Podcast

High Chair Positioning: Reduce Choking Risk Using This One Simple Move with Jeff Durkee of Nomi High Chair

  • Why most high chairs do not come with an adjustable footplate (the Nomi does) and how this feature helps reduce baby's choking risk
  • How using a feeding chair that grows with your baby from first bites through adolescence can support your baby and older child's development and success at mealtimes

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE

PODCAST EPISODE SHOW NOTES

Positioning your baby properly in a high chair is easier than you think! In this episode we’re joined by Jeff Durkee from Nomi High Chair who is sharing some simple tips for helping your baby get seated safely in the high chair. One trick in particular can drastically reduce your baby’s risk of choking too!

LISTEN to the episode

SUMMARY of episode

In this episode, we’re talking about high chair safety and how to position baby safely in a high chair to help maximize self-feeding success and to minimize choking risk. Jeff from Nomi high chair is talking about:

  • Why most high chairs do not come with an adjustable footplate (the Nomi does) and how this feature helps reduce baby’s choking risk

  • How using a feeding chair that grows with your baby from first bites through adolescence can support your baby and older child’s development and success at mealtimes

In this episode, I mentioned that if you are researching the Nomi and would like to purchase it at a discounted rate, I have a special offer for BABY-LED WEANING MADE EASY podcast listeners.

ABOUT THE GUEST

My guest for this episode is Jeff Durkee. Jeff is the director of sales for Regal Lager and they are the North American distributor of the Nomi high chair. The Nomi high chair is my favorite high chair for baby-led weaning because of its exceptional design and attention to safety. It’s amazing how many high chairs out there are not only ugly, let’s be real, but are lacking the number one feature that can help reduce baby’s choking risk...and Jeff is going to be talking about that today on behalf of Nomi.

Nomi was designed by the celebrated Scandinavian seating designer Peter Opsvik. We have talked about the Nomi high chair on a previous episode number 92 when Kirsti Vandraas an ergonomist who works with the designer Peter Opsvik joined us in an episode called “How to Choose a Safe Seat for Your Baby to Eat”. That’s at blwpodcast.com/92 if you want to give it a listen

LINKS from episode

TRANSCRIPT of episode

WANT MORE BLW INFO?!

Click here for episode transcript Toggle answer visibility

Jeff Durkee (1s):

We know that it's so important that the child is sitting up at the table because that's the whole idea behind the Nomi because they learn socialization and manners and they watch us. They learn how to eat. They become less picky eaters, all those good things. Hey there

Katie Ferraro (15s):

M Katie Ferraro Registered Dietitian college nutrition, professor and mom of seven specializing in baby led weaning here on the baby led weaning made easy podcast. I help you strip out all of the noise and nonsense about feeding, leading you with the competence and knowledge you need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods using baby led weaning. Hey guys, talking about highchairs today and in particular, Positioning your baby in the High Chair and how one simple adjustment to your baby's Positioning can actually help Reduce Choking Risk. And my guest today is Jeff Durkee. He's the High Chair dude.

Katie Ferraro (56s):

Well, that's not actually his formal title. He's technically the director of sales for Regal logger, and they are the north American distributor of the Nomi High Chair. So then Nomi High Chair is my favorite High Chair for baby led weaning because not just it's exceptional design, it's really the attention to safety. I'm always blown away by how many high chairs out there are. Not only, let's be honest, ugly, and take up your entire kitchen, but they're lacking the number one feature that can help reduce your baby's Choking risk. And that's what Jeff is going to be talking about today. On behalf of Nomi, the Nomi High Chair was designed by the celebrated Scandinavian seating designer. Peter Ofsec. We've actually talked about the Nomi High Chair on a previous episode. That was episode number 92 when Kirsi Vandross and ergonomist who works with the designer, Peter Ofsic, she was with us in an episode called how to choose a safe seat for your baby to eat.

Katie Ferraro (1m 45s):

That's at BLWpodcast.com/92 If you want to give it a listen, but Jeff is here today, and he's going to talk about how to safely position Baby in the High Chair. And he's joining me on behalf of Nomi High Chair. So I know a lot of you guys are interested in the Nomi High Chair and personally, I love it because it's a chair that makes so much sense. It's not only well-designed and beautiful. I always say it's like the nicest piece of furniture in my house, but I love it because it grows with your baby from their first bite through adolescents. It's actually only been available for sale in the United States for a few years, but I use the Nomi with my sixth and seventh baby led weaning babies to the twins, Gus and Hannah. It was right after it debuted in the United States. And I was totally blown away because I had used a different chair for my older five kids.

