To Footrest, or Not to Footrest in the Ikea Antilop Highchair, that is the question?
So our kindy has around 15 highchairs and interestingly, all of them are Ikea Antilop Highchairs. And when our business first started, we offered a Footsi to the kindy (free of charge) just to see how the kids responded to using a footrest in the highchair v. using one without a footrest.
On this particular day when I dropped off our daughter, it was interesting to see 2 children eating their breakfast (one in the Ikea Antilop highchair with no footrest and one in the Ikea Antilop highchair with the Footsi footrest).
Even in this picture you notice the difference straight away. Floppy, dangling legs on the left vs stable legs, flat feet on the right.
The benefits of having a footrest on the highchair means, at the very least, our little ones have something to push against which adds a huge amount of comfort and support for them, usually without them even knowing it.
What we have also learnt is, the little ones won't even tell us if they are uncomfortable, because they will think sitting in the highchair with no footrest is "normal". Therefore showing them the new "normal" will have a lot of added benefits. One thing the footrest will achieve for our little ones is this thing called "endurance" which the lovely ladies at Feeding Little's have mentioned previously. Being comfortable and well supported in the highchair makes baby feel relaxed and therefore will sit in the chair longer and eat more (until they are actually full). In contrast to being fidgety, distracted and suddenly not hungry, sitting in the chair with no foot support.
A funny thing we were told by our daycare ladies is that the kids have actually started to line up for the Ikea Antilop highchair that has the Footsi attached to it. Isn't it amazing, once they have tried the highchair with a footrest v. being in the highchair with no foot support (case in point being "never know until you try"). So isn't it about time our kindy asked us to fit out all 15 Ikea Antilop Highchairs? I'll have to ask them about this. Hopefully soon I will post another photo with a Footsi on all of them!
I hope this helps you and would love to hear any of your feedback.
Thanks for reading.
M.
*The Footsi™️ is design protected in the following regions through its design name "Baby Chair Footrest" and respective design numbers:
Australia: 201816601
USA: 29/690,157
EU/UK community registration: 006375853
Both the Footsi™️ and Pimp my high chair™️ names have been Trade Marked in Australia.