A baby mobile is a device which produces soothing or attractive lights and music, while some soft toys spin slowly above. This is a good stimulation and soothing item which to me, is a must-have for babies.

I have been looking high and low for months for mobiles that are used for our co-sleeper, which belongs to the playpen category. Unfortunately, all the mobiles that I’ve found are only meant for cribs and cots, as they can only be secured between two vertical bars of the cribs/cots. Playpens do not have any vertical bars and so these mobiles cannot be used.

It was until today, when I paid visit to Kiddy Palace at Causeway Point again (I took half day leave), and I decided to enquire *again* for mobiles used for playpens. My previous enquires were fruitless but to my pleasant surprise, a young staff told me that there had been a new arrival, and they finally have a mobile meant for playpens!

Of course, I quickly went towards the display unit they mentioned, and took a look at it. Okay, the colours of the hanging soft toys ain’t exactly very bright colours (which babies with their poor eyesight reception may find it hard to see them), but I can make do with that.

The price is reasonable too (S$49.90 before discount), and an average mobile usually costs between S$45 to over $100. The country which it was manufactured held me back a bit, but thinking that since it can be sold in Kiddy Palace, its quality mustn’t be too bad right?

And so, I bought the mobile happily and went home, ready to show Darius his new toy.

Settling down at home, I opened the box and tried to look for an instruction manual — there was none. Oh well, I can fix it myself, I thought to myself.

First, I found the part which was to be connected to the spinning soft toys, and realised I had to unscrew one of the screws to access to the battery compartment. “Okay, it isn’t as user friendly as I thought…” But I also thought that perhaps this was intentional to prevent the battery cover from accidentally opening up and falling on the poor baby. This portion required 2 x AAA batteries (not included).

I then took out the main component which produces music, light and vibration. Yes, the vibration, according to the box, was to simulate the rocking motion in the mother’s womb, though I don’t see how that would really help unless the whole playpen would get vibrated strong enough. As before, a screw had to be unscrewed for the battery compartment, and it required 3 x AA batteries (not included).

With these done, I proceeded to test the functions. Phew! I was so glad they all worked! (worried too much?)

I then tried mounting it onto our co-sleeper (actually just putting it on one of the vertical bars). A bit loose, so I told myself that I would stick some sponge on the inside of the support to make it tighter.

It’s time for the most important part — to try out its effectiveness on Darius.

Before I could do that though, that was a problem. In the daytime, we always put Darius in the living room so that Cat or I can watch over him. In that case, we need a stable stand to mount the mobile on; we cannot be holding it ourselves right? ^^|

After searching high and low for a suitable stand, my eyes fell on the foot rest of a rocking chair we bought from IKEA some time back. It had a strong and stable base, and the height would be optimal when Darius is lying on the mattress on the floor.

The only problem was a horizontal supporting board would be blocking the way, and so I dismantled the foot rest to remove the board. Viola! A make-shift stand was ready!

And so the experiment began, as Darius was still getting restless despite after his feed. Here’s our first attempt:

The music was a bit loud (but might be just suitable for babies’ undeveloped hearing?) and the lights kinda glaring, but we got Darius’ attentions alright, especially with the spinning bears above him.

As the spinning etc went on, Darius started to get a bit too excited:

And so I quickly turned off the music and lights, and let him concentrate on the circling bears. Good to get excited to show that he is interested in his surroundings, but not so when it’s time for him to sleep.

I thought making him watch the circling bears would slowly put him to sleep, but it didn’t seem to work that way. We will experiment more with the mobile to see how things go.

Related posts:

1. Co-sleeper setup The baby’s sleeping place, the ‘Arm’s Reach Co-sleeper bassinet/playpen‘ was...
2. Baby Things- Co-Sleeper&Bolster We went shopping today intending to get a playmat and...