Baby Gear: High Chairs and Booster Seats
As with much of the baby gear, this is something you really need to wait to decide on after referral. Your choice will be different, depending on whether you are referred a six month old or a two year old. In some cases, you may not know for sure which you will need until you actually have your child in your arms and try to feed him or her in a restaurant. If they don’t have enough muscle tone to sit up then you’ll need a different high chair than you will for a child who can sit unassisted.
We skipped the high chair with TwinkleToes and went straight to a deluxe sort of booster seat, the Fisher-Price Space Saver High Chair
With GlitterGirl, RK and I were still in the habit of eating in the den instead of at the table. So, we’d drag the high chair with us, set at the lowest setting, and feed her in the den as we ate. Food dropping onto the carpet wasn’t much of an issue, since we had a large dog who caught dropped food practically before it hit the ground.
As GG got older we moved our meals to the table though, so by the time we came home with TT, having her booster-seat on one of the seats of the table was much more practical than having a separate high chair.
I always lusted after the high chairs and boosters like this
Speaking of dragging the high chair around, the house we lived in when GG was a baby had the master suite on the main level of the house. That made it easy to take a shower while GG was awake – I’d strap GG into the high chair and put lots of finger foods on it, and drag the whole thing into the bathroom. We have a clear shower curtain, so she could see me and I could see her, and she had lots of good food to eat, and everyone was happy. (But, GG didn’t have the choking issues that TT has, I would not have been able to do that with TT, because TT got choked several times a meal for the first few months we were home with her).
Anyway, in deciding what you want in a high chair, think about your needs:
- Do you need to be able to adjust it from high to low? Or do you just need it low, or just need it high?
- Do you care what it looks like? There are stylish wooden high chairs
, retro wooden high chairs
, suave plastic high chairs
, cutesy plastic high chairs
, plastic modern
, metal minimalist
, etc. Are you going for function alone, or are you going for some combination of form and function?
- What is the layout of your kitchen? Are wheels important or will it be stationary? Can you live with a big one, or is it imperative your highchair have the smallest footprint possible?
- For an older child, do they have enough muscle tone for a basic booster, or do you need a booster with more support? You can choose several before you travel and then either buy it when you get home, or order it online from China so it arrives the day you arrive home, or have someone buy it for you so it’s waiting for you at home when you return home.
As you can see, it’s not as easy as saying “this is a good high chair”. Because while that may be true for one family, for another it might be a terribly inconvenient high chair for their needs.
As with the strollers though, I think that simple is better, as you don’t want a ton of crevices that food can get into.
As for other practical matters, it is important that you can easily get the tray on and off, and can easily get the kid in and out. But, I’m not sure it’s that important that the tray can go in the dishwasher (ours could on both models, but we just wiped them off after each use).
June 24th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
We have a Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster Seat and we LOVE it! It has a tray, straps to the chair, and can fold up and be taken with you (we take our to G’mas house). Now that my daughter is older we use it as a booster, but before we used it as her highchair. It has different hight levels to choose from as well as being able to adjust the tray to fit your child’s tummy. They tray can be put in the dishwasher, which we did on spaghetti night, but most times we just wiped it off.
Our other highchair, the full size one, was also made by Fisher-Price and we loved it. We used it when our daughters were younger, before they had good muscle control. The seat could recline to several positions, the height of the chair was adjustable and it had wheels that could lock. The chair had a plastic divided tray that clicked on to the attached tray. It was machine washable. I also loved that the seat cover could come off. It was washed many many times.
June 24th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
we also have the FP healthy care booster seat…..
love it! Ours may be a newer version…it doesn’t have height adjustment anymore…but the tray still adjusts for different size tummies and is totally removable as well as the back being removable.
it is a piece of cake to clean!
for the price- it is awesome (around $20). I had some friends try to dissuade me saying they didn’t think they would be stable. but it is great…..unless you put it on a chair that is unstable in the first place. The straps really snug it to the seat. One of our little guys rocks all around in it and it hasn’t shifted positions at all.
plus it is light weight so if you do want to take it somewhere it would be very easy to do (like other poster said has strap!)
one of my little guys even likes to help mommy and can carry the tray over to me all by himself (go Zachary!)
June 24th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Before we went to China we had purchased a booster seat that straps onto the chair. I forget the name but it could be transported nicely. However, after seeing our daughter use the highchairs in China, we went out and purchased one our first full day home from China. I liked the big tray with the lip to protect the floor from most spills. I believe the big tray allowed her some more freedom to explore her food choices that might not have worked so easily on our wooden kitchen table. It was a total personal preference. We had a helper at Babies R Us explain highchairs to us since we were clueless, and except for a few that he explained he said that they basically all have the same features and it’s basically down to color preference. That was four years ago, but it really helped to have someone explain the choices.
June 24th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Someone gave me this portable booster seat at my shower for Baby Emory (a couple of years ago!): http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Go-Booster/dp/B0000A11ZQ/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1245869450&sr=1-19.
It has been wonderful for restaurants! She does fine in a wooden high chair, but sometimes they are all taken or hard to locate (and a few places like bagel shops don’t always have them at all), plus she’s so thin, this booster seat has the front panel that comes up and straps her securely. It attaches to all restaurant chairs that we’ve tried it on, and we plan to use it in the fall for football games b/c it should attach pretty well to stadium bleachers too. It folds up nicely and wipes clean. We absolutely love it.
June 24th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
We are hoping to travel in September to meet our daughter who will be 24 or 25 months old at the time of travel. Would the BTDT parents out there recommend a booster seat over a full high chair for her? Thanks!
June 24th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
On a related note, we also love the Table Topper disposable mats for Baby Emory to eat off of when we’re out, instead of a plate that she’ll just throw on the floor. I’ve found that the Baby Einstein ones stick better than the Dora ones.
June 24th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
We have had many high chairs over the years and your right RQ, each families needs are unique. I do however *love* the inexpensive white IKEA one for it’s simplicity and ease of sanitizing it. I can & do literally hose it down after Birthdays and bbqs (:
looking forward to the Baby Carrier discussion
Roberta
~Waiting for my Approval and TA!!!!!
June 24th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
We had the Graco Harmony or its equivalent when we bought it. It had different height adjustments, a vinyl cover for quick clean up. Dishwasher safe tray. It had wheels and folded up for east transport and out of the way.
If I had it to do over again, I would not have gotten a high chair at all. She came home at almost a year. Only used it for 6 months.
I would of went right to the Fisher Price Healthy Care Deluxe Booster. Comes with a tray. Very portable. Fits any chair I have ever encountered. 3 height adjustments. Cleans up great. 3 point harness (only down side if they are young enough to need a 5 point). All for under $30. The 3 point a concern because for us a high chair is for meals we never used it to keep her occupied.
For her being close to me, mobile (and she was used to a walker and needed/wanted to be mobile) and occupied, her Elmo Walker from Target, was my life saver those first few months home. I find she just wasn’t used to a large amount of square footage and she freaked out when we got upgraded to suite in Beijing (didn’t feel close enough to us). We got home went to sleep. Husband went immediately to Target for the walker when he got up. She had one freak out before he got home and that was it. Happy as a clam in the walker.
June 24th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
With my first I had gotten a big, beautiful, confy, cushy high chair that i registered for. I hated that thing! It was so big and bulky and always looked dirty- no matter how much I cleaned it! I forget the brand- but I think it was the Peg Perego Prima Pappa at the time.
With my second I got smart- I bought a Fisher Price seat that rested on a regular old kitchen chair and buckl;ed underneath it. It reclined and was a 5 point harness. It worked for them when they were 1 week orld until they were about 2. It stayed on the chair and slid under the table with the rest of the chairs. It took up no space and it was so easy to clean. Loved it!
We also had the restaurant one that slid onto the table and anchored. I loved that because it was mine and I knew that ds was the only baby on it- so not so germy. We kept this one in the car for relative visits and restaurants.
Hope that helps!
June 24th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
We had a Graco high chair on rollers, but the problem was getting it close to the table. We did buy one of those hook-on-the-table models and used it when we ate outside on our patio, which we do as soon as the weather allows. It was a great way to keep our daughters close to the table. Plus it traveled easily whenever we visited family.
Our littlest one though, couldn’t wait to sit in a “big girl chair” and not in the high chair even if we had to put her on pillows to do so. (Yes, the chair had arms so she wouldn’t tip off!)
June 24th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
My parents still have the Stokke high chair from when my brother, sister and I were babies. I will not mention how old that chair is but it is old and still functions after all these years. So we bought one for our house and we use the one we used as kids for Mimi’s and Papa’s.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
One of my requirements is a high chair with wheels. All of the safety and easy care stuff you guys are talking about too, but wheels is a must IMHO. I love zipping my kids acrss the floor to the sink for face clean up and getting the tray into the sink. It is also great for getting it from room to room if you need to.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:26 am
We had pretty much the same experience as mom23boys. We started with a big old traditional high chair. We had a large dining room and it did fold up, but it was still always in the way. We chucked it after a month and bought an adjustable booster seat (I think it was F.Price). It worked fantastic! We also got the kind that attaches to a table and that is great for traveling.
We definitely have the motto of “less-is-more” with our baby gear this time around.
June 25th, 2009 at 8:52 am
We had the Baby Trend full size high chair. The thing I really liked was that the height was adjustable so we could even sit her at the piano in it (without the tray of course). It had wheels and several positions for the seat. Later on we removed the tray and pushed it up to the table–until DD figured out how to push herself away (even with locked wheels).
We also had the Fisher Price travel booster–it is soft sided and straps to a chair and has straps to hold child in. This was great especially if we were out and about or had a friend over. I think that one would be good for the lady who asked what she should get for her 24 month old…it is soft and provides support and restraint. Eventually DD wanted to climb in and out so we got one of those Cooshie boosters…basically just a foam seat that does not hook onto the chair or have restraints. I love that thing!!! DD is 2.5 and has been using it for a little over 6 months…it is just the thing for a child who can sit and does not need to be strapped in. The seat stays put even without anything to strap it to the chair…easy to clean and lite so you can throw it into the car for travel if needed. I think we will be using this one until she is big enough to reach the table without anything on the seat.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I am adopting a 4 1/2 year old but she is quite tiny — 34 inches, 28 lbs, about as big as a 2 year old. My biokid is 9 and I honestly can’t recall how long she needed a booster. She is an average size kid, and I’m thinking she used one at the table until she was 4 or so. Does that sound right? I’m trying to figure out WHAT I’m going to need for my teeny tiny 4 1/2 year old!
Debra
Going to China around July 22 for Zuzu!
June 25th, 2009 at 11:15 am
ok – you sold me on the FP space saver. I had been eyeing it and wasn’t looking forward to the space a high chair would take up in my kitchen. I hated having a big HC the first time around. This will be on my list if it is ever our turn! Thanks!
June 25th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Debra,
I’d buy the Fisher Price booster seat. Our daughter is 3 years old and 26 pounds and she still sits in it for meals.
Congratulations on your Zuzu!!!
Erica