Obaby Madison vs Mamas & Papas Settle: The £389 Chair Reclines, the £655 One Doesn't

COMPARISON · NURSERY & SLEEP

A nursing chair is the piece of nursery furniture you will spend the most waking hours in during the first year. Night feeds, cluster feeds, the 4am rock that never quite works, the contact nap where you daren't move for ninety minutes: it all happens in that chair. So it is worth getting right, and it is also one of the easiest places to overspend on looks.

The Obaby Madison Swivel Glider Recliner and the Mamas & Papas Settle Swivel Nursing Chair land in the same nurseries for the same reason. Both are soft, upholstered, high-backed chairs that swivel a full 360 degrees, both come in the boucle and teddy fabrics that dominate nursery mood boards right now, and both look like a proper living room armchair rather than a wooden glider from a catalogue.

The surprise is in the price and the feature list. The Madison is the cheaper chair, from around £389 on offer and £440 to £490 at full price, yet it is the one that swivels, glides and reclines with a pop-out leg rest. The Settle costs £655 for the chair alone and swivels with a gentle glide, but it does not recline and the matching footstool takes it to £799 to £849. What you get for the extra money is a wider, deeper, more enveloping seat and a chair that is made to order in the UK.

We compared the two on the things that matter at 3am rather than in a showroom: how each one moves, how much room it takes up, how your feet and back are supported during a long feed, and what parents tell us after living with them. We read retailer and brand specifications, a stack of owner feedback and the questions parents bring to us when they're building a nursery list.

Lil' Bubba's verdicts

• Best Overall: Obaby Madison Swivel Glider Recliner Chair · 8.5/10 - swivel, glide and recline for less money, and the recline is a genuine help for long night feeds
• Best for Small Rooms and Style: Mamas & Papas Settle Swivel Nursing Chair · 7.5/10 - a deep, wraparound seat that never needs space to recline and looks like living room furniture once the baby years are over

Quick comparison

	Obaby Madison	Mamas & Papas Settle
Rating
Typical price	£389 to £490	£655 (chair), £799 to £849 with stool
Swivel	360 degrees	360 degrees
Glide	Yes, metal ball-bearing glider	Gentle glide built into the swivel
Recline	Yes, manual lever with leg rest	No
Size (upright)	75cm wide, 97cm deep, 100cm high	83cm wide, 98cm deep, 92cm high
Fully reclined length	About 166cm	Not applicable
Weight	42kg	Not published
Footstool	Not needed (built-in leg rest)	Sold separately or as a set
Fabrics	Boucle, teddy, woven (several shades)	Boucle and teddy (several shades)

How we picked these two

We started with the swivel nursing chairs parents add to their BubsNest lists most often, then narrowed to two upholstered, high-backed chairs that cost under £700 for the chair alone and are sold by established UK nursery retailers. We wanted a genuine trade-off rather than a cheap and expensive version of the same thing, and these two split cleanly: one is all about movement and recline, the other is all about the seat itself. We checked current prices and stock, compared published specifications, and gathered recurring themes from owner feedback. No brand paid to be included, and neither saw this article before it went live.

What to look for in a nursing chair

Movement. There are three kinds. A swivel turns the chair on its base, which lets you reach a muslin or a bottle without twisting your back. A glide moves the whole seat back and forth on a track, smoother and quieter than a traditional rocker. A recline tips the back down and lifts your legs. Plenty of parents find gentle motion helps settle a baby; some never use it after the first few weeks.

Back and arm support. You'll be holding a baby at chest height for 20 to 45 minutes at a time. A high back that supports your head, and armrests at a height where your elbow can rest with a feeding pillow on your lap, make a bigger difference than any feature.

Feet. Raising your feet takes strain off your lower back and helps if you're recovering from a caesarean. That means either a footstool or a chair with a built-in leg rest.

Space. Measure. A recliner needs clearance behind and in front, and a swivel chair needs room to turn without clipping the cot. Many UK nurseries are box rooms where every 10cm counts.

Getting up. A very deep, soft seat is blissful to sink into and harder to stand up from while holding a sleeping baby. Firm front edges and armrests you can push off from matter more than you'd think.

Life after the nursery. A good nursing chair often moves to a living room or bedroom later, so think about whether you'll still want to look at it in three years.

1. Obaby Madison Swivel Glider Recliner Chair / 10 · Best for long night feeds

The Madison does a lot for its price. The base swivels a full circle, the seat glides on metal ball bearings, and a side lever drops the back and kicks up a padded leg rest using a Leggett & Platt mechanism, the same type of recliner hardware found in plenty of grown-up sofas. Upright it measures 75cm wide, 97cm deep and 100cm high; fully reclined it stretches to around 166cm long, which is roughly the length of a small adult lying down.

That recline is the point. For a long cluster feed, or a contact nap where you finally have a sleeping baby on your chest, being able to lean back with your feet up turns an hour in the chair from an endurance test into something close to rest. The upholstery is OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified and comes in boucle, teddy and woven finishes, and Obaby offers a two-year warranty when you register online.

