A contraption recently posted by a parent to Imgur has the Internet equal parts impressed and concerned.
The "Parenting Hack: Kitchen Aid Bouncer w/ White Noise" includes a baby bouncer bobbing up and down as a mixer — yes, a mixer — spins around, Scary Mommy reports. The two items are tied together by what looks like a ribbon or piece of cloth. They say desperate times call for desperate measures, and this is a desperate measure if we've ever seen one.
The baby in the GIF is peacefully asleep, but as many Reddit commenters have pointed out, there's a lot that could go wrong. Predictably, the thread got morbid very fast. "When (not if) that piece of cloth catches, it will dump the baby into the mixing paddle there an arm or leg will likely catch, spinning the baby around in the mixer until baby dies or someone stops the mixer, whichever happens first," commenter tercraetor wrote. Dunderpunch had a different concern: "until you've run it for 100 hours and the baby has tinnitus from listening to the whiny bearings next to his head."
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Others were more worried for the device's sake. "As cool as this is, I don't think it's very good for the mixer. The chef in me is annoyed," wrote Bearbot128. "As someone that has burned out a lower wattage kitchen aid mixer making bread... yeah. I'm with ya," echoed Ne0r15s.
Whatever people's specific qualms were with the invention, the consensus seems to be that you probably shouldn't try to emulate it. If you're having trouble getting a baby to sleep, your best bet is to put them on their back in a cradle inside a dark room the moment they get tired, according to WebMD. A bath, story, or other relaxing ritual might also help. That's not as exciting as a "kitchen aid bouncer," but it definitely carries fewer risks.
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