skip to main content
The Best Baby Floor Seats
The Best Baby Floor Seats

Babies love to sit up and observe the world around them. But until they’re sitting up independently (which usually happens around six or seven months old), they probably need a little help—and that’s where a baby floor seat comes in.

Baby floor seats provide the support and assistance your baby needs for sitting up before they’re ready to do it on their own. “When used correctly, floor seats can provide a safe, supported space for babies to look around, play with family members and engage in play activities that promote physical and sensory development,” says Dr. Matt Otteman, DC, pediatric development expert and co-owner of KinActive Kids.  

The best floor seats use ergonomic positioning to promote proper hip and pelvic placement, are easy to wipe down and clean and can be used for playtime or snacktime, too. With those criteria in mind, we think the Upseat Baby Floor & Booster Seat with Tray is the best baby floor seat for most families. Designed with input from pediatric physical therapists, it can also be used as a feeding chair and wipes down in seconds. (It’s nice-looking, too.)

We also chose three other floor seats that we love to offer more options, including a more affordable pick and a few more versatile options.

Why Trust Babylist?

Babylist is the expert in baby; we know baby gear inside and out. We talk with parents face-to-face in our showroom and on our user panels and hear from thousands annually via our Best Baby Products online survey. We know what items millions of expecting parents are adding to their baby registries.

  • Firsthand professional and personal experience. For this story, I tapped my firsthand knowledge of floor seats I’ve used for my three kids. I also enlisted Babylist’s senior gear editor, Jen LaBracio, to test models and provide feedback.

  • Expert POV. Floor seats need to be used sparingly and safely. I spoke to Dr. Emily Heisey, (PT, DPT) and Dr. Matt Otteman, DC, pediatric development experts and co-owners of KinActive Kids, as well as Anne Szmergalski, an occupational therapist at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, to get their input on which floor seats pass muster. 

  • Floor seat data. At Babylist, we regularly analyze which baby products users are adding to their baby registries the most (and which ones they aren’t) and what the team of Merchandising experts—buyers who are responsible for ensuring the Babylist Shop is stocked with the best and newest gear—is excited about. Studying this kind of data helped us determine which products to test and the best floor seats to recommend to new and expecting parents.

  • Feedback and reviews. We reviewed comments and feedback from Babylist’s annual product survey of thousands of parents, read customer reviews from hundreds of Babylist users and spoke to Babylist staff parents about their real-life product experiences.

How We Judged the Best Floor Seats

Ergonomic design
A baby’s posture in a floor seat is important for both safety and proper hip, spine and pelvis development. We prioritized seats that place the hips higher than or level with the knees, mimicking a natural sitting posture and keeping the back upright.
Cleaning
Babies are messy. Our top picks are easy to wipe down or throw in the washing machine.
Versatility
Our top floor seats can be used as more than just a place to put your baby: whether that’s a snack/meal chair or an activity center, we prioritized multi-use chairs.
Value
For pricier floor seats, we prioritized seats you’ll be able to use for many months. For seats with shorter lifespans, we kept prices lower.

Best Baby Floor Seat Overall

Upseat Baby Floor & Booster Seat with Tray - Coconut.

Upseat Baby Floor & Booster Seat with Tray - Coconut

From $119.99
Buy
Buy

Pros

  • Developed with pediatric physical therapists for proper support
  • Easy to clean
  • Portable

Cons

  • Expensive
  • May not fit larger babies
  • Can be unsteady for very wiggly babies

This three-in-one seat stands out from the other floor seats on our list because of one significant feature: it was developed with the guidance of physical therapists to encourage a proper upright posture and safe positioning for your baby’s developing hips. Other floor seats may tilt a baby’s pelvis backward or fail to provide enough pelvic support, explains Anne Szmergalski, an occupational therapist at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. “The Upseat is at an angle that can promote more optimal alignment than some other seats,” she says.  Parents say it’s especially helpful for little ones who are still getting the hang of sitting. “My baby loves his Upseat! He is still a little wobbly sitting up on his own and this helps to stabilize him and teach him to sit up properly,” says one.

