“Baby rocking chairs” can refer to two different things: rocking chairs for babies to sit in themselves, and rockers or gliders for parents (or grandparents) to sit in while rocking babies. We’ll look at each of these separately, with rocking chair cushions for the little ones to sit in discussed first.

Baby rocking chairs come in 2 sizes; for children under 50 lbs, generally under 3 years old, and for those over 50 lbs but under 100 lbs, generally 3 to 8 years old. They’re also found in two very distinct styles: a few fully upholstered gliders, and the much more common wooden rocking chairs. Both are intended for indoor use. The wooden chairs, in addition to the natural and solid painted finishes similar to adult rockers, come in a wide variety of themes–fire engines, space ships, ballerinas, etc. What they don’t seem to come with, for the most part, is cushions. A few styles come with cushions, such as the Prince and Princess Thrones from Land of Discovery, but very few places sell ready-made cushions alone.

The Land of Nod has a few in limited colors and a standard size of 11″ x 12″, and Heavenly Soft has them in 11″ X 9″, also in limited patterns/colors. Unfortunately, a great many of the little wooden rocking chairs are finished in bright primary colors. If you want a matching cushion for one of these rockers, you will probably need to order a custom one, or make one yourself.

In both cases, if a foam insert is used, it should be no more than an inch thick, and very soft. Toddlers back up to these chairs and plop themselves down, so they are likely to slide off a firmer, thicker cushion. Two other things should be taken into consideration with these cushions. The first is the matter of ties. There should be 4, rather than 2, because the little ones often drag their rockers from room to room wherever they go, and the cushions need to stay firmly attached. The second is that both fabric and fill should be washable, which makes 100% polyester for both a practical choice.

Whether you make or buy, you will need to measure the seat of the baby rocking chair carefully. Even on these little chairs, the front is often wider than the back, and some of them have added features such as music boxes that the cushion must be constructed around. There are many videos and patterns on the internet and in books for making knife edge cushions. They just need to be adjusted for the smaller size. If you sew, knit or crochet, baby rocking chair cushions are a small project that you can complete in relatively short time.