Conference moira::parenting

    You need to think about how you will use the chair to make a decision
    about which chair to get.
    
    I have the Fisher Price chair.  It is both easy to use and easy to
    clean and I recommend it. We are now using it for our second child.
    
    However, we needed a different chair than we got because of how we used
    the chair. We sit at a breakfast bar in the kitchen.  The high chair is just
    too short for the counter height.  The chair worked find in the dining
    room, but we don't use the dining room much.  
    
    
    Some people visit a lot and want a chair that is easy to travel with. 
    Some people want a chair on wheels.  
    
    It's sometimes hard to buy baby equipment until you use it, and know
    what you *really* should have gotten.
    
    My son is 6 months old and we've been using it for about a month.
    I can't remember when I started using it with my daughter, since that
    was about 4 years ago.
    
    In addition to the chair, we used a chair that attaches to the counter. 
    It worked well at the breakfast bar.
    
    Good luck in making your decision.
    
    judy

    
    
    I second the suggestion of seeing/deciding what/how you are going to
    use the high-chair.
    
    My M-I-L purchased my chair as a shower present, and if I were to do it
    again, I would not get the same one.
    
    I have the Graco (I think) that is a 5 position one. Its real nice, 
    adjusts from a regular chair, lowers to fit under the table, and 
    lowers even further so you can feed them while sitting on the floor.
    The big problem is I have a very small kitchen, and this is a very
    LARGE chair! It doesn't collapse very well either, due to the large
    seat.
    
    I have been using Nicholas's chair since he was about 4mos old. Then,
    he didn't fit in the seat, and I had to use towels to hold him upright,
    but now he is a big fella, and has no probelm sitting in the thing.
    
    Anne Marie

    Our high chair is a wooden one which converts to low chair & table. 
    Whilst we thought this would be useful, our main reason for getting 
    this Tomy one was the size of the tray. It is almost a full 
    semi-circle around the seat and has a good 1 inch lip on it (rather
    like the console Colonel White has on Captain Scarlet). It's 
    dead easy to remove for insertion of baby, and can be done 
    one-handed. A 3 point harness comes as standard, with 'D' rings for
    provision of your own harness. Whether or not it has time to be used 
    as low chair & table before another little one needs a high chair is 
    another matter! This chair is not what I would call portable (not in a
    Rover Cabrio anyway).
    
    I think you need to decide if you need a folding chair or not, and then
    go for the best tray. What you need to imagine is what exactly will
    happen to that bowl of chocolate pudding you just provided for desert,
    and how each chair / tray combination will cope :-) Some chairs have
    activity centres for the tray which we decided weren't worth the extra
    money, as the chair would only be used for eating at.
    
    Rowan has started to try and rock his chair ("shee-shaw") and one of
    the joints is starting to come apart, but the chair itself still seems 
    fairly stable.
    
    Andy

    We have the wooden Fisher Price chair, and I couldn't be happier.  I
    would never "bring" it anywhere though - it's part of the kitchen
    "furniture", and just stays where it is.
    
    One "bad" part is that the seat is very slippery .... an easy solution,
    is to get a bath sponge (Lechmere and Toys R Us havethem for ~$3.00),
    that's JUST a 'seat' sponge (kind of square-ish, probably about
    10"x12"x 2-3"thick), and set it in the bottom of the high chair.  It's
    just a sponge, so when they dump their pasta on it, you can just rinse
    it out.  keeps the child securely in place, and adds a little
    cushioning too!  I have 3 of them - 1 for the tub, 1 for the high
    chair, and 1 that's drying out from using it in the high chair (so I
    guess that's 2 for the high chair).
    
    We used the high chair from ~6 mos on.  We also use the walker if I
    want to sit on the floor to feed him (though that's a bit more
    challenging, since he can roll away if he's bored).  A walker does make
    a good "portable high chair" though ....
    
    

We bought the Perego high chair when it was on sale at Lechmere.

It has soft cushions, which was nice when our daughter was still little
(she started using it at about 7 months) -- the wooden chairs seemed to
hard for her then.

It has good balance and has wheels.  The tray is easily removable.  When she
got older, she liked climbing up onto it, and it could handle that.  When
she was older she also liked the wooden chair that her grandmother has, but
when younger she used to slide out of the wooden chair.

