Design and Features
The Combi Roanju Chair is a unique baby product. It's a day bed, change table, rocker, high chair and booster seat all in one unit.
It features a fully reclining seat, three level adjustable legs, swivel and lockable wheels, an optional rocking motion, five point safety harness, fold-out side trays, rear ventilation, a detachable caddy to hold nappies & necessities, an adjustable food tray and padded cotton seat cover.
It comes in chocolate and happy tree (which is cream & beige with red stitching).
Performance and Drawbacks
As a day bed the Roanju lays completely flat and the footrest and headrest convert to create a shallow bassinet. The top of the seat unit is wider around your baby's head which ensures air circulation around your baby's face. You can secure your baby in the harness for safety. As a bassinet, the seat unit is nice and long and will comfortably accommodate your baby up to 6 months.
As a day bed, the Roanju is suitable for day time supervised sleeps. It's not designed to replace your cot.
As a rocker, the Roanju is nice and smooth. The rocking motion is the same pace as a mother's heartbeat and, according to Combi, is guaranteed to help your baby fall asleep faster. We are going to ask our tester parents to test this function out.
The Roanju easily converts to a high chair with the pull of a lever. For a new eater the sides of the chair conveniently fold out providing you with a small table for your baby food. Once your baby is feeding themselves you can add the tray which is a good size and will comfortably fit a child-sized plate and cup. It is also adjustable, preventing food falling on your child's lap.
As a booster seat, it will comfortably seat a large toddler up to about 3 years and you can roll the Roanju right up to your dining table.
Of course the lighter colours of the seat cover are going to get dirty from sticky fingers pretty quickly. Luckily it's easy to remove and machine washable. The whole unit is easy to wipe clean.
As a change table, the Roanju is pretty handy and it makes life easy to be able to change your child while you are sitting down. Unfortunately the harness is quite bulky under your baby's back and I'd suggest a terry toweling nappy under your baby's bottom to keep the seat cover clean. The caddy is useful and will hold enough nappies and wipes for about 5 changes.
Generally the Roanju Chair is easy to use, most pieces that 'do things' are a contrasting yellow colour. This is very useful because, as I've found with other Combi products, the instructions are a little too comprehensive to be easy reading.
My favorite thing about the Roanju Chair is that it's designed for your comfort. Apart from the ease of being able to wheel your baby around with you, the chair's height allows you to feed and change while you are sitting eliminating the hoisting and stretching usually required to perform these activities.
The Roanju chair is not as high as many traditional high chairs, but it doesn't need to be. The fact that it sits close to the floor means that your baby can participate in the play of older siblings. It folds flat for transport or storage.
For parents with special needs or parents with children who have special needs the Roanju is particularly well designed to make mobility and access easier.
Conclusion
Combi call the Roanju a baby station because it performs so many functions and it certainly has more uses and features than most baby products on the market.
It is as expensive item which many families would not think a necessity. However, I can easily see how for some families the Roanju could become as essential inside their home as a pram is outside their home.
The Roanju is available at most Combi Stockists. Shop around for the best price.
About Combi
Combi is the new kid on the block in Australia but is a well established brand in Japan since 1957. Combi makes a wide range of baby products including small, light prams including the Combi Well Comfort which weights a tiny 4.2kgs.