Katie Ferraro (2m 25s):

And I fell in love with the Nomi High Chair. And because I was like, hold up, I never knew a high chair could be this awesome. I reached out to Nomi to see if I could promote their chair as an affiliate partner. So I am an affiliate for Nomi and I firmly believe in purchasing a high quality safe seat for your child to eat and doing so at six months of age, when your baby starts solid foods. So if you guys have been shopping the Nomi, you're probably aware that it is quite an investment. And as a small business owner, myself and mom of seven, I'm not a fan of spending any extra money on anything unnecessary when it comes to raising children. But I do believe that the chair where your child is going to sit at least three times a day for like the foreseeable future and certainly more than the next decade is something to invest in.

Katie Ferraro (3m 5s):

So while the Nomi is pricey, it's worth every single penny. And I kind of roll my eyes when people spend like $1,200 on those fancy stroller systems and they use it like, I don't know, maybe once a day for one year. And then they won't shell out for a safe High Chair where they're gonna be feeding their baby and then their toddler and then their child and their adolescent at least three times a day for like the foreseeable future. So all of that to say that I'm very grateful to know me who has extended to you guys, our listeners, a unique offer to purchase the Nomi High Chair at a discounted rate. Now I can't share the particulars of the offer here, but if you email me and you put Nomi in the subject line, I'll write you back with the discounted offer. And I just wanted to say, before we get started with this interview with Jeff about High Chair safety, sometimes parents get mad when they learn this stuff about baby Positioning and High Chair for minimizing Choking risk.

Katie Ferraro (3m 55s):

And they're mad because they already have High Chair and that High Chair doesn't have this feature that we're going to discuss. And then they can't return the High Chair or was it a gift? And they kind of feel stuck with it. So what some parents have been telling me they've been doing is they'll take their existing High Chair. The one that they don't love, take it to grandma or grandpa's house or somewhere where it's not going to get everyday use, but then they will purchase a Nomi for themselves at the primary place where the baby is eating on a regular basis. So if that sounds like something that you would be interested in, shoot me an email, put Nomi in a subject line and I'll respond with the Nomi deal that will get you into this High Chair at a special price that I think you're going to like. So with no further ado, I want to welcome Jeff Durkee.

Katie Ferraro (4m 35s):

Who's going to be teaching about High Chair Positioning and how we can help Reduce Choking Risk Using This One Simple Move. <inaudible>

Jeff Durkee (4m 45s):

It's my pleasure, Katie. Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to talk to you.

Katie Ferraro (4m 49s):

I do love talking to you. I like you're like the most knowledgeable highchair person on the planet before we dive into all things High Chair related. Could you give me a little bit of background about what you do at Nomi?

Jeff Durkee (4m 59s):

Yeah, absolutely. I'm the sales director here. I've been here for almost 19 years now and I've been in the Baby industry for 35 years. Been around children's products for a long time. So yeah, I've seen a lot of great changes through the industry and over the years, and I'm excited to be here. I I've been excited about Nomi since the first time my boss showed me a tiny little picture of it in a, in a UK trade magazine.

Katie Ferraro (5m 23s):

I've been excited about the Nomi. The first time Dawn Wilkelmann actually introduced the Nomi to me cause I was using a different High Chair and she was like, you have to check this out. I think it was right when you guys came to the U S what's the history, how long has Nomi been here?

Jeff Durkee (5m 35s):

Been in the U S for just about three years. It's really, we're still very new. And our business has, you know, you have new customers every day. It's not like a sort of a legacy brand that's been around forever and ever, and you use it all through your lives. It's like ours are the products that, you know, people have no idea about them until all of a sudden they're pregnant and then they start shopping and you there's certain names, brand names that may stick out in their mind, but most don't. And so, yeah, we're always educating and it's the fun part of the job is teaching

Katie Ferraro (6m 6s):

Youre High Chair is one of the most unique looking baby products out there, which is kind of hard to convey on a podcast. But we are going to do a lot of education today about High Chair Positioning and how to Reduce Choking Risk. And as parents who are listening, you guys, we have three jobs in infant feeding, right? We're in charge of what the baby eats when the baby eats and where they eat. And the baby is really in charge of how much or even whether they eat right. That's at the crux of the baby led weaning approach. That's Ellyn, Satter's division of responsibility in feeding theory. So we'll do all the education here on the podcast about what to feed your baby and when to feed your baby, but the where to feed your baby thing that sometimes gets missed. And that's what we're talking about today. So Jeff, could you share some important things for parents to know when they go to choose a safe seat for their baby to eat?