In addition to being used as a floor seat for sitting up, it converts to a booster (using the conversion straps) and a feeding seat with the attachable tray. I love how big the tray is, especially compared to other models I’ve tried.“We recently introduced solids to our daughter, and we always feed her in this seat,” says one parent. It’s also easy to clean. “I didn't expect it to be made of a soft spongy material and it's perfect because it's both padded and easy to clean,” another parent told us. It’s also lightweight, so it’s actually easy to use as a booster or feeding seat since it feels truly portable. 

For downsides, it’s pricey: nearly twice as much as the Bumbo Multi Seat, which gets similar high marks from parents. (But wasn’t designed by physical therapists—more on that below.) And some parents have had issues with larger babies fitting in the seat. “If your kid has thick thighs they will hate this [seat],” one parent said. (It’s really kid-dependant, though; I tested out the Upseat’s fit with my two-and-a-half-year-old who’s in the 90th percentile for weight and 70th for height, and he fit through the legs, though the waist strap was a bit tight.)

And be aware that a few parents have also experienced this seat tipping over or moving, even when being used correctly. “They need to make the base a little wider because a strong-willed baby can definitely tip this over,” notes one parent. If it looks like there’s any chance your baby might tip the Upseat, the manufacturer recommends using it as a booster seat only.  

Additional Specs

  • Child Guidelines: 4 mos to 2 yrs or 30 lbs

  • Product Dimensions: 14.5”L x 16.85”W x 10.2”H

  • Product Weight: 5.28 lbs

Most Versatile Baby Floor Seat

Pros

  • Ergonomic
  • Easy to clean
  • Doubles as a booster seat
  • Long life

Cons

  • Straps are hard to adjust

I bought the Bumbo Multi Seat for my middle child when she was an infant (based on a recommendation from Kinactive Kids on Instagram) and am still using it five years later through two kids. “The Bumbo seat is sturdy but lightweight, it maintains a neutral pelvic alignment with the hips in line with the knees, and it has a removable liner that allows for growth,” says Dr. Emily Heisey, a pediatric development expert and co-owner of KinActive Kids. It’s great for newly (or almost) sitting babies and can be used as a booster seat for older kids who are ready to graduate from the high chair. My youngest child, now two-and-a-half and in the 90th percentile for weight, prefers his Bumbo to the high chair entirely— we’ve used it consistently since he was about four months old. 

Parents love the Bumbo.  “Best invention ever!” raves one. “Has all of the features in one [and] you can take it on the road. It’s very simple to use.”  It’s easy to clean, too—just wipe it down. (But be warned if you do baby-led weaning, you may spend a long time washing it off—but that’s true of almost any chair a baby sits in to self-feed.)

The removable foam insert in the Bumbo is also unique. You can pop it off to extend the seat’s life as your little one grows, but it’s great for larger babies, too.  “I have a bigger baby (80-90th percentile on everything). We started using this pretty much when he could start to kinda sit up around four months,” one parent said. “Now he's seven months old we use it all over the house for him to have a safe, secure place to sit and when we go out. I can tell that he's going to grow out of the [foam insert] bit pretty soon. We'll remove that and get more use out of it.” I also appreciate the adjustable height tray, which conveniently stores in the back of the seat when you’re not using it. 

The Bumbo can be used on the floor or secured to any standard dining chair with the built-in, retractable straps, but note they can be tricky to thread to different sizes. I found feeding the fabric through the plastic adjusters to be very difficult when I needed to resize it. 

Additional Specs

  • Child Guidelines: 5 mos to 4 yrs

  • Product Dimensions: 9” x 14.125” x 15.25”

  • Product Weight: 3.75 lbs

Best Affordable Baby Floor Seat

Fisher-Price Sit-Me-Up Floor Seat - Pacific Pebble.

Fisher-Price Sit-Me-Up Floor Seat - Pacific Pebble

From $40.49
Buy
Buy

Pros

  • Affordable
  • Folds for easy storage
  • Comfortable

Cons

  • Can be difficult to get baby in/out
  • No tray
  • Short usage window
  • Machine washable fabric but can’t wipe clean

If you’re looking for a simple, comfortable and budget-friendly floor seat, parents love the Fisher-Price Sit-Me-Up. It’s great for babies just learning to sit, as you can start using it with infants as young as three months. The high back keeps them in an upright position, with plenty of neck and back support.

Parents love that unlike most floor seats, it folds fully flat and stores easily. “This seat is wonderful to set the baby in when you are cooking, cleaning, showering, etc,” says one parent. “It folds up very compact, so it doesn’t take up much space at all!”  It also comes with two toys that attach to the front for extra value and built-in entertainment. “Those could be easily switched out,” one parent told us. 

