If you had asked me to name the product I'd expect to find most useful from birth while I was pregnant, I'd have chosen my Moses Basket, or a Baby Carrier, our Sleep Nest, maybe our Perfect Prep - never in a million years did I think a high chair would ever have even factored in. Our high chair has been more than just a high chair for us though. The NOMI High Chair is unlike any other high chair on the market; it’s more luxurious, with a focus on minimalism and style while still being durable and long lasting. It’s a dream chair, put bluntly. Before Harrison was even born, I’d spied the chair on Ash’s Instagram, and I was determined that this would be the one we would buy. This is no mean feat, Ash could sell ice to a polar bear if the ice was picture d with either of her children, but alas, the ball was now rolling. After settling on the chair, the big step for us was weighing it up with the price tag - which in comparison to the Ikea best which happened to be number two on our list, was hefty.
As if it wasn’t already obvious from the title of the post, I got my way in the end, and we’ve now been using our Nomi Evo-Move for a good few months. We may still have years ahead of us with the chair, but right now I think I can already come to some sort of conclusion as to whether or not it’s worth spending the money on. This is only my first impression, for all I know in a years time my chunky little 18 month old may have collapsed it at the bend, but if and when that happens I'll make sure to update, for now, these are my opinions. If you are looking for a quick summary - the chair is very good, very expensive, but very much worth the money. If you can spare a few hundred for a high chair at birth, then you'll be getting a lot more than a high chair in the long run. I made the mistake of picking mine up a few months down the line, and missed a crucial few months where it could have made things a lot easier, but alas, it is still very much worth the money even now, after only a few months of use.
There are two main reasons I was attracted to the NOMI High Chair in the first place. Number one was the look of the seat: it does not look like your average high chair. There is no unsightly cheap material, not a wooden drum leg in sight and no ill shaped chairs. It looks expensive (I should hope so) and it feels expensive also. Everything about the chair is well made and well designed. Designed by Peter Opsvik , an award winning Norwegian designer, he designed the chair based on the philosophy that children need a stable platform from which to move - put simply, even while in a high chair, children should be able to move around, to twist and and to look around, but still be safe and secure, and I am quietly confident when I put Harrison in that he is not going anywhere. You can only really appreciate the chair in person: I thought I liked it before I actually opened ours, I cooed online, but once assembled it really was a completely different story. It's easily my favorite item of furniture in my house, and puts our dinner chairs to shame around the table....
The second reason I was set on this particular chair, was for the growth factor of our baby. The high chair comes with the option to include a baby seat: a built in bouncer that can reach the level of a table, a couch, a bath even. I'm yet to find a high chair that has a dual function as a baby seat, so the ability to use this from birth, to teen even, is a massive win. The newborn days could be made so much easier with a third arm, and while that may not be possible in our lifetime (if only), the Nomi Baby Chair comes close. The baby chair is brilliant; it has slight bounce to it, but everything remains supported and it can switch between an upright and a horizontal position depending on what you need it for. At 5 months old, the baby seat has probably seen it's last days for Harrison. He's a big baby, and unfortunately as much as I try, there is little chance of him lying peacefully in the Nomi Baby anymore, no matter how comfortable it may be. We had a good run, and I can only wish I'd gotten a chance to use the chair right from birth. Now that he has gotten too big for the baby chair - we've moved Harrison into the next stage - the closed seat of the high chair. This has become our go-to for during the day. Whether it be for feeding, for playing, or for giving mums arms a break to look out of the window - it's been a bit of a game changer.
In terms of feeding, I can't fault it. With the exception of the difficulty we have getting Harrison into the chair in the first place (nothing to do with the chair, more-so to do with the fiddly legs of a hyperactive 5 month old), everything is plain sailing. There are no corners on the chair, so nowhere for food to get trapped in. The surface of both the tray and the chair is easily cleaned with a baby wipe, and it's shaped perfectly for a baby to ensure he's not bouncing off every edge when he spots the peaches coming his way. It does come in a wide range of colors, but with a soon to be entirely grey house, it made no sense to diversify now. I chose the grey baby cover, and the white and white oak chair, and couldn't have been happier with them.
This is not an entirely glowing review - the NOMI does have some pitfalls. Assembly started off easily enough, the instructions have no words, simply images, but it was self explanatory and I got far enough along by myself. That was until it came to attaching the legs to the stem, I had a tantrum or four trying to fiddle with the hex keys provided. It took another two sets of hands to join in with my tantrum, but we got there in the end, and it was a small price to pay for the finished product. The only other qualm I had was difficulty in removing the tray, but after a few times it loosened off and the problem diminished.
BUT IS IT WORTH IT?
The NOMI High Chair is not cheap, and this was always my main concern with it in the first place. It's all very well listing the positive points, but if an Ikea number can do the same job for £9, would I be being excessive for spending a hell of a lot more on this one? Honestly, I'd have no regrets. It's not really just a high chair, it's a baby bouncer, a sleep tool, a settler, a third arm and a chair for childhood. It's expensive, but it's worth every penny, and if you can spare the money it's an investment you probably won't regret. I will be honest, if I was buying the highchair and the highchair alone, I probably wouldn't spend the money - it's a lovely designed high chair, but with a sole purpose I wouldn't justify the money. If you include the baby bouncer though, then that is where it really wins. The ability to be used from birth to 'old' is like no other chair, and worth paying the extra for. As I have said - I've only used ours for a few months, this is based on my first impressions - for all I know it has a six month limit and ours will collapse in a heap on the 30th of this month. If it does, you'll be the first to know. In the mean time, we'll be continuing to cover ours in the delights of purees and porridge.Find more details about the Nom Highchair here. Prices start from £179.
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