Jeff Durkee (6m 49s):

Absolutely. I mean, you know, I speak from the position of the Nomi, right? The Nomi is, is not just a High Chair, but it's something that's going to last. And because of that, it's unusual in a way that most high chairs, if they're used up until the baby's about two years old or so the parents putting them in and out, but with the Nomi chair, it has that element where it grows with the child and it becomes a toddler chair that they're going to be climbing in and out of. So stability is super important and you know, there's all kinds of regulations on high chairs here in north America. And, you know, we of course meet all those standards. So the chair has got a nice wide stable base, but it's not crazy wide base either. I know, you know, sometimes people say, well, can I use it at my kitchen island or my bar counter height countertops?

Jeff Durkee (7m 36s):

And it's like, no, because in order to get up that high, the base would have to be so crazy big that it just wouldn't be practical. So, you know, the base is wide and stable. It's not going to tip children when they get older, can climb in and out of this, on their own, it's going to be super stable. And that's just part of the confidence you have to have in the product.

Katie Ferraro (7m 56s):

I agree. I see a lot of parents who buy a Hydra. Well, what happens is a lot of parents, they get gifted High Chair. And then when we start teaching them about the importance of the adjustable foot rest and baby's feet resting flat on the foot rest, which we're going to get into in a second, they get, I wouldn't say mad, like kind of indignant. Like my High Chair doesn't have that. How could they possibly have sold me a High Chair? That's not safe. And so maybe you could share because you know, so much about High Chair regulations, tell us like what you have to do to a High Chair to get it, to pass the tip test in the safety stuff. But how come so many of the high chairs out there just either don't have a foot rest or it's not adjustable and baby's feet can't touch it. Like what's the point.

Jeff Durkee (8m 33s):

Yeah. I mean, it will address the second question first Katie is, you know, I mean, obviously, you know, there's so many different high chairs on the market and there's some that are that recline. And, you know, as a feeding expert, you know, that's not a good position for a baby to be in and they do all these other things and you know, the baby can sleep after they eat. And it's like, no.

Katie Ferraro (8m 52s):

And I have to admit, I'm so embarrassed. But if I had that High, I bought that High Chair for my oldest daughter before I wasn't feeding. I had no idea. It is literally you guys, a highchair designed to recline, which is exactly the position you would put your baby in Dawn. And I did a segment one time called how to choke a baby, a little tongue in cheek. There's nothing funny about a baby Choking. But if we were to design a product to make a baby joke, they would be reclining at that very position that the High Chair puts you in. It's so dangerous.

Jeff Durkee (9m 16s):

Sorry. Of course. So, you know, things like the proper positioning for the baby to be in, to eat for proper swallowing and all that, you know, that's not necessarily addressed by the other high chairs. You know, we know that it's so important that the child is sitting up at the table because that's the whole idea behind the Nomi is right. It's a European High Chair in Europe. They don't like their kids in a high chair with a tray that isolates them from the family meal. They want everybody at the table together because they learn socialization and manners and they watch us eat. They learn how to eat. They become less picky eaters, all those good things. But the other thing that's so important is, you know, yes, a lot of high chairs are adjustable and they can go up and down so you can get your child to the table, but you mentioned that foot rest.

Jeff Durkee (9m 59s):

And that is so important. You know, as adults, we never even think about the fact that when we're sitting in a chair, our feet are flat on the ground. That's our stable base. And yet you put a kid in a high chair and their legs are dangling. They're not comfortable. They don't have that stable base. It makes it difficult for them to move. You know, they're not going to be breathing properly if their legs are dangling. I mean, all those things that you just don't know that are so important to have that foot rest, that stable base for the child to sit in and, you know, Peter ops, Vic who designed the Nomi, that was his thing. He spent his whole life studying active sitting. And there's a difference between kids and adults, you know, as adults, the chairs move for us because none of us sit still, you know, we're always moving and adjusting.

