Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Do I need a nursing chair?

39 replies

Siepie · 19/05/2020 21:31

I'm currently pregnant with my first.

It seems as if all new parents have rocking chairs or poang type chairs for feeding the baby in.

I was planning to feed in bed or on the sofa and arm chair. Am I missing something? What's the advantage of special nursing chairs?

OP posts:
DesiDiva2020 · 19/05/2020 21:32

I love mine, I picked it up second hand and only really started using it once baby was out of my room and in their own room. It's so comfortable

ivfgottostaypositive · 19/05/2020 21:36

I didn't bother - they are so expensive and I only breastfed for around 12 weeks - they are also pretty ugly and not a piece of furniture you'd keep in a room afterwards. I did look for a vintage Victorian/Edwardian nursing chair but again really expensive. You might think now that you'd take yourself off to whichever room it is in to feed but actually you'll end up doing it in whichever room you are in for convenience and with babies sleeping in your own room for the first 6 months night feeds tend to get done in bed - especially if you have a c section - you aren't going to pick baby up and consciously move to another room or chair in the corner then back to bed.....

Orangedaisy · 19/05/2020 21:37

I bought an upright ish armchair from Ikea, not a special nursing chair. I spent hours in it day and night (could never figure out feeding comfortably in bed) and it was perfect. Only just stopped feeding DD2 at bedtime in February (she’s 3 now) and her, me and Dd1 (6) all squish into it for stories now.

Peanut55 · 19/05/2020 21:37

I wish I had one but we didn't have the space. Our living room was also being redecorated and took 7 weeks!! (One thing after another)

So I bf on the side of my bed. I managed fine.

If you have the space and the money do it :)

Good luck for the rest of your pregnancy

CaramelWaferAndTea · 19/05/2020 21:38

Didn’t buy one. Had money and space but thought they were unnecessary.

Sat in one with my five month old. Bought it immediately...!

Orangedaisy · 19/05/2020 21:38

I did consciously get up and move to another room as we agreed I wouldn’t disturb DP so he could be with it and look after me/do all the chores/go to work and all I had to do was feed and sleep when I could.

Mumdiva99 · 19/05/2020 21:40

I never had one as I didn't have the room. (I bff all 3 of mine in bed, on the sofa or wherever I was at the time. If I had space I would have liked one downstairs to start with and then I would have moved it into the nursery for night feeds when they were a bit older, story and snuggle time, me to sit on and rock in when I was sat next to the cot for whatever reason....which happened on many occasions.

Original poster
Siepie · 19/05/2020 21:49

The only room we could fit one would be the baby's room, but there's already a sofa bed in there which we're planning to leave there for the first couple of years anyway.

There's really no space in our room or the living room, where I imagine I'll be doing most of the feeds.

OP posts:
2020times · 19/05/2020 21:50

Had one, used it about twice. In the day you'll just be on the sofa.

Learning to feed lying down was a game changer for me and I just did night feeds in bed (but then we have co-slept since 5 months)!

penguinsbegin · 19/05/2020 21:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

KellyHall · 19/05/2020 21:55

Of course you don't NEED one... I did get a big, round, cane chair and loved it - it supported me unlike any traditional upright chair and I could push it down flat so I could put dd in it when she was really tiny and she couldn't roll off/tip over/etc.

Even if you don't get a special chair, I would set up an area with:

  • Breastfeeding cushion
  • Extra cushion(s) for under your elbow. Dd took all kinds of weird and wonderful positions to latch properly at the beginning
  • Remote controls (we got extra ones for our side lights and fan(summer)/heater(winter)
  • Drink
  • Snack
  • Blanket for baby
  • Blanket for you

I breastfed dd for 18 months and loved our little nest.

FinallyGotAnIPhone · 19/05/2020 21:58

No. Bf cushions are quite good and you can buy then cheap second hand.

