A boost for your toddler's Bottom! (Mothercare Basic Booster Seat)

Member Name: mummy2harry

Product:	Mothercare Basic Booster Seat
Date:	25/06/08 (209 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, easy to fix to the chair, adjustable, cleanable

Disadvantages: None

Once Harry reached a year old, we were a bit fed up of bringing out the bulky old high chair for every single meal time, and then stacking it away again when we'd eaten. After all, he was big enough to sit up on his own, so I decided it would be time to sit him up the table properly with us to learn his table manners and to feed himself properly. We started this when we went visiting my parents, and my mum produced this little seat for Harry to sit at up the table with us, and we've never looked back since!

Although a high chair is suitable for the youngest of children, as many now recline and have various seat settings, I feel once a child reaches a certain age, it is good to get them up the table with you to learn how to eat properly. There are many different booster seats available at the moment, some which appear to be all singing and all dancing, and then there are the more basic ones such as the one we have for Harry. The idea of a booster seat is that it sits on the adult dining chair and boosts the child up to a height where they will be able to reach the table properly.

As you can see from the picture, this is a very basic booster seat, but it does everything that one would need from a booster seat in my opinion, and for a superbly cheap price too. The chair is a light blue in colour, completely made of plastic, and has green canvas belts to hold your child into the seat. This is a strip which comes up between their legs with a hoop on and 2 sides strips, one of which goes through the hoops and the two fasten together with a clip. This is fully adjustable so you can asjust it as your child grows or is uncomfortable. Of course, it has to be fastened to the adult seat as well, and this is also done with 2 canvas strips which comes the sides of the booster, and clip together under the seat. Again you adjust this until the chair is tightly fixed to your chair simply by pulling the long strip until its tight.

Although it is a basic seat, we've never had any problems with Harry being uncomfortable in it at all and he sits so nicely at the table since he's had his chair, I think it makes children feel much more part of the dinner table experience and teaches them invaluable learning skills they will need as they progress through nursery and school etc. The seat features quite nice high sides, so your child can't just lean over and fall off the chair, and is also a nice stabiliser for the younger children using this chair as well. As well as the sides, there is a nice high back to the seat, which is only made of plastic but is perfectly comfortable, Harry is fine sitting back against it without a problem. Perhaps for younger children you could pop a little cushion behind their backs just to make them a bit more comfortable but its perfectly fine without that!

For the price, which is just £11.99, this is a great value seat which is going to last you as long as you need it. It's suitable for children who are able to sit unaided up until the age of around 4, or whenever they grow too big for it / don't need it anymore. Being made of plastic, it's totally cleanable, and if you use make sure to use an antibacterial spray, its a hygenic chair too as food spillages won't stick and it's clean when you wipe it down. The canvas straps are nice and tough, and the clips are also too hard to undo for younger children and require quite a hard press to unlock so your child can't just let himself out of it when he pleases. It's a nice big size, and should fit on any adult dining chair, and obviously the strapping can be adjusted to hold it tightly to any chair.

The booster seat is available to buy in most Mothercare stores, of which there are many around the country. Alternatively, you can also order the seat online for a price of £11.99 plus a postage charge of £3.95. For the money, it is a great product which is robust, hygenic, comfortable and great for teaching children how to sit up the table properly. I'd throughly recommend it. For more information on this seat, and other types of booster seats, see the Mothercare website at www.mothercare.co.uk.

Thank you for reading

Summary: A great booster seat