Jeff Durkee (10m 42s):

So as adults, we want a chair that sort of moves with us, but with kids, it's kind of the opposite. They need a stable high chair that positions them well, because they're going to be moving that foot rest is so important. And yeah, not a lot of high chairs honestly have that. And then as far as the safety regulations, you know, CPSC has lots of different standards around high chairs. Tipping is a big one. The newest standard actually came out of need because of rare word tip overs, where, you know, when a kid's done with their meal, they want to push away from the table and they either do it with their hands or they'll get their feet up on the edge of the table and pushback. And a lot of high chairs were tipping over backwards. And, you know, number one, you don't have that issue with Nomi because they put casters on the rear legs.

Jeff Durkee (11m 27s):

So when the child pushes away, the chair actually rolls back like it's supposed to, but yeah, there are rearward stability tests that they do where they basically, they put a, a force gauge on the back of the High Chair and pull it backwards until they exert a certain amount of force. And the chair can't tip over, it's got to meet that standard. So lots of safety standards, and the nice thing is Nomi meets us Canadian European safety standards. It's just the way that Peter ops Vick is and his design of products, you know, he's, he's a perfectionist and he's really an artist and this is his baby.

Katie Ferraro (12m 3s):

So can we talk more about the adjustable foot plate? Again, you guys, this is the most important component of your baby's highchair. Your baby's feet need to be resting flat on a solid surface that helps facilitate a safe swallow. And a lot of parents are like, but my chair doesn't have that. So my suggestion is take your existing Chair. If you can't return it and take it to grandma's house and get yourself a chair with a flat foot, rest that adjust because your baby is going to change in size. And I bet you right now, if you look at your High Chair, your baby's feet are not resting flat on the foot rest. And that's the single most important thing we need to look for in High Chair. Positioning. Could you tell us Jeff, a little bit about why the Nomi footplate is so different from other chairs that even have footplates

Jeff Durkee (12m 45s):

Absolutely Katie. Yeah. It is different because some of the other chairs that do have the foot plates, which is a good thing, the way they adjust as they require tools, you have to loosen screws on the side of the chair to adjust both the foot plate and the seat. But the other thing that's different is those chairs where the foot plate and the seat plate slide in and out, they do so in like inch, inch and a half increments. And that's just not how kids grow. You know? I mean, my kids were raised in one of those chairs and they're great, but you know, you'd see them and you'd be like, well, it's time to make that adjustment. And then you'd adjust it. And it was like too low, even though you only went one position down. And so there's that frustration because that's not how kids grow.

Jeff Durkee (13m 27s):

And the Nomi doesn't have precept positions for the seat or the foot rest. It adjusts with no tools. There's just an adjustment knob on the back of the seat that you turn to loosen. You can adjust it wherever you need. So the seat and the foot rest are both infinitely adjustable, no tools required. You need to make a quick change. It's great. And you don't Katie. This is one thing that a lot of people don't think about. This is also a great grandparent item because grandparents often have different age grandkids. So no matter who's coming over to visit, they can, without any tools quickly make an adjustment and boom, the High Chair is a perfect age for size for whichever age grandkid they have coming over.

Katie Ferraro (14m 5s):

And one thing I've been doing a lot of lately is like, when I find out a friend is pregnant and they'll ask me like, what do I need from feeding standpoint? I'm like, listen for your baby register for a Nomi. It's a higher priced ticket item. But if you have a group of friends who want to go in on a gift for you or grandparents that want to get you something that you're really going to use throughout the entirety of your child's life, the Nomi is such a good value. And some of my parents will balk at the price of the Nomi. Like, man, that's an expensive High Chair. And I say, take the $1,200 stroller off of your registry. Are you going to be using that three times a day for the next 13 years? Because this chair starts with your baby. You can even use it prior to when Baby starts eating.

