The Best Baby Swings of 2023

Because every baby has a different preference when it comes to swings, the Graco Duetsoothe Swing + Rocker’s variable swing directions are key. You can spin the seat 180 degrees, meaning your baby can swing from side-to-side facing either direction, or from front-to-back. Overall, we think this swing is likely to soothe your baby, no matter their swinging preferences.

The Duetsoothe is a bulky 34 inches wide and 43 inches tall, but its lean look and grey coloring make it visibly less obtrusive than many of the other swings we tested. You can remove the seat and use it as a stand-alone rocker, which gives you a portable place to set your baby anywhere in the house. Note that the rocker itself is not electronic (the full swing can be plugged in or operated using D batteries), so you may have to walk by and kick it occasionally to keep your baby moving.

The Duetsoothe contains many useful and fun features: a mobile with three stuffed bears, 10 subtle classical music songs (and a range of volumes), white noise in the form of five nature soundtracks, and a two-speed, battery-operated vibration setting. This was also one of the quietest swings we tested—unlike many of the other models, the motor didn’t make loud noises and there was no back-and-forth clicking sound. And it slows down when you reach in to touch your baby or remove them from the swing, then speeds up again once you’ve removed your hands.

The DuetSoothe is also made with high-quality materials, which suggests that you could use this swing for quite some time, and also that it’s still a good purchase even if it’s been used by another family. The seat—which was fairly recumbent—has a 5-point harness and a padded headrest. It contains an infant insert, and can be used for babies from 5.5 to 30 pounds. (Note that the weight limit on the stand-alone rocker is only 18 pounds.) You can easily remove the seat pad (which is attached via elastic loops and straps) and machine wash it in cold water on a delicate cycle, but the brand recommends air drying the pad after you do so.

A few downsides: The DuetSooth swings at six speeds, but we found that anything over the 4th speed was too fast and risked rolling our baby from side to side, as well as hitting other things in the room because of the swing’s width. It was also fairly difficult to build; after 30 minutes, we abandoned the tough-to-decipher manual and headed to YouTube. And even when it’s detached from the swing, the rocker is bulky and tough to take in the car; if you’re planning to carry a swing with you to multiple locations, you’ll want to pick something else.

The DuetSoothe had nearly 2,000 reviews on Amazon at the time of this writing, with an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars. Most of the reviews are positive, but some users complain about a clicking noise that develops after using the swing for a month or more, which is likely a motor issue. We didn’t have this problem but swings are notorious for developing motor problems, so we recommend reaching out to Graco and asking for replacement parts if that issue happens in your home.