would keep her busy. So while the svelte Balance Soft didn’t add to the baby clutter in our two-bedroom apartment, our living room was taken over with infant items anyway.

While there are several similar products available at the same price point, the Balance Soft is three times more expensive than the cheapest bouncers on the market. Since bouncers are generally only used until babies can sit on their own (at about 6 months or so), some parents might not feel like it’s worth the expense. However, because the Balance Soft is well made, washable and easy to store, it’s a baby item that families can use for multiple kids. Ours was used by my daughter and our friends’ little boy and still looks like new, and is ready to be put back into action once our new baby arrives.

Design
The first thing anyone notices about the Balance Soft is its modern design and simple, sleek shape. It’s tech-free, looks great and might just match your living room furniture. And since it folds flat, you can even stash it under the couch.

BabyBjörn designed the bouncer to give proper ergonomic support to baby’s neck and back so parents can use it with a newborn. (Only the lowest recline is recommended for newborns until baby can hold his or her head upright comfortably.) We started using it during my daughter’s first month. You can also convert the bouncer into a toddler chair by reversing the cover (which hides the harness) and positioning it at its tallest setting, although we didn’t use it this way, since my daughter wanted more of a “big girl” chair once she hit toddlerhood.

The fabric seat cover is durable, easy to clean (it’s machine washable) and very soft. It’s actually one of the changes, along with creating a wider seat, that BabyBjörn made when the company upgraded from the previous Babysitter model.

Summary
This bouncer is beautiful, safe, durable and easy to use. The only downsides are that it’s relatively expensive and doesn’t have vibrating settings or music options, which some parents may miss.