Porta Chair from BambinOz - Mum versus Dad Face Off

Welcome to DIYFather Face Off reviews, featuring Andrea and Eric parents of Ava.

Andrea and Eric will review products and give their own views on the products.

This is a review of BambinOz Porta Chair

Porta Chair from BambinOz is great for using at home, at a neighborhood cafe, or when you are simply visiting a friend's house. The innovative design fits a variety of chairs and is flexible to accommodate your growing child. Weighing less than 280 grams, the Porta Chair folds compactly and can go wherever you go. It's small enough to fit in your diaper bag or the bottom of your stroller.

Take the Porta Chair with you to restaurants and avoid exposure to germs on highchairs used by hundreds of other children. It's also great way to keep children secure during when you are travelling through busy airports or malls when there's no highchair in sight.

We've paid particular attention to the details in designing this product. All of the straps are fully adjustable for maximum safety and the soft cushioning will keep your child comfortable. We've also added a convenient cord at the bottom so you can neatly fold and carry the Porta Chair when not in use.

Key Features:

• Suitable for ages 5 - 30 months


• Fits most chairs (dining and cafe style)


• Five-point safety harness


• Fully adjustable straps to fit growing baby


• Folds compactly


• Machine washable


• Independently tested


• Accredited and approved by the Infant Nursery Products Association of Australia (INPAA), Inc.

BambinOz

From Andrea (Mum)

Well we have reviewed one other portable chair in our time here on face off so I’m a convert and becoming quite a fan of the highchair alternative.
Bambinoz is an Australian company headed by a mum who found a hole in the marked for parents who were wanting to get out and about with their child.

The Bambinoz Porta Chair i

s a convenient and compact option for parents who don’t like to use the sometimes “scungy” highchairs on offer at local cafes or restaurants or worse when there isn’t one for use.

I have to say that whilst there are many great features there were a few straps to untangle and sort to get it on the chair, but straight forward enough I guess. The Bambinoz Porta chair claims it would fit most chairs however if you had a high backed chair it wouldn’t really be suitable, still it does say most not all.

Once on the chair when we put Ava in she seemed happy and comfortable enough however there were a couple extra safety straps that went over her shoulders (a five point harness) which she absolutely hated an kicked a huge stink over so we resorted to putting her in the chair without these done up. I think if she had using this from a younger age it would not be an issue.

Bambinoz Porta chair once on the chair is fairly straight forward and easy to use, up between the legs round the back of the chair and clips together – very quick and very easy. It does state that it is suitable from 5 to 30 months of age but as a general rule I would have to say that your baby would need to be sitting up well by themselves with no sliding over as the Bambinoz porta chair does not offer a snug firm fit so would not really offer any support.

At AUD79.95 it is a bit more expensive than some of the others on offer but it does the job! Very compact and easy to transport it fits in your nappy bag and can also be thrown in the washing machine, which makes it very easy to clean.

From Eric (Dad)

I was keen to review another portable chair harness, as Ava doesn’t really enjoy sitting in the high-chair that much, she hates being strapped in it. However she doesn’t seem to mind being strapped in if she is sitting in a big person chair, using a portable chair harness.

The Porta Chair came in a tidy little roll, once I unravelled the roll I could tell that it drapes over the back of the chair, but that was it, I had to revert to the instructions to see how it actually went together, there were no instructions (well illustrations) showing how to put the shoulder straps in place, so I can only hope I did it right, the rest I could work out for myself.

Ava went into it very easily, except she really doesn’t like shoulder straps, so we did without after the all the time (2 minutes) it took for me to work out how the shoulder straps might work.

The straps and the fact that it is secured over the back of the chair not only adds to the security of the child in the Porta Chair but also to the comfort.

What I liked about the Porta Chair:
• Easy to get Ava in and out off, with only once clip to deal with (if not using the shoulder straps)
• Lightweight and rolls up small
• Doesn’t need a bag to put it into
• Easy to wash and fast drying

What I would had liked to had seen on the Porta Chair:
• More illustrations in the Instructions, or included on the Porta Chair, just in case the instructions get lost
• As the Porta Chair is secured over the back of the chair, some small amount of padding for the child’s back could had been used, for wooden backed chairs (it will add to volume)

The only thing I would fault this product on is, “what if I have high back chairs?” The In-laws have high back dinning chairs and there is no-way the Porta Chair is going to get over the top of that, unless I missing something in the instructions…

This is a good product and like I said, Ava prefers this over a high chair

WARNING: This is not a fault of the product, but more a recent observation when having a small child in a big person chair.
Don’t leave your child unattended, Ava has a habit of pushing against the table with her hands and feet causing the chair to rock back enough for it to fall, this has only happened once, but I was there to catch the chair.
I would recommend seating the child with a wall behind them to catch them if they happen to push the chair back over.