And  you can adjust the height of the chair -- from very low to the ground
up to higher than we would need for our kitchen table.

It worked fine without the tray to put her at the table.

Another design feature I've seen that is nice (this doesn't have it) is
a tray that rotates out sideways so that the child can climb out easily before
the tray is cleaned up.

Definitely don't get a tray that has to go up over the head -- you have to
remove all the food from the tray before you can put the tray up to remove
the child.   We would either pull the tray partway out to get the child out,
or take the tray off altogether and put it on the table.

Beryl

    My son's "high chair" fits on our kitchen chair.  It's plastic and
    buckles under the seat of the kitchen chair to keep it in place.  I just 
    put him in, buckle the strap around him, pop on the tray and he is ready 
    to eat. When I'm done, I put the tray in between his chair and the kitchen 
    chair and push the chair in.  Doesn't take up any extra space (I lose a 
    chair, but there is usually just the three of us eating.  There are some 
    out there that fold right up which makes them quite portable.  Once he is
    big enough to eat at the table, the base can be used as a booster seat.
    
    I chose this kind of seat because I did have the space in my kitchen to
    have a regular high chair and I didn't really want to keep folding
    a chair up/down every time I used it.                   

    I also went with the seats that attach to the kitchen chairs.  I have 
    twins and a small kitchen.  However, I think I went through every brand 
    before I found one I was happy with.  Both Patsy Ellen chairs (blue
    with white tray) I bought had trays that would not stay in place.  I
    then moved on to the Safety First verion (primary colors, folds up
    nicely).  The tray stayed on but there were to many places for the food
    to lodge when it fell off the tray.  I wound up having to wash the
    entire seat at each meal.
    
    I now have two seats made by Dolly (green, off-white tray, $24/ea at
    Service Merchandise -- only place I have seen them). They are great.
    Very sturdy, adjustable seat to tray height, and portable.
    
    From 4-6 months I fed my kids in their bouncy seats.  After that, when
    they sat up better (and Mom's back started to hurt), we moved into the
    highchairs.
    
    Good Luck,
    Robin

    
    I too used the Patsy Ellen chair (still do actually) and have the same
    problem with the tray not staying on...one of the clips broke, but it
    never really worked well and that's probably why the clip broke. I'll
    have to get one of the ones from Service Merchandise since Lara is only
    9 months and I assume I'll get some good use out of it.
    
    Patty

For the kitchen, I recommend getting one where the tray can come 
off with one hand.  Ours has a one-handed front lever as well as the 
side.  The large plastic tray is easy to rinse under the kitchen faucet.

And the clip-on kind is great for traveling and visiting!

    We use a Kolcraft highchair. It is all plastic, very sturdy and
    convenient.  Tray is large and curves along the sides. It can be removed 
    with 1 hand and I wash it under the faucet after meals. Seat is removable 
    for cleaning in the crevices.  I also use a clip-on kind for visiting.
    
    
                                                             

In my opinion, the best portable seat is the Dolly brand.   

It either straps onto a chair, or it sits on the floor.  The advantage 
is that 1) you can put it on the floor if the hosts do not have an 
extra chair, 2) you are not stuck if they do not have a table that is 
ok for those clip on's, 3) you don't scratch their brand new dining 
room table with the clip on (happened to a friend).   

Anyway, the chair has three height adjustments for the seat, and three 
adjustments for tray position.   East together/apart if you don't want 
to leave it set up.    Also, we have used it to feed her in the back 
of the stationwagon (parked, of course) and at a tailgate.  Plus, she 
sometimes uses it at night in the family room to have her milk when we 
are having tea-time.   

Obviously, it is also a booster if you use it without the tray. 

~ $25-29, we got it at toys r us. 

we'd like to seat our daughter at the table with us.  She's 20 months, and
we've wanted to do this now for the past 6 months because she is so neat,
there is no reason not to. 

Problem is that neither our high chair nor our booster seat (Dolly brand) fit
under the table because their arms hit the apron of the table.     If you
lower the high chair enough to fit the arms under, her chin is resting on the
table top... 

