Mothercare’s Bouncer Chair

When I was a baby, my father spent hours rocking my bouncer chair with his foot apparently so when Franklin hadn’t yet been born, I went on the hunt for one.

Things have moved on since 1974 it seems.  Bouncer chairs now vibrate, rock, swing and do the washing up*.

However, I am old school (and a bit tight and didn’t fancy spending £50 on something he might not like) so I bought an old fashioned bouncer chair from Mothercare for £14.99, that I have to bounce with my foot, just like my dad used to do.  The one in that link has a different pattern on the fabric to the one I have, but it’s the same thing.

It has been a God send.  When he was tiny he had reflux and so every time I laid him down he puked.  I mean REALLY puked.  So putting him in the bouncer chair was a nice way of keeping him a little bit upright and some milk inside of him.

Now he’s on the verge of sitting up unaided and napping on the sofa or in his cot instead, it’s not going to get used for much longer and it’s just as well really as one of the edges has started to fray where I’ve kept my foot on it to rock it constantly.  If we ever have another baby, I’ll definitely be buying another one of these.

*that might not be true

Mummy rating: 
One of my best baby buys.  Highly recommended.

Franklin rating: 
It was lovely not to throw up all the time, and it’s comfy for a snooze too.

Ikea’s Antilop Highchair

Before I had the baby, LOADS of people told me about Ikea’s Antilop highchair. “You’ll love it” they cried “it’s cheap, babies love it and it’s easy to clean”.

I was a bit dubious if I’m honest.  How can a £16 high chair compete with the space-age styling of something like the Bloom Fresco chair?

Well, I’ve never tried the Bloom Fresco chair because what kind of BONKERS PERSON spends £470 on a highchair?  Not me. But I can tell you the Antilop chair does pretty much everything I need it to.

Firstly, it is very easy to put together.  You can buy it with or without the tray  – we bought it with – and it has a little safety strap.  We’ve not got on that well with the strap actually as no matter how loose or tight we make it it makes Franklin sit at a weird angle so we don’t bother using it.  We might revise that decision when he’s big enough to climb out of the chair on his own.

We’re going down the baby led weaning route at the moment so there’s a fair bit of mess and the Antilop is great for that.  With no twiddly bits or soft cushions for food to get trapped in, it wipes clean very easily.  Incidentally if you plan to do baby led weaning I’d recommend you get a dog.  Ours is a perfect vacuum cleaner under the chair.

Now for the downsides.  It’s not that pretty to look at.  It’s pretty inoffensive but no one is ever going to say “wow look at that highchair”.  It doesn’t have any height adjustment and doesn’t tilt or swivel at all.  I can’t actually imagine a situation where I would need to tilt it but some do so presumably it’s a feature some mums want.  Lastly, whilst not having a padded seat is good on the cleaning front, it has meant that Franklin has thrown his head back and hit it on the hard chair a couple of times.  We’ve got round that by slinging a jumper over the back of it – see the photo above – so as long as you don’t mind rice cakes rubbed into your clothes that sorts out that issue.

On balance, I really like it.  Franklin can sit in it even though he’s not quite sitting unaided at the moment and can still use his hands to eat.  And anything that doesn’t take ages to clean always gets the thumbs up from me.

Mummy rating: 
Easy to clean, cheap, easy to assemble but not the most attractive chair

Franklin rating: 
Yum yum I love my food and this chair keeps me upright for eating.  It hurts my head sometimes though

Fisher Price Jumperoo

My mum rolled her eyes a bit and scoffed when I said I’d spent nearly £100 on a piece of baby equipment a month or so ago, but it turned out to be a great investment.

The Fisher Price Jumperoo came highly recommended from other mummies and having tried it out at a friend’s house we decided to jump in and get one.  As I said, it’s a bit pricey.  In fact we’d tried to buy one second hand to start with but had no luck so ended up get a brand spanking new one for a bit more cash than I would have liked.

My husband had the dubious honour of putting it all together and despite his moaning it actually didn’t take too long at all.

On the box the Jumperoo is recommended for 8 months+ but we got ours when Franklin was 4 months.  The only issue was even though it has three height settings, his little feet didn’t touch the floor so we had to stick a couple of reams of paper under his feet.

Franklin was a bit suspicious at first and wouldn’t stay in it for more than a few minutes but at six months he’s really cracked it and will give it a good go for twenty minutes or so.  He also now touches the floor so he can get a really good bounce going.  He’s able to turn himself round in the swivel chair so can decide for himself if he wants to play with the parts that light up and play music, or the spinning lizards or suns.  He’s not that impressed with the pop up tiger but to be fair, nor am I.  It doesn’t pop up very far and seems a wee bit pointless.

It really did hurt my bank balance buying it but we plan to sell it when he’s done with it and expect to recoup about 50% of the cost as they go quite well on eBay.

The other negatives is that it takes up a LOT of room in our lounge as it’s quite a bulky item, and it’s a real struggle to get him into the seat on my own.

Mummy rating: 
Amuses the baby for ages, has helped develop his coordination, noises aren’t too annoying, easy to put together but expensive and difficult to put the baby in it on my own

Franklin rating: 
I love it!

Buggy Tug

Did you know that in Australia all prams are fitted with a wrist strap?  Down Under there have been a number of horrible accidents, including a pram going under a train in Melbourne, that led to the change in the law there.  In the UK, it’s not a legal requirement but I suspect British parents are just as wary of their babies rolling off into the middle of the road as the Aussies.

Step forward the Buggy Tug.  This neoprene wrist band slips over your hand and stops your pram from drifting away from you.

My wrist is significantly thicker than the slender one in this pic, but it still fits me comfortably.  It’s also very inconspicuous so even when it’s not in use it’s not spoiling the look of the pram.  I like it because it’s dead easy to use and does the job without any complicated bits and pieces.  It’s only £3.99 so won’t break the bank and is one of those nice little stocking fillers for Christmas or a new baby gift.  It’s available from www.buggytug.com and various retailers including Amazon.

It really is one of those things which you think is so simple it’s a wonder it hasn’t been invented before.

 

Mummy rating:  
Cheap, simple and effective

Franklin rating: 
Keeps me safe

Hello!

This is Franklin.  He’s six months old and a bit of a monkey.  He likes yoghurt, his Jumperoo, chewing on Mummy’s fingers and stroking the dog.  There are a lot of other things he likes too and on KoolKiddies we’ll be telling you all about them.  Each review we write will have a Mummy rating and a Franklin rating and along the way you’ll get to hear a bit about our life too.