Is it worth buying the Nuna Leaf chair?

Welcome to the first in a series of posts called ‘is it worth buying…?’ These are reviews of things I have bought for my baby, or for myself, (or perhaps been sent to review – I’m open to offers!) with an honest opinion of what really matters – is it actually worth spending your money on?

First up, the Nuna Leaf chair.

We had a couple of chairs for our baby – one vibrates gently and the other swings – but both said they were only suitable for up to six months. At five and a half months my baby already looked like she was far too heavy for the vibrating chair as it was just a thin fabric over a plastic frame (and she’s only on the 50^th percentile for weight). But having a chair is really handy when you need to put the baby down for a while, or when they want to sit comfortably and even fall asleep.

We went to visit friends who have a toddler and were expecting a new baby, and saw they had a Nuna Leaf chair. My husband was keen that we get one straight away as it’s a stylish piece of furniture, but it isn’t cheap – new, it costs £150.

Here are the pros and cons as I see it:

Pros

• A really sturdy chair with a strong plush fabric material on a metal base. The website says the chair is suitable for up to 60kg (which made one adult meant she could sit in it, but she didn’t try!) but elsewhere I’ve read it’s suitable for up to 4 years.
• A very stylish piece of furniture – ours is grey with a darker grey insert and a silver metal base. It matches our living room décor really nicely and is good if you feel you already have enough brightly coloured plastic around!
• An easily adjustable Velcro strap that looks fairly comfortable as well
• The chair gently swivels from side to side for about two minutes, apparently mimicking the movement of a leaf in the wind
• You can also lock the chair so it doesn’t swing which is easier to put the baby in and out
• It’s a soothing, calming experience for your baby as the chair doesn’t vibrate or play music (we have a swinging chair that plays music, and while the swinging is on a timer and eventually stops, the music doesn’t unless you get up and turn it off which can be annoying once baby has gone to sleep!) – this chair is particularly good if baby is looking a bit tired and you think they might want a nap but you don’t want to actually put them to bed
• It comes with an optional toy bar for another £20 – but we found that after about four or five months, our daughter was less interested in playing with toys dangling from a bar above her and preferred to hold a toy in her hands to play with. She’s really happy sitting in the Nuna chair fiddling with Sophie the Giraffe.
• Decent re-sale value – I bought ours for £35 second hand but there were ones advertised on Ebay for a fair bit more, and they are a bit harder to come by second hand so someone who specifically wants to buy one will potentially pay a bit more.

Cons

• The price – with an RRP of £150 this is an expensive chair even though it will last a long time, and especially given it doesn’t actually do a lot like tilt or play music. But we were able to get ours second hand (in really good condition) for £35 on Ebay from a seller who was only 15 minutes away; also check out your local Facebook market place and other selling sites. Also keep an eye on sales – I saw one recently for half price in the Dunelm sale but it very quickly sold out.
• The side to side motion only lasts two minutes and as it isn’t battery powered you have to get up and nudge the chair again to make it continue swinging which can be a bit annoying
• The Velcro straps are noisy to undo. Sometimes my daughter falls asleep in the chair before time for bed so I have to take her out and carry her upstairs, which I can usually do while she is still asleep but the sound of undoing the Velcro often wakes her up
• The fact that it doesn’t do anything else like play music or come with toys can be a downside depending on your opinion and what you are looking for.

Conclusion – is the Nuna Leaf worth buying?

It really depends what you want in a chair and I think there are more fun options for baby (that are  much cheaper) when they are under 6 months, but for 6 months up to toddler age this chair seems really good, and I’m sure it will be a part of our living room for a few years at least.

Definitely worth buying if you can find a cheap one second hand and a good investment if bought new.

Nuna also sells the Leaf Grow which has a reclining mechanism that usually retails for £200 compared to the original Leaf at £149