Product Review: FlyeBaby

I recently returned from a trip to Seattle for my little sister's baby shower.  It was my first trip cross country with Graham, and visions of a screaming infant torturing fellow passengers for 5 hours plagued my mind!  I planned to travel with "baby in arms" to save money on an additional seat.

I'm a sucker for baby gear, and a sucker for Amazon.com (love my Prime membership!) so after a little searching I found a really interesting product called the FlyeBaby.  Basically, it's a sling seat for little buddies that attaches to the tray table (while in an upright position) and around your waist by way of a clipped strap.  I thought I'd give it a try.

I really liked this product and did feel that it made my trip easier. Here's the lowdown:

Ease of use: A+

• All the straps are color coded and easy to tighten and fasten (clips and velcro).  It fits snuggly on the tray table and was easy to fasten around my waist.  When not in use, it rolls up easily into a nice little draw string bag.

Handiness: A

• The FlyeBaby was a great way to give my arms a break and a nice way to have on plane face-to-face play time with baby man.  
• Graham enjoyed sitting and playing in it, and even when I held him or nursed him, I liked the fact that the sling created a "catch all" to keep toys, pacifiers, burp cloths, etc. from falling onto the ground.
• He slept pretty well in the sling, the only negative was that in the cramped seats of coach, the sling wasn't stretched out as much as it could have been so he ended up pretty slouchy in it. 

Quality: A

• The material around baby's head is very nice and soft, and the stitching and attention to detail are all great.  The straps feel very secure and everything latches and aligns smoothly.  The little seatbelt harness for baby is also enclosed in nice soft fabric so no hard buckles to poke into baby. 

Potential Negatives:

• Graham was 3.5 months old during our trip so he fit just fine into the seat, but I can imagine that if he were much bigger, than this product might not work out as well on the plane.
• I was lucky to have someone in front of me who did not recline their seat - that could have made things too smooshed for use, or worst case scenario - dangerous for the top of baby's head. 

Other Info:

• I should also mention that when not in use on the plane, the FlyeBaby can  convert into a highchair by securing it to a chair. Very cool for reducing the bulky gear that you travel with!  I'll have to wait until the little man is a littler better at sitting up before trying that application out. 
• If you want to do a trial run with the product before you get on the plane, it's easy to do a practice run with a cutting board acting as a tray table. 
• Also - as with most things these days - there was a great tutorial on YouTube - just in case you have any questions about the set up! Access that video here.