How To Choose the Best Baby High Chair
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If you’re in the market for a high chair for your baby, your little one is likely near the beginning of their feeding journey into the world of starting solids! This is an exciting time of life and a stage that can be so enjoyable.
It may seem like any high chair will do, but choosing a high chair with certain attributes can make an enormous difference in your baby’s level of comfort, attention span, and overall experience at mealtimes - not to mention your own!
A high chair is an essential piece of equipment, given how often it is used (multiple times a day!), so if you’re going to invest in anything for your littlest eater, this is the place to do it. However, please do not worry if you already have a high chair that doesn’t necessarily have all the attributes I will mention here. There is a lot we can do to make it work.
In this post, I will offer some budget-friendly hacks and ways to modify a baby high chair you already have. And for those of you creating baby registries or getting ready to shop, I will go over my top tips for choosing the best baby high chair and share a brief review of a few of my favorite high-quality chair brands and models.
When Can My Baby Sit in a High Chair?
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, if your baby shows signs of readiness for starting solids, it is time to feed them in an infant high chair. While every baby is unique, these signs typically emerge around 6 months of age (adjusted for prematurity).
Here are the signs to watch for:
Baby can sit upright with minimal support
Baby can hold their head/neck steady when sitting
Baby can grab larger objects and pull them to the mouth
Baby is interested in food and opens their mouth when food is offered
Baby can swallow some food rather than pushing it back out on the chin
Tips for Choosing the Best Baby High Chair
Whether you are looking for the best high chair for baby-led weaning, plan to follow a traditional spoon-fed route, or will do a combination method (spoiler alert - there is no wrong choice!), there are a few things to look for in a baby high chair.
As a pediatric registered dietitian with three girls of my own, I’ve used many different types of high chairs and compiled a list of my top tips for choosing a high chair, in the hopes that it will help you make an informed decision. Here goes!
1. Look for a high chair that keeps your baby seated upright.
There are many options for high chairs with a reclining feature on the market. While a reclined position may seem enticing and be okay for bottle feeding, leaning a baby back in the high chair during solid food meals actually increases the risk of choking. When it comes to safety, sitting upright with hips, knees, and ankles at 90° angles is best!
Whether a baby is eating purees, mashes, soft foods, or finger foods, chewing and swallowing are very involved oral motor functions. If a baby is not sitting totally upright while performing these tasks, gravity can more easily pull a bite of food toward the back of the mouth and throat before a baby is ready to swallow and/or before it has been thoroughly mashed down with gums.
2. Opt for a high chair that includes an adjustable footrest.
Have you ever eaten a meal at a tall table while sitting on a barstool that left your feet dangling? I don’t know about you, but when I am sitting on a stool with no place to rest my feet, it puts pressure on my lower back and causes me to fidget. In fact, it really does make eating much less enjoyable.
Keeping your baby’s feet supported during mealtimes helps improve trunk stability, focus, and coordination. Planting feet on a footrest also makes your baby feel more grounded, comfortable, and interested in food. It can even help reduce the likelihood of mouth stuffing as well as high chair and food refusal.
If the high chair you like or already have does not include a footrest, you can always improvise! The key here is to have somewhere the baby can brace their feet during eating opportunities. Here are some options:
An adorable 10-month old baby gal using a Stokke Tripp Trapp Highchair with a footrest. Thank you to her sweet parents for granting permission to share!
Try duct-taping a tissue box (or a couple of boxes or stacked wooden planks) at your baby’s foot level to the legs of the chair or onto an existing footrest that is too low and not adjustable
Tie a resistance band, scarf, or receiving blanket around the legs of the high chair at your baby’s foot level. I like resistance bands (the kind used for exercise) because they stay put without slipping, but you can always use elastic bands to keep the scarf or blanket put.
Stack thick books on the seat of a regular chair up to baby’s foot level and pull the chair up in front of baby’s high chair
In a pinch, you might even pull the high chair close enough to you that your baby can rest their feet on your knees.
If your baby’s legs stick straight out from the seat and don’t reach the footrest, try scooting their tushie close to the front of the seat. From there, you can wedge a small pillow or inflatable cushion between your baby’s back and the back of the chair so their legs can bend, allowing their feet to reach the footrest.
3. Ease of cleaning is a must!
When it comes to high chairs, the fewer nooks and crannies that food can get stuck in, the better. Simple designs that can be wiped clean are usually best, along with easily cleaned materials.
If the high chair you like has a padded seat cover, be sure that it is washable and can be easily removed. Easiest to clean high chairs often include a removable tray, which can make cleaning the high chair much more manageable and stress-free. My favorites are the dishwasher-safe trays that are small enough to slide right into the bottom rack of most dishwashing units.
4. Choose a high chair that has a safety harness.
A 5-point safety harness is ideal when choosing a baby high chair, but at the very least, look for a high chair that has a T-strap safety harness. Chairs manufactured after 2019 all require safety straps because injuries that result from babies who are not properly restrained and fall from the high chair are common.
Just remember that when strapping your baby into a high chair, the straps should not be as tight as in a car seat. In the high chair, babies should ideally still be able to have the mobility to move their arms freely enough to self-feed and reach their arms up above the head.
