Do Bouncer Chairs Make Babies Poop?

As a new or expecting parent, you may not be anticipating just how much someone else’s poop schedule will take over parts of your life—or maybe you’re already prepared for it, so now you’re looking for the best way to facilitate things. 

Either way, a bouncer chair probably isn’t at the top of your list of tools to help your baby poop. But I’m here to tell you that it should be. Infant bouncer chairs are typically used for entertaining and soothing babies and toddlers, with their gentle bouncing motion and attached toys providing just enough stimulation to focus baby’s attention. And their bowels too, apparently.

Seriously. I thought I was the only one whose baby pooped in their bouncer like clockwork, but after surveying Babylist parents in our Best Baby Products survey this year and in our weekly newsletter poll, over 700 people (about 40% of newsletter poll respondents) said that their baby also uses their bouncer chair as a designated pooping spot. But what is it about bouncers that gets the digestive system moving? With the help of a pediatrician’s expert insight, let’s take a closer look at what’s going on here.

What’s the deal with the “pooping chair”?

If you have no idea what this is all about, here’s what’s going on: for years, new parents have taken to places like Reddit, community forums and even product reviews to talk about how their babies always seem to poop while sitting in a bouncer chair and to find camaraderie. 

Multiple parents wrote in to our survey to rave specifically about the Babybjorn Bouncer Bliss and its poop-inducing properties. “Our little one had a slower digestive system and this chair helped get things moving,” one parent wrote. “I swear they poop every time they're in it,” another Babylist parent said, while someone else referred to it as “the baby laxative chair.” 

Other parents told us their bouncer chair “helped with gas relief for baby as well.” 

But why do bouncers have this laxative effect?

Bouncers put baby in the optimal pooping position

The reigning theory is that bouncer chairs put babies in a good position for easy bowel movements. There haven’t been any official scientific studies on bouncer chairs specifically, but “what we do know is that fully lying down is not the most natural position for humans to be in during elimination of stool,” says Dr. Christina Johns, pediatric emergency physician and Senior Medical Advisor at PM Pediatric Care. “There is data that supports more of an upright, ‘squatting’ position for this body function as more conducive to easier elimination and lower odds of straining and working harder to stool.” 

While bouncer chairs don’t put babies in a squatting position exactly, the semi-reclined, semi-upright position is well-supported on bottom and allows them to relax or draw their legs up into a squat as needed. And once your baby figures out that sitting in their bouncer chair makes for an easier time than, say, laying on the floor (maybe after just a few instances), “it becomes a ‘bathroom habit’ just like any others,” Dr. Johns says.

The same goes for bouncer chairs helping with gas pain, colic and spit-up. The incline that keeps baby’s head above their chest and stomach can help alleviate spit-up and reflux as well as get gas moving in the right direction. There’s something to be said about the bouncing motion, too—similar to rocking or burping, there’s a chance that light bouncing may help trapped gas escape. My oldest son was a really colicky baby, but he always seemed to calm down while hanging out in his bouncer while I gently rocked it. And enough parents have claimed that bouncing helped their gassy baby that it’s worth at least trying it.

Baby might just be pooping after meals

The other potential reason babies love pooping in their bouncer: timing. “After eating/burping...is a typical physiologic time for a bowel movement to happen,” Dr. Johns says, so if you’re always putting baby in their bouncer right after a meal, that’s prime pooping time!

It may have nothing to do with the bouncer chair itself—your baby might poop anywhere you put them after a meal. But if the bouncer is part of the post-mealtime routine, especially if your baby is in there for a little while, your baby’s regularly timed bowel movements might just be making it seem like the bouncer is facilitating it, Dr. Johns says.

So do bouncer chairs really help babies poop? Until scientists do official research on this phenomenon, all we have to go off of is anecdotal evidence. “Either way,” Dr. Johns says, “there’s no harm giving this a try to see if it works for you and your baby.”

Babylist Parent “Poop Chair” Picks

Lots of parents wrote in not only to say that the “poop chair” method works, but to talk about which bouncer chair they use specifically. Here are the top recommendations from Babylist parents for bouncers to add to your registry or cart, whether you’re still expecting or you’ve got a gassy or constipated baby.

BabyBjörn Bouncer Bliss - Dark Green

$209.99

Add to Babylist

Buy

Babylist

$

209.99

This is my ride-or-die baby pooping chair for both reliability and cleanability. One response to our survey called it “the greatest invention” because “it makes baby poop.” I personally loved it because, even though my son had a record number of blowouts in the chair, it never held onto a single poop stain. One Babylist parent agreed that the Babybjorn bouncer is “so easy to clean for all those poop explosions” (or, as another parent put it, “poopsplosions”). The fabric cover slides right off the frame and gets tossed in the laundry, and even after the hundredth time through the wash, it won’t lose its shape or softness.

It’s also reversible, turning into a harness-free toddler chair once your little one reaches about 20 pounds, so it’ll still be useful for helping your toddler poop as well (and may come in handy for potty training!).

Baby Delight Alpine Deluxe Portable Bouncer - Charcoal Tweed

$59.00

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Buy

Babylist

$

59.00

$

79.99

Amazon

$

59.00

Walmart

$

59.00

Target

$

59.99

If you’re not looking to spend $200+ on a bouncer, the Baby Delight is a great budget-friendly pick that multiple parents wrote in to tell us about. One Babylist parent mentioned how much it helped their gassy baby, while another parent said they “can’t live without it.” The toy bar is included with this one (whereas the Babybjorn toy bar is sold separately), and the seat cover is fully machine-washable.

Ergobaby Evolve Bouncer - Cream

$199.00

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Buy

Babylist

$

199.00

As one Babylist parent put it in our Best Baby Products survey: “The miraculous ‘poop’ chair that Amazon reviews claim—the amount of times he pooped while sitting in that chair is insane!” Hard to argue with that, especially when this bouncer is the most accommodating on the list. Thanks to the included newborn insert, it can fit babies as small as five pounds (rather than the typical minimum of eight pounds). And like any good poop chair, the cover is machine washable and retains its shape.