6 Things To Look For In a Nursing Chair
*This post contains no sponsored products or affiliate links*
This is for all of you FEEDING mamas! Whether you are nursing or bottle feeding, you need to be COMFORTABLE and stay comfortable!! Normally, people refer to nursing chairs as just that. But, they are chairs for any mom who feeds for hours a day, so I like to refer to them as feeding chairs.
After I had my first baby, I could NOT sit on ANYTHING. I was literally laying on my side all day because I was in too much pain to sit regularly. We had a wonderful nursing chair passed down from my husband’s grandmother with a newly re-upholstered cushion. THE PAIN!!!!! Even 3 pillows stacked on top of the seat couldn’t help (that and it was pushing me off of the chair)!
Fortunately, my husband and I had the most wonderful, G-d sent lactation consultant (we call her “the baby whisperer”) who not only saved my ability to nurse, but recommended the best chair brand for me, Dutailier! We drove about 2 hours just so I could sit in multiple Dutailier styles (yes, it hurt...but...necessities). There was ONE chair that didn’t hurt me to sit in. A blue and gray chair. Not my ideal colors, but it felt sooooo good to sit in!! So, that was the one we bought on the spot (see the end of this post for a link to my chair).
I have had two more babies since then, and that chair has been my shining light ever since. It’s known as “mommies chair.”
So much pain and discomfort can be prevented just with using the right feeding chair and having correct posture.
I see way too many women complaining of pain in their shoulders, neck, back, buttocks, hips, and core from sitting incorrectly for hours every day and night!!! So let’s nip this in the bud.
Here is my list of the top 6 things to looks for in a feeding chair for your comfort:
It has the option to glide and rock. You will probably want to use these features when rocking the baby to soothe him/her, as well as to adjust the chair so you can lean back comfortably while the baby is sleeping on you and you can’t (or don’t want to) get up.
It has the option to lock in place. This is wonderful because you can lock your chair for a good upright posture. If it’s not locked, the chair rocks back and forth when you shift in the seat which ruins good sitting posture. If you have kids, another fantastic benefit to the locking feature is they can’t disrupt the position of your chair when they are climbing all over it and wanting to play with it while you are with the baby. I rely on this feature greatly.
It has good padding on the seat, backrest, and armrests. The seat needs to be comfortable for your whole body, including your arms. The armrests also need to have good padding because as your baby grows, his/her legs will begin to rest on the armrests as they nurse.
It’s not too deep. Your feet should be able to touch the floor comfortably when you sit all the way back in the chair and in an upright position* (*read below about the importance of using a stool when feeding).
You can sit fully upright and lay your head back on a comfortably padded headrest. You will thank me for giving you this tip when you need to soothe your baby in the chair and lean your head back because you are too tired to hold your head upright any longer.
It’s comfortable for YOU. My husband doesn’t think my feeding chair is as magnificent as I make it out to be. But he isn’t the one spending all of the time there (he does use it to help, just not nearly as much as me). If you bottle feed your baby and your partner does equally the amount of feeding as you do; and you both do equal amounts of rocking the baby to soothe him/her, then your partner should have a say-so as well.
One last thing even though it isn’t prevalent to your feeding chair. A “nursing stool” such as this one is necessary when you feed! It has the ability to angle downwards, which positions your hips and pelvis in optimal position to allow you to have a good, upright posture. You can use this with any chair you are sitting in!
**My chair I was referring to above is similar to this one. Note how it has a nursing stool attached to the ottoman. I know the price point is hefty, but it is oh so worth it. They sell similar ones on Amazon that can do the trick; though my sensitive body after having babies prefers this one. I got the quality I paid for. It’s still in excellent condition after 3 kids, though it has some stains as you can see. I plan on using it for many more kids and for many more years. My chair. My love. (No, I’m not sponsored by Dutailier, but I should be. Here is their website for more options.). I STRONLY suggest you sit in a chair, whatever brand it may be, before you buy it.
After reading this, do you think you have a good chair or do you think you need to get a different chair??
If you don’t have a chair yet, now you have good guidelines on what to look for!!
You don’t need to be in pain from sitting in your own chair!!!