The Safety 1st Recline and Grow Booster Seat

Baby gear can get expensive, takes up a lot of space and lets face it… is often redundant.  One thing many new parents often lack is space.  I remember when Keira was first born and we were living in a tiny two bedroom bungalow.  Looking back I am not sure how we did it, especially since we still lived there until Ava was 5 months old!

We now live in a much bigger space, thank goodness, but it is open concept and I do not want to have to see a high chair and other baby equipment just awkwardly sitting around. It looks like clutter and that bothers me.

I love finding products that solve problems really well and the Safety 1st Recline and Grow Booster Seat does just that.  I wish I had had one back at our first house rather than the high chair we used; it’s such a space saver!

It has conveniently taken the place of our high chair which is now hiding away in our basement crawlspace with all our other retired baby equipment.  We’ve been testing out the Safety 1st Recline and Grow Booster Seat with Ava, 22 months old.

What I love the most about the Safety 1st Recline and Grow Booster Seat is that it does the job of a highchair, a booster seat, and a portable booster seat.  Yes, that means less gear and less spending.

With five distinct stages, the Safety 1st Recline & Grow Feeding Seat grows with your child from 3 months right up to 4 years and up to 50 lbs. Talk about extended use!

Setting it up is easy although it does feature quite a few adjustments to help you get through all those stages. The first step is to attach it to a kitchen chair via the straps.  One strap wraps around the back of the chair and the other around the seat which does a great job at securing the booster seat properly.

You can adjust the seat so it sits higher up for eating at the table rather than using the serving tray.  The seat itself can be reclined for infants or adjusted upright for older children.  You can also completely remove the back for use as a booster seat with a 3 point harness.

It does come with a 5 point harness that adjusts pretty easily to fit.  I’ve found that the harness is easy enough to remove and cleans up nicely in the wash.  The seat itself, which features an adorable print, wipes down pretty easily too which does a long way towards keeping it new looking.

The tray itself is pretty brilliant.  There are 3 positions you can adjust the tray to in order to fit your growing child. It’s easy to attach and remove with even just one hand thanks to the release button design. Ava is obsessed with the cup holder and gets angry if you put her cup down anywhere but in the holder. 

The tray also comes with a removable inner tray which is really great come snack time and would work well for infants just starting their first foods.  It sticks down pretty well and Ava at 22 months has yet to figure out how to get it off so we’ve gone without incident.  The inner tray is also dishwasher safe although I think it wipes down easily enough that I haven’t tried.

The seat worked wonderfully for Thanksgiving at my parents house.  It easily fit into the trunk of my Mustang and was easy to set up even with my parents ice cream parlour style kitchen chairs.  Talk about handy!

The only issue I’ve found is that Ava is somehow able to sometimes recline the seat by bouncing back hard despite the button being locked.  This isn’t really a safety issue or anything but it is a bit of an annoyance.  Aside from that she has not been able to escape or knock the tray off so I feel completely at ease with her in it.

I think it is a wonderful alternative especially for those with limited space.

The Safety 1st Recline and Grow Booster Seat can be found at Babies ‘R Us in both the So Tweet print as well as in Sable and has a suggested retail price of $59.99. What an incredible value considering the typical cost of a highchair and the length of time it can be used!