Ikea Poang Chair Review - Our New Nursing Chair

I bought the Ikea Poang chair because we’ve recently moved Theo into his own room and I hadn’t realised that I’d need a chair in there to feed him during the night. At first, I used one of our plastic chairs from the kitchen but it really made my back hurt. I’d read lots of good things online about the Poang but wanted to test it out first so I headed over to Ikea with Theo in tow.

I’ve heard that Ikea is breastfeeding friendly and they let you sit in the chairs and feed in them but now Theo is on solids he’s only feeding at specific times so he didn’t need a feed while we were there. I did sit in the chairs with him though as well as sitting in them on my own while he sat in the trolley loving life!

There were three options to choose from: the standard Ikea Poang, the Poang rocking chair and the Pello (which is a £40 version of the Poang). I would have loved the rocking chair but space in the nursery is limited as it’s our box room so that was the first to be eliminated. I then spent quite a bit of time moving between the Poang and the Pello.

There are lots of colours of frames and cushions available for the Poang so it can be tailored to fit any situation. The combination I chose was a beech frame with a black and white striped cushion – it cost £75. They also have leather cushions available which are a bit more expensive. If you have the space you can also get a matching footstool for £40. If the footstool stacked away under the chair I’d have been all over it but unfortunately it doesn’t so we just don’t have the space.

In terms of sturdiness and bounce there isn’t much difference between the two. There aren’t any other colours available in the Pello which might sway your decision but ultimately, what made my mind up, was that the Poang has a more pronounced curve in the back rest which really supports the lower back. I was buying the chair because my back was aching and the extra support would really make a difference at 3am when feeding the baby!

My next worry was that I wouldn’t be able to get the chair home as I was on my own with Theo. I was thinking I’d have to send my husband back or order it online but the Poang comes in a smallish square box that was easy to put in a normal shopping trolley and fit in the car! I was so proud of myself when I realised this and managed to bring it home all by myself – it was one of those moments where I felt like I was winning at life!

Assembling the chair was pretty straight forward, I recorded my putting it together and you can watch that below. I did go wrong a few times but it was my own stupidity, I’m blaming lack of sleep! It was easy to do and it took me about half an hour, that includes the two or three times I had to undo it when I’d gone wrong and start again! It’d probably take a capable person 15-20 minutes which I think is pretty good.

In place in the nursery it looks really good, more importantly, it’s super comfortable! The arms are low at the sides and are the perfect height for breastfeeding. They’re the right height to rest an elbow on while feeding and are low enough for the baby’s legs to lie comfortably stretched out.

The chair is a little low so you need to use your thigh muscles to get up and down when you’re holding the baby and don’t have your hands but I don’t find it any worse than getting up off the sofa.

All in all, I’ve over the moon with the Ikea Poang as a nursing chair! It looks great in our nursery, it’s really comfy (comfy enough to fall asleep in during long nights) and is good value for money. I’d definitely recommend it as a fantastic nursing chair for breastfeeding or bottle feeding. To be honest, I’d recommend it as a generally comfy all purpose chair!

My Video Review: