About SunChild

SunChild started with a high chair, and a Google search.

When I was pregnant with my second baby, I realised that my firstborn struggled to sit still in his high chair. I started researching and discovered how important proper foot support can be when babies are learning to eat. The analogy used, was imagine sitting at a bar stool with no footrest (a personal peeve of mine!).

The problem? I already had a high chair I loved. I really didn't want to spend a small fortune replacing an otherwise perfectly good chair just to get a footrest.

So I went looking for one.

I found a few overseas options, but nothing readily available in South Africa. And because importing things from overseas can be expensive, complicated and somewhat like a fool's errand if we're honest, I thought:

Surely South African mums need this too?

So I figured out how to make one.

With the help of a carpenter I worked with at the time, I designed our adjustable wooden footrest. And just like that, SunChild was born.

It stayed a little side project for a while, because I also have a full-time job, two kids and approximately 7,000 things on my to-do list, but mums kept finding us.

And then SunChild became about something else too.

A few months after my second baby was born, my oldest, Josh, was diagnosed with autism and global developmental delays. He is now six, completely non-verbal, and experiences a lot of anxiety and very big emotions.

It has been one of the hardest journeys of our lives.

But it has also introduced me to an incredible community of parents who understand the things you can't always explain to everyone else.

The judgement.
The exhaustion.
The ridiculous moments.
And, most importantly, the enormous amount of joy.

Because Josh is one of the happiest people I know, in fact SunChild was named after him... His joy just looks a little different. 

The T-shirt range started with a joke between my husband and me about wanting to wear a giant sign saying:

“He’s autistic.”

Because sometimes you just want to skip the explaining.

Then another mum in my support group gave me the idea for our first slogan:

“He’s autistic. What’s your excuse?”

And it grew from there.

Our T-shirts are funny, cheeky, sometimes a little sassy — but they're also about recognition.

About seeing another parent wearing one and thinking, Yep. You get it.

About using humour to get through the hard days.

And about reminding everyone that you never really know what someone else is navigating.

So whether you're here for a highchair footrest, a T-shirt, or simply because you're a parent trying to figure this whole thing out...

Welcome to SunChild.

We're figuring it out too.

With a little humour, a lot of love, and a whole lot of wine.

You're not alone. ❤️