High Chair Or Booster Seat? Or a Combination? Your Ultimate Guide to Buying A Feeding Chair

November 2, 2018 Leave a Comment

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You’re reading this article because you are either about to start or have just started your baby on solid food. Congratulations and welcome to this wonderful, exciting and sometimes frustrating new phase of parenting. It’s natural to have a lot of questions while starting the baby on solids. One question that we frequently encounter from parents is whether a high chair or a booster seat is better for feeding baby food and recommendations about each of these.

We’ve put together this detailed post to help answer all your questions on this topic. We cover:

• Do you even need a feeding chair?
• Pros and cons of high chair and booster chair
• Most popular high chairs and booster seats with Indian moms
• Tips on safety and cleaning the baby food chair

Do you even need a high chair or a booster seat?

You might wonder if investing in a high chair or a booster seat is even necessary, after all most of us grew up without one. While your baby can manage without a ‘baby eating chair’ by being seated on the floor, we strongly recommend you use one of these specialized seats for feeding your baby. Here’s why:

• Sitting in a baby dining chair sets the habit of sitting in one place for the duration of a meal. It creates a designated place that comes to be associated with eating. It discourages distracted eating which is more likely to happen if the child is moving around or playing while eating.
• It is also safer for the baby since it encourages feeding in the upright position. Eating while moving around can be a choking hazard for kids.
• It encourages family meal times where the entire family can sit together and bond over a shared meal. Now is the best time to lay the foundation for this invaluable habit.
• It makes our lives as parents easier by containing the mess in one place! Imagine cleaning up in different rooms after feeding a child who has been running around and eating. Not to mention the energy it saves us when we are not chasing after them with the next bite of food!
• It’s a good investment since a good booster seat or high chair can be used by the child from 6 months to at least 3 years, some kids use them till they are even 4. That said, be prepared for a phase when they will resist sitting in the chair, especially when they learn to walk. Let them have their days of eating without the chair but gently and persistently encourage them to get back on the chair, and they will.

So whether you plan to go the traditional weaning route or the baby led weaning way, we strongly recommend using a high chair or a booster seat.

Pros and Cons of High Chairs and Booster Seats

A high chair is an independent, tall chair which stands on the floor on its own legs whereas a booster seat is a short seat that needs to be fixed on top of an existing dining chair.

High Chair

Pros

• Spacious, sturdy and well balanced
• Slightly easier to clean – you just clean one chair vs the booster seat where the seat and the dining chair underneath may need to be cleaned
• Many baby high chairs come with adjustable height options. Many even come with reclining options so the baby can sleep in them (NEVER while eating though!)
• It keeps your regular dining table chair safe from wear and tear that may happen with the booster seat placed on it
• Wooden baby high chair options are available if you want to avoid plastic

Cons

• Heavier and not portable – can’t carry it outside the house while travelling
• Takes up more space
• More expensive than booster seats

Booster Seat

Pros

• Versatile – You can attach it to your dining chair or plop it on the floor if the grown-ups are used to eating on the floor
• Portable – It’s a huge advantage if you eat out or travel often. Most brands are lightweight (at around 2kgs) and you can easily lug them around
• Easy to clean – in a different way, booster seats may be easier to clean. For a really messy chair, you can simply take it to the bathroom and give it a wash down. This is particularly useful for cleaning food stuck on the harness belts
• Easy to store – doesn’t take up as much room as a high chair and can be easily put out of sight when required
• Costs less than a high chair

Cons

• Some parents find it less sturdy than a high chair, especially if your dining chairs are shaky
• Slightly more nooks and crannies to clean
• Wooden options currently unavailable

You can identify which factors are important to you and decide if you want to go for a high chair or a booster seat.

Once you have decided on a high chair or a booster seat, you can use some of the important criteria while evaluating different brands online. Some of these factors may be more important to you than others:

• Portability
• Safety harness, preferably 5 point
• Price
• Ease of cleaning
• BPA free tray
• Height adjustment, tray adjustment and back-rest adjustment
• Presence of wheels under the high chair
• Compactness and foldability
• Color coordination with your décor
• Dishwasher safe trays (if you use a dishwasher)

Most popular high chairs and booster seats with Indian moms

To make your life easier, we have shortlisted some of the best baby high chairs and booster seats that are popular among Indian moms and are also available on online.

