High Chairs

Okay, so here is something else I have opinions about. Perhaps it was the scarring experience we had with our first high chair, and subsequently the happy relationship we have with our current.

I do not like stand-alone high chairs. They take up too much room in the kitchen. If you have a big kitchen and really want a stand alone high chair, get one with wheels on the bottom. Their tall height is an advantage if you are cooking and need a place to put your baby so they can still feel close to you. And they might want to follow you all over the kitchen as you work, thus the handi-ness of wheels.

Our stand-alone high chair had two pads and a big tray, all of which were evil. One cover was foam encased in plastic, the other was cloth. The cloth one took a special tool we fashioned out of a wire hanger in order to put it on the chair. The elastic bands had to be fed through tiny holes and routed around and behind in a way ordinary fingers were incapable of doing. It also shrunk and faded in the wash and never looked very good or fit very well after that. So we ignored it and just used the plastic undercover. We still got food inbetween the cover and the seat, but it was easier to install. It worked okay for a while, but after a month or two, the plastic coating cracked and the food and baby goo was directly absorbed into the inner foam. Very gross. Virtually impossible to clean. THe very big tray didn't properly fit into the sink for cleaning, and was a waste of space in my opinion because a baby's portion of food is never that big.

Our new version is the first years booster seat. It attaches very securely to a folding chair, which is small and easy to scoot right up to the table. There is one cloth a pad on the back of the seat which can be installed in seconds using fingers only, and retains it's shape and color after washing. The padding does not extend to the seat portion. That is molded plastic only. This is where all the gross food deposits during a meal, so a non-layered, wipe-clean surface that won't crack is essential. It also detaches and can be cleaned separately incase the mess is too big for wiping and needs to go straight to the sink. My favorite part, though, is the tray. It is small. It fits easily in the sink; in fact, it fits in the dishwasher. I have seen that big high chairs now have detachable parts of their tray that fit in dishwashers, but that is assuming your baby won't muck up the edges of the other tray part with their perpetually gooey hands. My experience is the sides of the tray are just as messy as the top.

So here are my suggestions for high chairs.
1 Get a booster seat instead. Smaller tray. Saves space. More intimate dinner arrangement.
2. Get a booster seat without a pad on the seat. You'll be washing it constantly.
3. No matter what you get, make sure you can reattach the padding yourself within ten minutes.
4. If you insist on a big high chair, get one with wheels. Your high chair can double as a baby holder while you cook, and you want it to be mobile.