Katie Ferraro (14m 46s):

We'll talk about that in a second, but from your baby's first bites, all the way through toddlerhood childhood spice school, age, children sit in no means it's fabulous for homework. They keep their feet flat on the foot rest. It helps them not fidget. So a little bit about the pricing of it. It is certainly an investment, but when you look at the design features of it, and if you know about Peter objects design, you're like, oh, it makes sense. And this is certainly something I do want to invest in from a safety standpoint. Also an aesthetic standpoint. Could you talk a little bit about the different combinations you can get? Cause I think there's no other High Chair out there that allows you to pick so many colors and patterns and features

Jeff Durkee (15m 23s):

That's your inner designer out. Absolutely. Yeah. The Nomi has four different stem colors currently and the stems there's, there's what we call standard stems and premium stems. And just so you know, the Nomi stem is actually that is the backbone of the chair and it is an engineering Marvel from the standpoint, you know what Peter did with it. It's amazing. It's up to 32 layers, hand laminated, and then it's bent into the position and that's what gives it its strength. And as you say, supports 330 pounds, the outer layers of all the, the Nomi stems are Oak. And then on our standard stems, the inner layer is beach, which, you know, beaches, a very hard wood. It's very solid. It's not an issue with stability or strength or anything like that.

Jeff Durkee (16m 5s):

But on the premium stems, the differences we have one called natural Oak and one called Walnut. The natural Oak is actually Oak all through the whole stem and the Walnut is Walnut all through really. It's just more of the look that you want, because like you say, you know, you're going to have this for 13 or more years. You probably want something that's going to look good with your furniture. So that's how most people will select it. If they have darker wood furniture, they want a darker stem. And then there are nine different plastic colors. So all total there's 36 color combinations. So you can let your inner designer go wild. You can go on the website, you can, you know, see what it would all look together. You can pick the stem color, pick the plastic color, put it together, see if you like it, change it, have fun with it.

Jeff Durkee (16m 50s):

I mean, that's a cool,

Katie Ferraro (16m 51s):

My favorite color right now is Navy. Cause I just bought it for a friend. A lot of the friends that I'm going to help with their babies with starting solid foods because I can't be sharing their content. If they're seated in an unsafe High Chair, I just buy them the Nomi. But I asked them to what color they want. And I think the Navy is just so sharp and our friends live on a boat. So we just did a whole series of baby led weaning on a boat and the baby had the Navy chair and it was so gorgeous. So let's talk a little bit about the actual design of the chair. And so Peter designed the Nomi High Chair to be brought up to the table so that baby can participate in family meals from the first bite. So the original design was without a tray, but as I understand it from your team, I've learned that a fair amount of people who buy the Nomi also purchased the tray, which is sold separately.

Katie Ferraro (17m 34s):

So what are some situations when a family might need the tray? Obviously we want Baby to eat at the table, but that might not always be able to happen.

Jeff Durkee (17m 41s):

You're absolutely right, Katie. It's true. We do sell a lot of trays and it's mostly for sort of when between mealtime, maybe you're preparing the meal, but everybody's not at the table. You want your baby to have someplace to sit comfortably where they can be next to you, give them a tray to put whether it's a toy on or a little snack on, I'm not sure, but you know something to occupy them before mealtime. So yeah, that is the convenience of the tray. You know, one of the things that people are concerned about when you start talking about trays is, you know, is it going to clean well in the chair in general, of course, you know, they want to High Chair, that's going to clean easily. And the Nomi, it's amazing how well it cleans.

Jeff Durkee (18m 21s):

It's too bad. It's a podcast. I can't show the pictures of the before and after of the, the dirty tray, but a clean super, and the tray is so easy to use slides right on the, the restraint it's available and it's easy to use. But if you just want to have the baby at the table with, you need to have,

Katie Ferraro (18m 38s):

I have the Nomi for my twins, my twins, Gus and Hannah are three and a half now. And so the Nomi was available when they were starting solid food. So I have two in white and Oak. I didn't have it for my quadruplets because it wasn't available for sale yet. But the two white ones, they are still bright white. It's like the only white baby product that actually stays white. And this is something that has had, you know, turmeric and Curry and spaghetti sauce on it. And it cleans and still looks really nice, which it's sitting there at your table. Like I'm surprised many people if he's like really kind of ugly high chairs. And I got a lot of gifted baby stuff and some of them like take up half of your kitchen or your dining room. I love it. The Nomi slides right under the table, like the rest of the chairs and my absolute favorite feature of the Nomi is how you can balance it on the edge of the table and then sweep underneath.

