NUNA LEAF: MY BIGGEST REGRET

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They say that less is more, right?  Well, in a bid to free up space in our home at the moment, I’m trying rehouse rather new looking baby items that we bought and which ultimately fell into one of the following purchase categories:

a] because we were told we’d absolutely need one in our lives;

b] because we had no idea what we’d need, or;

c] because I got carried away – all of which ultimately meant we would never, ever use these items.

I do get a lot of emails asking for contributions towards articles about my “must have” baby items and what I bought that I loved when the boys were teeny – and I generally reply that I’m better off telling them what I didn’t need, and absolutely shouldn’t have bought.

I do have another shopping regret after the past few weeks of home-testing a product that evolves with your baby from birth – The Nuna leaf.  It might be my biggest regret even – in that I never had one.  I admired them from afar when Baby Hero was born – but by then I’d imported a cradle swing from the USA and bought three jumperoos and thought it best not to buy yet another piece of baby furniture with Gavin’s hard earned wages.

But now, having experienced the leaf in our home, after being sent it a few weeks ago, this super-soother chair inspired by a leaf floating on the breeze that can seat little ones from birth up to 60kg [that’s over nine stone!], amazed us all.  Within an hour of unpacking it, Hero had grabbed a blanket, snuggled up and rocked himself – HIMSELF – to naptimeland.  That night, Lyoto lay back in it watching TV – and fell asleep.

If you only knew how this would have saved my sanity when each of my boys were tiny, you’d see why I wish I could turn back the clock.  They never settled anywhere but with me, in my arms or on my chest.  I loved those days, but boy, this would have given me a little break – and let me take some sweet photos of my boys snoozing in what would then have been a giant, soft leaf [that looks beautiful in our living room].

So let me tell you about the Nuna leaf.

First thing in the morning, I can come down the stairs and see who has won the race to sit in the leaf and is watching Mickey and the Roadster Racers cradled and snug – and slightly smug.  If it’s a bad morning for Hero and he hasn’t managed to get to the leaf first, there are tears and cries that “it my weef” and the bigger brother has to relocate.  In our home, the “weef” is a comfort chair, a gaming chair, a reading chair – and a “den” from the sharks that swim around the living room/rock to escape hot, hot lava.  If you’ve ever watched Sharky and Bones from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, now you’re singing that in your head…and you’re welcome. Haha.

We’ve weighed up what we love and what we wish about the Nuna leaf – and if you’re researching baby furniture as I know loveliest sister in law is at the moment, here’s what we think!

That it’s silent.  No noise.  No white noise, even, that can stop at any time and wake up a white noise loving baby.  No creaking [unlike my pram].  The Nuna leaf’s motion is completely noiseless.

It can travel anywhere, indoors or out because it’s not attached to any power points!

The batteries will never run out, because there are none – and this means it’s cheaper too.

The fabric, it’s perfect.  The outer part is hardwearing certified Oeka-Tex material – and the insert is a softer, padded, brushed organic cotton.  It’s snuggly and durable…and washable!  This is fantastic in itself because as much as I fell in love with the cream and biscuit colours, I have three little boys who just seem to make everything grubby from running in and out of the garden.  It took a week before this needed washing, despite me telling them to keep their feet and jaffa cakes off it.

The age range is huge compared to normal baby seats – birth to 60kg.  I’m guessing their bottoms will be too big to fit in it before they outweigh it!

The three point harness for wriggly babies is secure and won’t slip. The velcro is easy to attach and the strap is soft [and washable], and not made of that awful woven material that won’t clean properly.

How easy it is to assemble – one click into the base and the Leaf was ready for use.  The movement can be locked by a switch at the stem too.

The sturdy build – because three boys who all love that it swings from side to side and is as comfy as a hammock want to climb all over it.  Note this doesn’t mean I’m not nagging them to sit nicely in it, haha.

The width of the seat – it’s wide enough so that little babies won’t roll out [even those fidgety ones] and kind of like a hammock really – but the width means that bigger boys like ours can sit in it and still feel the same snuggly comfort at night watching TV like Lord of the Manor.  This isn’t something that they have to squeeze into, it fits all boys.

Selfishly, it’s beautiful. I LOVE it.

That it swayed for a little longer each time – the leaf relies on a little push from a grown up to get started and continuously sways from side to side. Not that it really matters to our boys because the two bigger Jones boys lie with a foot on the floor to help with this and seem to use it to comfort-rock themselves when reading or watching YouTube [I was going to tell a few fibs there and make out like they only read in it, haha], but if they were babies we would definitely invest in the Nuna Wind, which is a mechanism that attaches to the leaf and enables it to keep swaying without assistance.

The harness was fully detachable – because we don’t need it, we tuck it under the leaf inner so it’s not as lumpy as being on top, but it would be nice to be able to take it off completely when your little ones have outgrown it.  The harness itself for babies is very secure – although I do wonder how noisy it would be to take off and whether it would have woken the boys up, as the velcro is very good quality.

Ultimately, we wish we’d had one from when Jensen was born.  It’s a wonderful investment and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone in future.