Upseat Vs Bumbo

Are you trying to decide between Upseat vs Bumbo for a floor seat that encourages your little one to sit up and get engaged?

Then let us help you decide which is the best choice for you and your baby with our Bumbo vs Upseat review!

Babies are so curious about the world! As soon as they can hold their head up, they want to see everything that surrounds them. But with their little bodies still developing, babies don’t have the strength to sit up and look around!

Infant floor seats support the trunk and hips, helping young babies to sit upright and look around. They’re used by babies from around 4 months, when they have independent head control. 

Infant floor seats are popular with parents, and Upseat and Bumbo are two of the best known brands.

In this guide, we’ll take a look at how the Bumbo and Upseat provide support, their features, pros, and cons, to find which is the right floor seat for your family. 

And if you love this guide on Bumbo seat vs Upseat, make sure to check out our guides on best high chair alternatives, when can a baby sit in a high chair, best high chairs for BLW, and how many bibs do I need?

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Upseat Vs Bumbo

Let’s begin by taking a close look at exactly what the Upseat and Bumbo have to offer. 

All About Upseat

The Upseat is an infant floor seat developed with the help of experts to create the optimum sitting position for your child.

Created with assistance from leading physical therapists, the Upseat sits young babies in an upright position, encouraging good posture from a young age.

On the surface, the Upseat might not seem like the most natural sitting position for a baby! But the forward tilt of the seat engages the trunk, and emphasizes correct posture.

The wide splayed legs also encourage healthy hip development, while the looser shape allows babies improved upper mobility.

The Upseat does come with a larger price tag, but this is also a baby seat with versatility. Safe to use from around the age of 4 months, once your little one can sit up alone, the Upseat becomes a high chair, and a booster seat!

Pros

• Developed with help from physical therapists for improved posture.
• A 3-in-1 design, the Upseat is a floor seat, booster, and a feeding seat.
• Extra legroom encourages healthy hip development, and fits different leg sizes.
• Lightweight and portable, with a handy travel strap.
• Easy wipe clean materials.

Cons

• Expensive.
• The Upseat is currently available in a limited color palette.

All About Bumbo

When your little one wants to start seeing the world, the Bumbo can provide a contoured support seat for discovery. Designed for children from 3 months old, the Bumbo is for young babies who can hold their head up, but can’t sit unaided.

The Bumbo uses a deep, rounded backrest with elevated leg openings to put your little one in a seated position. The Bumbo creates a relaxing and snug seat, reclining your little one, so they’re upright without the effort.

The Bumbo floor seat has limited versatility compared to the Upseat, and the relaxed posture isn’t ideal for encouraging correct posture.

However, if you want an inexpensive seat that helps your little one to engage with the world, this is an excellent option to consider.

Pros

• Made from high-quality foam that feels supportive and comfortable.
• The contoured backrest eases your baby into a relaxing position.
• Easy clean materials.
• 3-point safety harness keeps your baby secured.
• Suitable for use from around 3 months.

Cons

• The relaxed seating position isn’t as supportive as the Upseat.
• The leg openings are quite small. 
• Bubmo Play Tray available at additional cost.

Similarities And Differences Between Bumbo vs Upseat

Initially, you might think there isn’t much to pick between the Upseat and the Bumbo. As floor seats designed to help young babies engage with the world, there are certainly similarities!

However, there are some crucial differences to the designs of these infant floor seats.

In this section, we’ll compare the features of the Upseat and Bumbo, to see how important these differences are.

Engagement

Children love to learn and discover, but it’s hard for young babies to look around. Both the Bumbo and the Upseat encourage babies to engage with the world, by helping them sit up!

These seats are used for children 3/4 months and older, who can hold their head up, but can’t sit up unaided.

Portability

Both the Upseat and the Bumbo are incredibly lightweight, and easily portable. This makes them a great option for visiting friends and family. The seat can slip into the back of a car, and might even fit into your stroller!

The Upseat has a slight portability advantage, because it comes with a handle on the back. 