Katie Ferraro (19m 24s):

So we do that where we put it on the table, sweep all the baby led, weaning, mess out from underneath it. And it's so lightweight. I travel with and take it with me when I go to visit other families. If they don't have that High Chair and a lot of times they then go and get that ITER because they love it. And the baby loves it. They feel so comfortable from the beginning. Could you tell us what the difference between the Nomi chair and the Nomi High Chair is? Cause I think that's confusing to the general public. And if people are looking online at this chair right now, I want them to know what to look for for their baby.

Jeff Durkee (19m 50s):

Absolutely. Yeah. You know, it is confusing Katie because in Europe, the chair and High Chair are purchased different from the way they are in the U S and the U S you need to select whether you're going to buy the high chair or the chair because of federal regulations. You know, when we ship a High Chair, the harness has to be attached to it. And you know, the extensions on the feet have to be attached. There's certain regulations we have to meet. So sometimes people, they look on the European site, they buy the chair thinking they're getting the High Chair and then they want to get the parts from the High Chair. It's like, we can do that. And it's a little bit confusing. Yeah. The High Chair is what you need to purchase that has the, the harness on the restraint on it so that you can use it for a child from six months and up basically when they can sit up on their own.

Jeff Durkee (20m 31s):

And then the chair is actually what the High Chair will become. So around two to three years old, your child's developing all that independence. They can climb in and out on their own and you take the harness and the restraint off. And now you have a Nomi chair, which you can continue and continue adjusting. As you say, you know, 13 years or beyond. And honestly, we find that kids get very attached to their Nomi's, it's their chair. And you're not going to take it from him, but say, you know, you're listening now and you're pregnant and you're having your second or third. You have a child, but you want to buy the Nomi High Chair for your yet unborn baby. You can buy a Nomi chair for your toddler. It doesn't have the harness and the restraint, but you can't use it from six months.

Jeff Durkee (21m 14s):

But if you've got a toddler, two years are up, they can use it. It's a little bit less expensive. And it's a great way for everybody to have the right seating solution for being around the table together and, you know, homework and crafts and all the other stuff you do at the table.

Katie Ferraro (21m 28s):

And I always recommend get the High Chair with the restraint. The restraint is kind of like this plastic attachment. It takes one second to turn the chair back into the High Chair and it restraints the baby so that they don't fall out. But obviously you have the harness, which has the straps as well. And then most babies will fit in there till about two and a half. Is when I found my babies get like, kind of too big for it. And then you take that off. It becomes the chair. But what I love about is that you can turn it right back into the High Chair. If you have friends come over or family come over with a baby, my friends are always like, oh my gosh, it's so nice that you have a High Chair for my kid. I'm like, why just took my other kids one and turned it right back in to the High Chair. Cause you can put the harness back on the restraint, back on in like no time flat. And then also being able to wash the harness.

Katie Ferraro (22m 10s):

Straps is so amazing. Like you just attach them and throw them in the washing machine and it gets all that food mess out. It's such a cool design feature.

Jeff Durkee (22m 20s):

Yeah. Cleaning of stuff. Important thing. Every experience mom definitely says, yeah, I need a High Chair that I can clean. And you know, that's one of the things people love about the Nomi. It's got great clean lines. There's not lots of cracks and crevices for our food to get trapped. So it's easy to clean and it is going to last and it's going to look beautiful for as long as you own it

Katie Ferraro (22m 39s):

About Positioning baby in High Chair, when you get your baby and you get the High Chair and you put the two things together, what should we be on the lookout for?

Jeff Durkee (22m 48s):

Well, you want to make sure when you're first using the High Chair, the seat will be in the most upright position and then the foot rest, unless your baby is exceptionally long, is probably going to be the same way it's going to be as high up as it can go. And then generally over that 18 months to two years, when kids are in the High Chair mode, you're primarily going to be adjusting the foot, rest down the seat. Usually doesn't have to change very much, I suppose, a little bit, maybe for the most part, it's the legs that are going to grow and you're going to be extending that foot rest down just a little bit. And then of course, once you take the harness and the restraint off and you've got your Nomi chair, well then the kids would start really growing like crazy. And you'll be adjusting the seat and the foot rest over the next several years.

Jeff Durkee (23m 28s):

And it's always going to be in the perfect position for that.