The seat pad is removable and machine washable, which is great for spit-ups or blowouts, but do keep in mind that this makes the seat not quite as easy to clean as some other wipeable options. There’s no tray, so it’s not a good choice for feeding solids and can’t double as a booster seat. It also maxes out at a weight of 25 pounds, so the lifespan on this seat may be shorter than some of the others on this list. And some parents say it’s tricky to get your baby in and out of the chair. 

Additional Specs:

  • Child Guidelines: 3 to 9 mos or up to 25 lbs

  • Product Dimensions: 24.1” x 21” x 14.1”

  • Product Weight: 5.4 lbs

Best Activity Floor Seat

Skip Hop Silver Lining Cloud 2-in-1 Activity Floor Seat.

Skip Hop Silver Lining Cloud 2-in-1 Activity Floor Seat

From $64.99
Buy
Buy

Pros

  • Floor seat + activity seat in one
  • Swivels for snack tray access

Cons

  • Hard to get babies in and out of
  • Not ergonomic
  • Limited age range
  • Machine washable fabric but can’t wipe clean

The design on this chair is clever: rotate the seat one way and your baby gets their choice of interactive toys, rotate it the other direction and they get access to a snack tray. It’s handy to have one chair for both playing and eating (and that keeps the toys clean!). “I bought this a month ago and my daughter loves it,” says one parent. “She’s five months old and she loves the toys, and I [can] give her a snack, too.” Parents tell us that it keeps their kids entertained while they do simple, short tasks, like showering, putting on makeup or making dinner.

While the seat isn’t wipe-clean, the fabric is fully machine washable. The biggest complaint parents have is that it is difficult to get their child in and out of the seat. Other things to be aware of: because it’s a fabric chair and suspended off the ground, it won’t keep your child in as upright of a position as some of our other picks, and should be used sparingly. It’s the heaviest chair on our list, so it doesn’t move around the house as easily as some of the others. Also, with a max weight of 25 pounds, you may not get as much life out of this chair as some of the others that can seat larger toddlers. 

Additional Specs:

  • Child Guidelines: Newborn up to 25 lbs

  • Product Dimensions: 6.7” x 15” x 21.4”

  • Product Weight: 7.49 lbs

Frequently Asked Questions

Are baby floor seats safe?

Like any baby container, moderation is key. “[Floor seats] can be a great resource when mom or dad need a hands-free moment—just remember that they should only be used for short periods of time to avoid limiting opportunities to build foundational motor skills,” says Dr. Otteman.

That’s because floor seats can cause a decrease in mobility in a baby’s hips and pelvis and overwork their back muscles. “This can cause gross motor delays in things like rolling and transitioning in and out of sitting or standing,” says Dr. Otteman. “When it comes to development, remember that babies learn best through movement and exploration,” she says. If you do decide to use a baby floor seat, just do so sparingly and for short periods of time.

When can a baby use a floor seat?

Before using a floor seat, your baby should hit a few physical milestones.

  • Holding their head up on their own.

  • Sitting supported on the floor, “ideally with only a little support from their parents' hands on their body,” says Szmergalski.

  • Able to sit flat on their sitz bones (the bottom part of their pelvis) with a straight back.

  • Sit with their hips in neutral alignment, “not too wide apart or too close together,” per Szmergalski.

So while your baby may seem comfortable in a floor seat, “if an infant has not achieved these skills yet when being placed in a floor seat, it could potentially lead to the baby developing compensatory patterns for movement or rest into positions that are not ideal for the bones and joints, which can impact motor skill development,” she says.

How long can my baby sit in a floor seat?

Experts we spoke to recommended limiting sitting in a floor seat to about 15 to 20 minutes at a time.

“It’s important to counteract this passive sitting posture with what I like to call purposeful play,” explains Dr. Heisey. “These are activities that feel like playtime for your child, but are actually supporting their gross motor development.” Think of activities like bicycle legs or playing with a toy on an incline to encourage independent sitting. And always, always, always supervise them while they’re in the seat.

Expert Sources

Babylist content uses high-quality subject matter experts to provide accurate and reliable information to our users. Sources for this story include:

Stay Up-to-Date with Babylist