Easy Cleaning

The Bumbo floor seat is designed for easy cleaning, which is good, because babies make a lot of mess! The outer material is leather-like, and all you need is a damp cloth to get it clean.

You shouldn’t struggle to keep the Upseat clean, either. Made from polyurethane, a quick wipe can remove the worst of the mess. 

Comfort

Made from a soft, high-quality foam, the Bumbo floor seat provides exceptional comfort. With a leather-like outer skin and the reclining backrest, your little one can really get snug in this floor seat.

The Upseat is slightly less comfortable, because of the upright tilt of the design. However, don’t let this put you off.

The rigid build of the Upseat might not be the softest seat, but it does provide your child with the support their growing body needs!

Versatility

It can feel like one minute you have a newborn in a bassinet, and the next you have a toddler walking around! Babies grow quickly, and baby products have to work hard to stay useful.

The Upseat floor seat comes with built-in versatility. As well as a floor seat, it can be strapped to a chair and used as a high seat, or transformed into a booster!

The Bumbo floor seat, on the other hand, can only be used for a couple of months. Your baby is likely to outgrow it before they turn one.

However, Bumbo does make a multi-seat. This is for babies that can sit up unaided, and can be used as a floor seat, in place of a high chair, or as a booster seat. 

Posture

Both the Bumbo and the Upseat support babies who can’t sit upright unaided, but they use different methods to achieve this goal. 

The Upseat has been designed by physical therapists to create a seat that improves your little one’s posture while holding them upright.

The seat is slightly tilted and quite rigid, engaging muscles in the trunk and encouraging good posture.

The Bumbo has a backwards recline, which is more supportive for younger babies. The comfortably rounded seat offers them a chance to lean.

However, the Bumbo does come with a slight risk of slumping, which isn’t ideal for your baby’s posture. Slumping puts the spine at a less than perfect angle.

Upper Mobility

The upper mobility provided by both these chairs is closely linked to the posture. Because the Upseat sits your little one upright, they have more room to turn from side to side.

This can encourage the growth and development of muscles, as well as help your little one engage with the world.

With the relaxed position of the Bumbo, babies have limited upper mobility. The Bumbo floor seat provides a snug fit with a rounded sitting position.

Supported like this, it’s harder for babies to move from side to side. 

Price

The Bumbo is typically less expensive than the Upseat. In fact, if you don’t mind shopping around, you can probably find the Bumbo floor seat for sale for less than half the price.

Even the Bumbo multi-seat, which offers a similar versatility to the Upseat, tends to be cheaper than the standard Upseat model.

Legroom

The Upseat is very spacious, offering plenty of room for chunky thighs to fit. Thanks to this extra room, your little one can feel more comfortable in the seat, and use it for longer.

The increased legroom also keeps the lower body in a better position!

The Bumbo doesn’t have quite as much space as the Upseat, and chunky babies might feel the squeeze. Some babies might have outgrown the Bumbo before they even have a chance to fit.

Using The Floor Seat

Floor seats can be a massive help for busy parents, but we do need to be careful when using them. 

Floor seats should only be used for around 30 minutes at a time, and you should compensate for time in the seat by giving your baby plenty of time on the ground! This is true whether you choose the Bumbo or the Upseat. 

Time in a floor seat should also be closely monitored, so you can adjust posture, and remove your little one when they start to get fatigued!

Final Thoughts On Bumbo Seat Vs Upseat

Overall, we prefer the Upseat. Not only is this the more versatile design, but by encouraging an upright posture, it’s better for developing babies.

We think the features of the Upseat make up for the higher price tag.

However, there are advantages to the Bumbo. An affordable design, it’s a good option for parents who are looking for a floor seat that encourages engagement.

We hope this guide has helped you discover the differences between the Bumbo and the Upseat!

And if you’re looking for more great guides, make sure to check out these guides on best baby fabric softener, what to do with old baby clothes and how to wash baby clothes without shrinking them.