What parents love

• Recline with a built-in leg rest. No separate footstool to buy or trip over. One parent told us: 'Great back support, ideal for feeding and soothing our baby, and putting my feet up after the C-section was the thing I didn't know I needed.'
• All three movements in one chair. Swivel to reach the side table, glide to settle, recline to rest. Parents we hear from regularly describe it as the chair that covers every stage, from newborn feeds to toddler bedtime stories.
• Comfort for the money. Plush foam cushions and a supportive back for well under the price of many fashion-led nursery chairs. A parent shared: 'Looks gorgeous and is very comfortable, understated enough to suit any room. Worth every penny.'
• Straightforward assembly. The backrest slots onto the base, so it's a short job rather than an afternoon with an Allen key.

What to know before you buy

• It needs room to recline. Fully reclined it's about 166cm long, and the back needs clearance from the wall. In a tight box room, measure before you buy.
• Closing the recline takes a firm push. We hear repeatedly from parents that returning the leg rest needs a good shove with your legs, which is awkward with a sleeping baby in your arms.
• It's heavy. At 42kg it's a two-person carry upstairs, and not something you'll shift between rooms on a whim.

Best for

• Parents expecting long night feeds or lots of contact naps
• Anyone recovering from a caesarean who wants their feet raised without a separate stool
• Buyers who want swivel, glide and recline on a sub-£500 budget
• Nurseries with at least a couple of metres of clear floor in front of the chair

2. Mamas & Papas Settle Swivel Nursing Chair / 10 · Best for small rooms and style

The Settle is designed in-house by Mamas & Papas and made to order in the UK. It's a rounded, high-backed chair with a wide, deep seat and padded armrests, fully upholstered in boucle or teddy fabric. The base swivels a full 360 degrees with a gentle gliding feel, but there's no recline and no leg rest. It measures around 83cm wide, 98cm deep and 92cm high, so it's a little wider than the Madison but never gets any longer.

What the Settle trades in mechanics it gives back in the seat. It's deep enough that a toddler can squeeze in beside you while you feed a newborn, which is exactly the scene parents of two describe when they tell us why they chose it. And because it's a fixed armchair shape, it slides into a living room corner after the nursery years without looking like baby kit.

What parents love

• A seat big enough for two. The wide, deep cushion fits a feeding pillow, a baby and often an older sibling for story time. One parent put it best: 'It's the only chair where my toddler can curl up next to me while I feed the baby, so bedtime is one cuddle instead of two.'
• Swivel without the bulk. You still turn to reach the changing unit or the lamp without twisting, but the chair never projects forward, so it suits narrower rooms.
• Furniture-grade looks. The rounded boucle shape reads as a design armchair rather than nursery equipment, and many parents tell us it's the chair they planned to keep for the living room.
• Made to order in the UK. A plus for buyers who prefer UK manufacturing and a reassuringly solid feel.

What to know before you buy

• No recline, no leg rest. For feet up you need the matching stool, which takes the set to £799 to £849. That's around double the Madison's offer price.
• Made to order means waiting. Check the delivery lead time before you order, especially if you're close to your due date, and note that furniture delivery is charged separately.
• Deep and soft cuts both ways. We hear from shorter parents that the deep seat needs a cushion behind the back for upright feeds, and that standing up while holding a sleeping baby takes a little practice.

Best for

• Smaller nurseries where a recliner simply won't fit
• Second-time parents who want a seat a toddler can share
• Buyers who want a chair that moves to the living room later
• Parents who don't feel the need for recline and prefer a simpler mechanism

What about the Mamas & Papas Settle with a footstool?

If you love the Settle but want your feet up, the chair-and-stool set exists in the same fabrics at £799 to £849. It's a lovely pairing, but at that price you're paying close to the cost of two Madisons for a combination that still doesn't recline. If budget matters, the Madison's built-in leg rest does the same job for far less. If you'd rather compare more boucle nursing chairs side by side, our Mamas & Papas Elwood vs CuddleCo Etta comparison covers two more options.

How to choose

Choose the Obaby Madison if you expect long feeds, contact naps or a slow recovery, and you have room for a chair that stretches to around 166cm. It's the more capable chair for less money, and the recline is the feature parents say they use most in the hardest weeks. Just accept that closing the leg rest takes a firm push and that it's a heavy piece to move.

Choose the Mamas & Papas Settle if your nursery is compact, you want a deep seat a toddler can share, or you care most about a chair that will look at home in your living room for years. Budget for the footstool if you want your feet up, and check the made-to-order lead time against your due date.

If you're torn, measure your floor first. In most smaller UK nurseries that one measurement makes the decision for you.

Add it to your Nest

Whichever chair you choose, add it to your free BubsNest registry so family and friends can chip in. A nursing chair is one of the most popular group gifts on our lists, and it's the kind of present you'll think of fondly every single night feed.