Popular High Chairs

R for Rabbit Marshmallow Baby High Chair

Key features:

• Conforms to European Safety Standards
• Suitable for children from 6 months to 5 years
• 7-level height adjustment, 3 recline modes
• 5-point harness
• Foldable, hence saves space
• Removable and machine washable seat cover
• Comes with wheels

Check out this baby chair’s price here

Chicco Pocket Meal High Chair

Key Features

• 3 recline modes
• 5-point harness
• Foldable, hence saves space
• A convenient handle to carry the high chair around

Check the latest price of Chicco Pocket Meal High Chair here.

You will find that most of your key requirements from a high chair will be met by one of the two high chairs listed above. In case you are keen on a non-plastic, wooden high chair option, there is the Luvlap Foldable Wooden High Chair shown below. It is not as feature-rich as the high chairs mentioned above, but it sure is more eco friendly.

Luvlap Foldable Wooden High Chair

Key Features

• Eco friendly since it’s a wooden high chair
• Suitable for children from 6 months to 3 years
• Rotatable food tray
• Compact once folded

Click here to see more features of this wooden high chair.

Booster Seats

Baybee Deluxe Comfort Folding Booster Seat

Key Features

• Conforms to European Safety Standards
• 2-level height adjustment, 3-level tray adjustment
• Lightweight, foldable and travel-friendly (weighs only 2 kgs)
• Removable and machine washable seat pad

To check the latest price of this booster seat on Amazon India click here.

Fisher Price Healthy Care Booster Seat

Key Features

• Suitable from 6 months to 3 years
• Tray comes with a snap-on lid, hence stays clean while traveling
• 3-level height adjustment, 3-level tray adjustment
• Lightweight, foldable and travel-friendly. This Fisher Price booster chair comes with adjustable shoulder straps make it convenient to carry
• Dishwasher safe tray

Find out the latest price of this portable Fisher Price booster seat.

Mastela Booster Seat

Key Features

• Suitable from 6 months to 3 years
• 2-level height adjustment, 3-level tray adjustment
• Lightweight, foldable and travel-friendly
• Dishwasher safe tray

Check out the Mastela Booster Seat.

Convertible Feeding Chairs

If you like the features of a high chair but want the portability of a booster seat, there is a wonderful third option – a convertible 3-in-1 or 4-in-1 chair which gives most of the benefits of high chairs and booster seats, with the added benefit of getting a table and chair set in the same product.

R for Rabbit Convertible 4-in-1 High Chair for Kids

Key Features

• Conforms to European Safety Standards
• Suitable from 6 months to 7 years. Higher end of the age limit is applicable to the table and chair mode
• Can be used as a high chair, feeding chair on the floor, booster seat, and study table and chair
• 5-point safety harness

Know more about this feature-rich baby feeding chair here.

Luvlap 3-in-1 Convertible Baby High Chair with Cushion

Key Features

• Conforms to European Safety Standards
• Suitable from 6 months to 6 years. Higher end of the age limit is applicable to the study table and chair mode
• Can be used as a high chair, feeding chair on the floor, and study table and chair
• 5-point safety harness
• BPA Free tray

Click here to find out more about the chair

The convertible options are definitely worth evaluating but be prepared for some features to be absent – like fold-ability and reclining features.

Ultimately, whichever criteria are important to you, you will be sure to find a feeding chair that fits your need from all the options that we have shared.

Before we conclude the article, we would like to share some important safety tips and cleaning tips for baby feeding chairs.

Safety and Cleaning Tips

• Never, ever leave a child unattended when they are eating – while seated in a high chair or a booster seat, or anywhere for that matter
• Always ensure that the harness is fastened when they are seated in the chair. A 5-point harness is preferable to a 3-point harness.
• Never use a booster seat as a car seat although some manufacturers wrongly advertise the dual use. A booster seat is absolutely NOT safe as a car seat.
• Clean the chair as soon as you can after the child’s meal to avoid food build-up, especially on the harness and belts. You can use a baby products specific liquid cleanser if you like but simply wiping it down with a mixture of water and vinegar works beautifully too. Some baby feeding chairs come with dishwasher friendly trays, in case you use a dishwasher.

So what have you decided on – high chair or booster seat or a combo? Let us know in comments!

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Filed Under: Baby Food Chart, Babyled Weaning, Parenting, Shopping Guide, Starting Solids, Toddler Nutrition Tagged With: babies, baby food, parenting tips, product review