Every once in awhile we come across something so functional, stylish and fun that it makes us really, really wish we had a baby again. And this swaying, bouncing, car-ride imitating, iPod connecting, swish baby seat – thought seat doesn’t quite encompass all that this does – definitely ignited our baby lust.

Designed for babies from birth to 25 lbs (or about six months) the mamaRoo, a creation of 4moms, was shaped by the expertise of a team of designers, doctors, nurses and hundreds of parents. Parents don’t vibrate like bouncy seats or swing like swings, instead they bounce and sway, so 4moms created an infant seat with five different and unique calming motions imitating those most frequently used by parents. The mamaRoo also has variable speeds for rest or play, a seat that reclines at any point along it’s axis, a developmentally appropriate mobile, built in sounds and the ability to connect to any MP3 player in case your little one’s more into the Beatles than nature sounds (or you are). And it has a certain design je ne sais quoi.

But is it as useful (and cool) as it seems? Well our tester, an experienced mother on her second tot, who used a cradle swing and vibrating bouncy chair with her first, found this to be the perfect replacement for them both. Not only does it have a footprint that’s much smaller than your typical baby swing, which is handy whether you live in a small or big space, because of all the different ways you can make it move you can adapt it to your particular babe. Oh and a big plus? It’s very quiet with no irritating buzz or back and forth ticking and tocking. The white noise option is much less irritating – for parents – than the saccharine tunes that often come with your standard swing or baby chair. And because it’s quite light it can be moved from room to room relatively easily, although it’s hard to get up and down stairs. But the biggest plus of all is that our tester’s baby immediately falls asleep in it as soon as she settles in. And sleeps for a long time. And what parent wouldn’t find that appealing?

mamaRoo: www.londondrugs.com (instore and online)

The mamaRoo is unique and it’s hard to give you the big picture with words alone so if you’ve intrigued you may want to check out their handy video. If a picture’s worth a thousand words we wonder how many words a video is worth?