Bumbo Seat Fun

If you have a child under the age of two or three, you have probably used a Bumbo seat. For anyone else, it is a soft seat that allows a baby who can hold her own head up to sit upright long before she would be able to sit alone. Up to a certain age/skill level, the Bumbo is also escapeproof. Your little one can sit upright and watch you do something like assemble a toy with small parts, for example, without getting too close and grabbing some contraband. We also found that the Bumbo made a convenient portable feeding seat. In addition to being helpful, the Bumbo has been a source of entertainment from time to time.

This is one of Abby's first few times in her Bumbo about one year ago.


By about ten months, Abby could reliably escape from the Bumbo. We mostly stopped using it, just putting her in it from time to time to see how she would go about getting out. The last time we did that right before Christmas she was getting out more slowly because it was a tighter fit.

Abby seemed like she was interested in trying to pick up the Bumbo and carry it around the next day, so I brought the Bumbo in the living room where she would have more room to attempt this maneuver safely. To my surprise, she began trying to get into the Bumbo seat by herself. Of course, instead of backing up to it and sitting down, she started in feet first and had to spin around. The biggest hurdle was getting her leg straightened back out before she sat down on it. Once Abby was successfully in the Bumbo, she would grin and kick her feet for a couple of seconds. Immediately she would begin fussing and struggling to get out. At first she was doing a "bridge" move to escape before she learned to lean sideways and roll.

I was able to capture a series of pictures that show key parts of the process. The awful faces of frustration that Abby was making during her struggle to get in and get out make it look like she was not enjoying herself. But she must have liked something about the process because she repeated it over and over that afternoon.

"My leg is stuck!"


"My leg is straight but I'm still annoyed!"


"I'm getting out of here!"


"Free at last!"


After the new wore off, we put the Bumbo back into her room. A few days later, I peeked into her room to check on her while she was playing. I saw her just sitting in the Bumbo and smiling at me. It was so cute and so funny. Now I'm thinking I've got to find her a little chair of her own. I wonder if she would sit in a chair to look at her books.