As a side note, I’m not a fan of bibs that cover over the safety straps. If a baby needs to be removed from the chair and given first aid, we don’t want to waste precious time removing a bib first to get to the straps.
5. The ideal high chair should grow with your child.
The last thing to consider when purchasing a high chair for your baby is whether it will grow with your child through the ages and stages ahead. In other words, the best baby high chairs transition into the best toddler high chairs! If you’re going to spend money on this important feeding tool, you might as well get as many years out of it as possible. A few questions to consider:
Is the footrest adjustable and able to accommodate growing legs and torsos?
Does it have an adjustable and/or removable tray and adjustable seat heights?
Does it have the ability to function as a toddler chair that can be pulled right up to the dining table next to you?
As a bonus, I also like chairs that provide a supportive, higher back. The squishy chairs that allow babies to sink back and recline don’t provide the solid back support that leads to optimal feeding positioning.
If you already have a chair that doesn’t provide good back support, try placing a small pillow at your baby’s back and/or a couple of rolled-up towels on either side of the hips to keep your baby from slumping back or to the side.
My Top Recommended Baby High Chairs
The ideal high chair can make all the difference when it comes to feeding your baby and starting solids, but with so much baby gear and so many different types of chairs on the market, it can feel impossible to know where to begin.
Listed below are some of my favorite baby high chairs (and one toddler booster seat) that I hope will help make your decision easier. I made my choices with basic features, price, support, ability to be modified, and comfort in mind:
Ikea Antilop
Stokke Tripp Trapp
Inglesina Fast Table Chair
OXO Tot Nest Booster Seat
Most Affordable High Chair (and Easiest to Clean): Ikea Antilop*
Price: $19.99
Why I recommend it: This Ikea high chair is a great affordable option. It doesn’t have a lot of unnecessary bells and whistles, making it easy to clean. You’ll want to note, though, that it does not offer an adjustable footrest. If you choose to purchase this high chair, I recommend purchasing this footrest* with it. This inflatable support cushion* is also a great add-on and can help keep younger babies seated upright.
Best Grow-With-Your-Child High Chair: Stokke Tripp Trapp*
Price: $349
Why I recommend it: This is a solid infant high chair! It is fully adjustable, easy to clean, and will grow with your child into toddlerhood and beyond (it can actually hold up to 240 pounds). These wooden high chairs last so long that they often end up for sale second-hand in Facebook groups and consignment stores, so keep an eye out!
Best Portable Baby High Chair AND Best High Chair for Small Spaces: Inglesina Fast Table Chair*
Price: $79
Why I recommend it: As far as convenient portable high chair options go, this choice by Inglesina is excellent and I used it for all three of my girls. The cover is machine washable, and it brings your baby right up to the table or counter. The only drawback is its lack of a footrest, but placing a regular chair with some books stacked up on the seat right up to baby’s foot level works well in a pinch. Bar stools often hit the right foot level for babies when this chair is attached to a countertop.
Best Toddler Booster Seat: OXO Tot Nest Booster Seat*
Price: $59.99
Why I recommend it: If you are getting ready to transition your toddler to a booster seat, usually sometime between 12-24 months of age, I like this toddler seat because it is affordable, comfortable, easy to clean, and provides a higher back that supports healthy upright eating posture.
Runner-Up Baby High Chairs:
Lalo 3-in-1 Chair*: At $235, this is another excellent option for a grow-with-your-child chair. It is sleek, lightweight, easy to clean, has an adjustable footrest, and supports up to 30 lbs. When your child is a toddler, there are additional legs for purchase that make a cute toddler-sized chair that is easy to slide up to a play table.
Graco Slim Snacker High Chair*: At $89.99, this full-size infant high chair is comfortable, easy to clean, has a footrest, and is very affordable. While this chair is more on the bulky side, the best feature is the quick one-handed fold that allows you to easily store or tuck away, making this chair another good option for small spaces.
Stokke Clikk High Chair*: If you like the Stokke brand but are looking for a less expensive option, this is a great baby high chair that can also grow with your baby from 6 months to 3 years old. It comes with a dishwasher-safe tray, has an adjustable footrest and can easily be taken apart for travel.
Abiie Beyond Junior High Chair*: This high chair has a design similar to that of the Stokke Tripp Trapp, but it is more affordable and can grow with your child through toddlerhood and preschool. It is easy to clean and has weight limits high enough to allow it to perform safely as an adult chair.
If you are in the market for a high chair, you might also be in the process of designing your baby’s nursery - such an exciting milestone! Redfin recently reached out to experts like me to help you create a nursery that you and your baby will absolutely adore. Check out my tip in How to Design a Nursery You’ll Love: 9 Expert Tips.
For those who want to see the full list of products I recommend for baby feeding, check out my Amazon store! Or download my FREE Baby-Led Feeding Essentials Checklist, which provides my favorite versions of the few things you really need and none of the fluff you don't. You’ll also get my top 12 tips for successful baby meals as a part of the free guide.
On another note, if you’re getting ready to start your baby on solids, or if your baby has recently begun his or her feeding journey and you need guidance on food sizing, balanced baby meals, introducing the top allergenic foods, and making sure baby is getting the important nutrients needed for growth and development during infancy, check out my new online course for parents, based on my best-selling book which will walk you through the whole process of starting solids using a baby-led approach.
Thanks for reading!
