Our current living arrangement means our high chair is going to be on display a lot of the time. We have no real “dining” area in our flat, just a living room and a kitchen that is really too small to feed a baby in. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit this but all of our meals are consumed on our couch, although we do have a table it is shoved in a corner and lacking the all-important chairs. So I plan on feeding the baby in our living room over a splashmat. We are gonna try and rearrange the room to get a functional table happening but that has yet to happen.
SO – High chairs. Or highchairs. Whatever – most of them are disgusting. Who wants a huge hunk of white plastic cluttering up their house? Not me. Far out the baby sits in it not uses it as a focal point – there is no need for stimulatory colours and half the stuff most high chairs come with. Not to mention how disgustingly dirty they get, I want something simple with no hiding places for little food surprises!! So.. here is my line up for the best high chairs of 2010:
Criteria:
Easily cleanable, fixed support thing between legs (saw a baby slip right down in their harness the other day) and non-hideous.
1. IKEAAntilop – £10.99 + £4 tray
The classic, utilitarian IKEA Antilop. Complete it with the £4 moulded one piece tray (easy cleaning), and now the inflatable cushion £4.99 and you have a winner. Also comes in red and blue. I personally wish it came in black! Our living room is fitted out in IKEA brown black and gloss black and a black highchair would be amazing.
2. Bloom Fresco- £320ish
I suppose if I had endless cash I would probably buy this one. I did get the bloom coco baby lounger but sold it on as I never used it, didn’t really see the point of bouncy chairs for baby. It has a nice one piece tray but the rest of it has real gross baby food covering potential. The gloss black is gorgeous and I love that you can change the seat pad colours. You do pay alot but get some nice features that others don’t have – reclining, rotating, height adjustment etc. A really nice idea to go around the dinner table while you are eating from birth as you can recline it right back. Nothing like getting into good habits early…
3. Stokke Trip trap in walnut – £130ish
I love the dark wood but despite how popular and trendy these are at the moment I don’t really get the styling. Also I hate hate that it doesn’t have a support between the legs. True you get a chair that lasts until your kid is huge but you have to buy a third party tray which I think looks grosss. Maybe suitable if you are always going to be spoon feeding and eating at the table.
UPDATE – 29/01/11
I have been using the IKEA highchair for a couple of months now and it is fantastic. I have absolutely no criticisms – Reuben is really wriggly and super strong and he loves to pull the highchair along the ground haha I have no fears that it will topple on him. It is so secure and I just dump him in it, and haven’t had to worry about doing up the buckle yet because he can’t escape (I don’t recommend this). I know he won’t slip down and get hurt… and I don’t mind leaving him experimenting with feeding himself and making a huge mess because the tray is so well designed and easy to clean. I still wish they made it in black.
Hi! I could not agree with you more. So many of the high chairs out there are big hunks of plastic and look more like car seats or space stations than a place where you would want to sit and eat. I thought about the Ikea one, but came up with a different solution altogether. Check it out: http://www.milk-milk-lemonade.com/?p=46 These are typical in restaurants here in the US. Glad you found something that works, too!