Katie Ferraro (23m 31s):

And the perfect position you guys is looking for 90 degree angles, right? So 90 degrees at the waist, 90 degrees at the knee and 90 degrees at the ankle. So take a look at your baby when you put them in the High Chair is the waist at 90 degrees. Is, are the knees at 90 degrees or the ankles at 90 degrees? The answer is no, you need to do some adjustments to get your baby seated safely. So Jeff tell our audience where they can go to learn more about the Nomi High Chair.

Jeff Durkee (23m 55s):

Well, I mean, aside from all your good information you're providing Katie, they can go to <inaudible> dot com. Eva Move is the name of the company that is working with the Nomi chair and Denmark. So that's just E V O M O V E. It's a palindrome, which you know us at Regal lager. We like palindromes.

Katie Ferraro (24m 13s):

I never realized that Regal lager and evil Move are palindromes. That will help me with spelling so much. Amazing.

Jeff Durkee (24m 19s):

Yeah. So that's where they can, as I said, we have what we call our configurator there, where you can pick your stem color, pick your accessories, pick your plastic color, design, the chair you want. And then, you know, you go out and make your purchase.

Katie Ferraro (24m 32s):

And I'm going to be sharing a lot of images of the different arrangements that you guys can see. I know it's kind of hard on a podcast to get the visual, but there'll be on the show notes page for this episode. If you go to BLWpodcast.com and search Nomi, N O M I that's where you can.

Jeff Durkee (24m 45s):

No, me, the name Nomi comes from ergonomic.

Katie Ferraro (24m 48s):

I also did not know that. Very cool. I've learned so much about ergonomics and safe seating from you guys. And then you also sent me Peter opposites. I'm holding it up right now for those of you on the podcast, you can't see it, but he has an entire book about seeding and seeding design. And my brother who's a designer came over. He's like, why do you have this book about seating design? Like, oh, I look at his high chair. It's all amazing. Look at all these features, but he's made so many other amazing seats as well. Definitely worth checking out.

Jeff Durkee (25m 13s):

Absolutely. They are he's yeah. He's spent his whole life studying active sitting and that book is book rethinking sitting is just, it's so cool. And I've had the fortune of sitting in several of his adult chairs as well, and they are mazing. They're so comfortable and they they're just so appropriate, whether it's a dining chair or a relaxing chair, they're just

Katie Ferraro (25m 33s):

Cool. And if your baby could talk, that's what they would say about sitting in the Nomi High Chair. It's like, don't take me out of this thing. It's so amazing and comfortable. So Jeff, thank you so much for joining us. This was hugely informative. I really appreciate your time.

Jeff Durkee (25m 44s):

It's my pleasure, Katie. Thanks for having me on. And if there's ever anything we can do, just let me know.

Katie Ferraro (25m 49s):

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that interview with Jeff Durkee from Nomi High Chair, there are lots of ways you can adjust your existing babies seating situation so that their feet are resting flat on a solid foot plate of some sorts. That is so key for reducing choking risk. You can do things like I see parents putting yoga blocks on the foot rest. If it doesn't meet the baby's feet or you can do shipping boxes or as we do at my mom's house with the crappy highchairs that my siblings and I are all dumped there over the years, we put phone books that we stack on an adult chair that when we turn around and put it underneath the baby's feet. But if you're in the market for a new chair that has a built in adjustable foot rest do take a look at the Nomi High Chair.

Katie Ferraro (26m 30s):

It has that fluid adjustment feature. Jeff was describing that no other High Chair has, and it does not require tools to adjust, which is key because your baby's growing. And we are constantly moving that foot plate to get the baby's feet resting at a 90 degree angle. And don't forget about this when you have bigger kids as well, having them rest their feet flat is important for them so that they don't choke. Also love the Nomi High Chair because toddlers and older children, they can climb in and out of it independently. And yet they're still seated safely with their feet resting flat. It's also awesome for homework, way less fidgeting, more concentration when their feet are resting flat on that Nomi chair. So if you want to check out the Nomi High Chair, don't forget, I have a special offer for you guys.

Katie Ferraro (27m 11s):

Just shoot me an email and put Nomi in the subject line. And I will respond to that email with the details for the Nomi offer. Everything that Jeff talked about today will be linked up in the show notes for this episode, which you can find at BLWpodcast.com/172. And thanks so much for listening.