So I guess I have to go to a regular booster, with no arms/sides. That's fine,
but I'm wondering if there is one out there that 1) has a strap to hold it
onto the chair and 2) has a waist strap to hold her into it. 

the only kind I've seen are in restaurants, and they have neither.   I just
don't want her free-form in a booster that is sitting free form on a chair,
does not sound safe to me. 

    
    re: -1
    
    I got a brouchure from a swing set place just last week.  In the front
    of the brochure, the company has a few non-swingset stuff.  I noticed
    the same booster/highchair that they have in restaurants, i.e.
    McDonalds, etc., like the one I think you are referring to.  I'll post
    the name Monday after I find the flyer with the company name.
    
    The only other solution that I came up with (I also looked
    all over for that type when my oldest was graduating from the high
    chair) was a unfinished wood store.  The one I have gone to was the
    Mill Store.  There in Nashua NH and down on Cape Cod.  They had a chair
    that resembled a low bar stool with a back. It also has rungs and a
    place to rest your feet. They called it a high chair or toddler chair
    or something like that.  It ran about $30.00, but it is a sturdy piece 
    of furniture.  We stained it ourselves and it has gone through several 
    childrens' and adult use at my home.
    
       

    When my son was that age, I bought one of the wood type restaurant
    chairs.  I got mine from What's Best for Baby in Manchester, NH.  I
    also saw them at the restaurant supply store in Lowell a few weeks
    ago. 
    It was around $60.  We've really gotten alot of use out of it.  My son 
    is almost 4 now and uses it for all of his meals.  The baby uses
    it all of the time to sit at the table and color.   I think Kyle 
    would prefer a chair like that too for meals so he could be right at
    the table.  But my older son is still too small for a real chair.
    It's also such a sturdy chair that I'll always have on hand even
    when my kids outgrow it.  I'll use it for visitors with kids and
    eventually my grandchildren who will visit often ;o}.
    
    
    				Mary

    I can't remember the brand name, but I know that Toys R Us carries at
    least 2 booster seats like you describe.  One of them also has it's own
    removable tray (sort of turns a regular chair into a "high chair"). 
    The booster straps onto your kitchen chair, and there's a lap-belt for
    the child.  The one w/ the tray, the tray slides onto the seat.  I
    THINK it was made by Fisher Price or Playskool, or one of those big
    companies.  I remember thinking it was "expensive" for what it was, so
    it might be ~$30-40.00 ??  
    
    Check there - I think you'll be pleased!
    
    -Patty

    We have an Evenflo "Snack and Play" (I think is the name of it).
    
    Bought it for Chelsea at age 1 and we still pack it in the car for
    get-a-way weekends...Chelsea will be three in May.
    
    It's a stand-a-lone with a tray and three positions for growth (seat
    level)....and it also has a strap for use in a chair.
    
    Bought it at Toys R us for about $25.00
    
    ...Lori

    
    
    RE: 856.13
    
    Wooden Booster Chair found in restaurants
    
    Made by Creative Playthings, 53 Loring Drive, Framingham, MA
    Model number 9340BR-200
    
    I don't have a price or a telephone number.

thank you.    I priced them and they are $70, more than our highchair!  It's 
a great alternative, but I think I can solve this one for 9.95 (read below).  

I measured the booster seat with removable tray that we have (Dolly Super
Booster - love it) and the arms are just 3/4" too high and hit the apron of
the table. 

I saw two boosters (neither with tray options, which is fine, we already
have that with the Dolly) that are more than 3/4" lower, so they will work.
Now that I know the dimensions I'm dealing with, I'll get one of those. 

Thank you, 

Karen 

    First, I'm in France, so the stores information won't apply to US
    noters!
    
    Looked everywhere for a wooden high chair with a removable tray which
    could then be used at the table. IKEA used to sell beautiful ones - now
    they've only got tubular folding ones. 
    
    Finally found the COSSATO wooden high chair with padded seat. It
    converts to table and low chair. At least if I take off the tray it can
    be used at the dining table later on. Paid about 80 pounds (ouch!).
    
    For travelling, bought the Mamas & Papas folding chair which screws
    onto the dining table. This too was expensive (around 60 pounds), but
    folds flat for travelling, is very light, easy to clean, and fits on
    every table we've found so far. Definitely won't travel without it! I
    feel it has almost already paid for itself after four months, as it's
    in use at the childminder's every day! 
    
    Bought both chairs from John Lewis, and they were happy to post the
    folding one for me. 
    
    Jacquie