A huggable stuffed doll offers an easy way to comfort a restless baby. While the Bounceroo offers the same comforting squishy qualities, it can also take care of rocking baby’s crib, so you can busy yourself with other matters, like attending to an older tyke who just spilled his food all over the kitchen floor. Yeah, being a parent of very young children isn’t fun.
Created by UK-based Innovative Baby Products, it’s an upcoming line of stuffed animals with a head that can grab onto the sides of children’s rockers, then contract and elongate its neck to gently swing it side by side. Whether your infant is chilling in a crib, a bouncer, or a car seat, this thing will take care of providing the relaxing motions that enable them to more easily drift off. At least, that’s what you’re hoping for.
The first Bounceroo is called Gerry the Giraffe, an adorable plushy version of the world’s tallest mammal, with an extra-long neck. An integrated motor bobs the head up and down to rock the cradle, with four D-type batteries supplying the power (a fresh set is good for only 21 hours of use tops, so you might want to stock up). Features include four speed settings, a built-in timer that lets you set how long it should run (max is 30 minutes), and even a neck extension, in case you need the extra length when baby sleeps in a crib. The weight it supports maxes out at 24 pounds (it shuts off automatically when more weight is detected), so don’t even begin to think about lying in the crib and having a robot giraffe rock you to slumber.
An Indiegogo campaign is currently running to fund Bounceroo. Pledges to reserve one Gerry the Giraffe starts at $89. Do note, we doubt this is going to get funded (battery life is a deal-breaker and campaign’s nearly done), but we do love the idea and we hope it gets improved on, going forward.