One of the (many) gloomy pronouncements parents told my husband and I during my pregnancy was: "you like having dinner together, sitting down, talking? Yeah, enjoy that now. 'Cos it won't happen again til the little one's 18. Or older, with the new uni fees. They'll never leave home."
For the first few nights, I could see what they meant: tiny man would lie in his Moses basket for oooh, about two minutes as we served up the food - then insist on sitting on one of our laps or going for a walk up and down the stairs (again) when we were ready to eat.
But when he got a little bit bigger - about four weeks - that all changed because he could sit up, in a bouncer, and take in the view as we ate, and he really liked it. Our bouncer was a family hand-me-down; it was missing its head rest but it still had a vibrate function that gave us another few minutes' eating time when just-plain-sitting there got a bit boring.
Then along came the Babymoov Swoon Up, a brand-new bouncer that frankly I wish I could fit into: it's a lot more comfy than our kitchen chairs. Its USP is having two levels - so your babe can be sitting (or lying - it's adjustable like an airline seat) at ankle-height, or it can be set much higher up so they can sit almost at your dinner table.
And it's great. There is a five-point harness to keep the baby on-board, and the cushion is seriously plump and soft. The chair can swivel around (360 degrees) too so if, say, you're cooking the baby can be facing you and learning how to make a bolognese early in life, then with an easy push they can face another direction. There's a mobile too (although my babe inexplicably isn't a fan of the dangling animals), and the whole thing folds up.
The latter point is useful because one of the chair's only bad points is it has a really big floor footprint. Even though the seating bit itself isn't huge, the floor pads spread out wide (which is good for stability) it does make it hard to tuck the chair in, and easy for grown-ups to trip over.
Another drawback? The newborn-insert cushioning is white.. Which isn't the best for a young baby who fairly often has a poo-nami or throwing-up event. It is, though, easy to take off the chair and wash (it goes in the washing machine at 30 degrees).
A few extra details: the Swoon Up is suitable from birth up to 9kg, costs £119, dimensions (at full height) are H78 x W77 x D57cm, and it weighs 7kg.
* Item sent to Run out of Womb for review. Rest assured, though, that I'm seriously gobby and would never rave about something that's rubbish.
For the first few nights, I could see what they meant: tiny man would lie in his Moses basket for oooh, about two minutes as we served up the food - then insist on sitting on one of our laps or going for a walk up and down the stairs (again) when we were ready to eat.
But when he got a little bit bigger - about four weeks - that all changed because he could sit up, in a bouncer, and take in the view as we ate, and he really liked it. Our bouncer was a family hand-me-down; it was missing its head rest but it still had a vibrate function that gave us another few minutes' eating time when just-plain-sitting there got a bit boring.
Then along came the Babymoov Swoon Up, a brand-new bouncer that frankly I wish I could fit into: it's a lot more comfy than our kitchen chairs. Its USP is having two levels - so your babe can be sitting (or lying - it's adjustable like an airline seat) at ankle-height, or it can be set much higher up so they can sit almost at your dinner table.
And it's great. There is a five-point harness to keep the baby on-board, and the cushion is seriously plump and soft. The chair can swivel around (360 degrees) too so if, say, you're cooking the baby can be facing you and learning how to make a bolognese early in life, then with an easy push they can face another direction. There's a mobile too (although my babe inexplicably isn't a fan of the dangling animals), and the whole thing folds up.
The latter point is useful because one of the chair's only bad points is it has a really big floor footprint. Even though the seating bit itself isn't huge, the floor pads spread out wide (which is good for stability) it does make it hard to tuck the chair in, and easy for grown-ups to trip over.
Another drawback? The newborn-insert cushioning is white.. Which isn't the best for a young baby who fairly often has a poo-nami or throwing-up event. It is, though, easy to take off the chair and wash (it goes in the washing machine at 30 degrees).
A few extra details: the Swoon Up is suitable from birth up to 9kg, costs £119, dimensions (at full height) are H78 x W77 x D57cm, and it weighs 7kg.
* Item sent to Run out of Womb for review. Rest assured, though, that I'm seriously gobby and would never rave about something that's rubbish.