DesiDiva2020 · 19/05/2020 22:00

If you end up breastfeeding past 6 months and baby moves into their own room and they feed during the night then it's so so useful

newmummy8789 · 19/05/2020 22:00

I had wonderful images of me feeding the baby in ours in his bedroom...well i don't think I've ever used it! I fed laying down early on and fed laying down so I didn't have to get up at night 😆

Twickerhun · 19/05/2020 22:01

I didn’t use one at all - they aren’t needed

firstimemamma · 19/05/2020 22:02

I breastfed for 16 months and sat on the sofa for downstairs and there was a spare bed that I liked to sit on while feeding in his nursery. Obviously night feeds were in our bed.

These were my 3 special designated feeding spaces in the house. No chair necessary but I do think having somewhere you plan to feed would be helpful.

LivingThatLockdownLife · 19/05/2020 22:03

Nah.

Bf lying down is the best

NellMangel · 19/05/2020 22:03

I didnt get one. But I wish I had. I went to john lewis feeding room one day and the chair was so comfortable. Had I known I would have looked out for a second hand one earlier. By the time I discovered this DC was so large a nursing sofa would have been more appropriate.

ElphiasDoge · 19/05/2020 22:06

I didn’t use it at all when he was a newborn in with us, had a next to me crib, fed in bed, on the sofa, in the park...

Once he was in his own room at 7 months it was useful to have a comfy chair in there for sitting by the cot settling him. You don’t need to get one right away I’d say. Wait until you know what you want. You never know you light even be able to take the baby to an actual shop and try it out for comfort if you wait!

Epwell · 19/05/2020 22:06

I would not have survived without mine. I had a very difficult labour and the only place I could manage to feed afterwards was in the chair - it keeps you supported in all the right places. (I could barely walk for a few days)We had it in the baby's room and it was perfect, we kept it for ages it was such a comfortable chair.

stardance · 19/05/2020 22:07

I wasn't going to get one, seemed an unnecessary expense. But my Mum saw a second hand one for sale at a good price while I was in hospital recovering from a c section and decided to surprise me. I loved it and used it loads- it was the most comfortable place to sit while I was still recovering. Then later when DD moved to her own room we put the chair in there for night feeds.

UnderTheSleepingBaby · 19/05/2020 22:09

I didn't use mine much for the first few months with either of mine, but at the point where they got a bedtime and I wanted to feed them to sleep and then put them down I used it. I have used it every night since for bedtime. Even after I stopped feeding my first we sat in it for stories and then I rocked him to sleep with a cuddle (up until I was too pregnant to lift him into him bed after). I still feed my youngest to sleep in it at nearly 3. I never used it in the night, as have always brought them into my bed and fed back to sleep laying down.

If you like them and are going to cuddle/feed to sleep for a long time and can afford it then I'd get one. If you plan to get them falling asleep in their own bed as quickly as possible then I wouldn't bother.

daisyphase · 19/05/2020 22:16

I had one, but was happy breastfeeding in bed, on the sofa, etc, too. It was a bother afterwards though. I wanted to keep it for baby number 2, but it was a constant worry To me that little fingers would get trapped in the rocking mechanisms. I must have had it in the house for about 6 years, and it was always a worry to me. The kids loved playing on it. Thank goodness nothing went wrong.

DrinkingInTheNightGarden · 19/05/2020 22:16

I didn't use one and was fine for feeding, however I got one for £20 off Facebook marketplace when she was older and we like to have cuddles on it now.

BertieBotts · 19/05/2020 22:17

The advantage of it is if you are trying to get the baby to sleep in its own cot. I always found this to be an utterly pointless endeavour :o if you co-sleep you don't need one. Actually good point by PP that if you're planning to get them totally independent ASAP then you probably don't need one either - it's for that in between where you are happy to rock/feed/cuddle but you want some separation from your bed.

I do have one for DC2 (it's just an old swivelly office chair which rocks because it's broken) and it has helped with nap times and I use it for night feeds mainly because DH keeps going on about getting him to stay in his bed, but I'm not trying very hard if I'm honest.

For feeding during the day and not for routine type naps, I preferred to feed just wherever I was because to me that's more practical. I think for me personally if I had felt that I had to go to a special area specifically for feeds I would have felt really trapped as newborns can really go in for feeding marathons. It made more sense to me to feed on my computer chair/the sofa or just take him to bed, lie down and feed there. Or sit up in bed and feed. Or indeed feed wherever I felt like being.