Inglesina Zuma

My husband and I initially decided that we wanted to use a booster seat with our son. The minute our lease is up (4 weeks!!!) we are moving to Brooklyn, and we know that the less space taken up by baby gear, the better. This was all fine and good until the day my son discovered the power in his legs, and he started lifting his legs and using the table to propel himself backwards. Fortunately he never hurt himself, but I told my mother-in-law about this, and two weeks later we were at Baby Blossom picking out a high chair for James.
It was not love at first sight with the Inglesina Zuma. My first thought? Jeez, this is huge and outrageously expensive. At $299, the Inglesina costs more than the Tripp Trapp and the Svan and doesn't have the fancy carpentry to compensate. But what the Zuma lacks in wooden appeal, it more than makes up for in convenience. The seat has three heights and a removeable tray, so the child can sit at the table like with the Tripp Trapp and the Svan. But the tray is still there for finger food and mess! Remove the tray and lower the seat all the way, and you also have a great little toddler chair. Magnets keep the fabric in place, and there's a five-point harness in addition to the crossbar/pommel/strut between baby's legs.

But you could find all of this out from Inglesina's website. What about the cons? The space between the tray and baby is pretty large, and pieces of food get around the strut and underneath the fabric. Because of the extra room, sometimes toes sneak above the tray (see picture of son wearing blue). Uh, isn't the whole point of having a high chair to keep toes from getting into food? Otherwise, I would feed my son in his carseat! The Zuma also takes up a lot of room while it is open, however, it folds up very tightly and neatly, which was a big selling point for the apartment dweller in me.

Overall? This is not the catholicon for high chairs like the Inglesina Zippy is for strollers. It's a beautiful chair, and my son loves it, but for the money there could be some big improvements. Still, I love the seat and am very happy with it, and from what I hear almost every high chair has its negatives. If you have a disposable income, this is a great seat to purchase, as it is both a traditional high chair and a chair designed to include baby with the family at dinner. Not only that, the seat looks great! To get more of an idea on it check out Babble's review of it.

Since this is Inglesina's first go at the high chair market, I am sure two or three models down the road, this will be the high chair that everyone wants. Until then, putting up with the kinks is way worth it.