What’s the Chicco Pocket Snack highchair like to use?
It’s not possible to unfold the Pocket Snack one-handed, as it needs to be secured before your baby can use it, but once in place it’s as convenient and unobtrusive as the dining chair it sits on.
The height is adjustable (three positions) and it’s an easy fix to switch between them – though since it relies on a dining chair for support, it can’t recline.
The tray takes two hands to click into place, but is easily done, and also has three adjustable positions to keep the baby secure as they grow. Alternatively, you can dispense with the tray and park your child at the table with you as Katrĩna did – often a more attractive prospect for toddlers wanting to sit with the rest of the family.
The plastic seat is wide enough so it’s not constrictive, although longer mealtimes would likely be more comfortable if there were a cushion insert (Chicco don’t supply one).
With no moulded plastic shell for the child’s legs, it’s very easy to slip them in and out. This does mean that only the three-point harness holds your child’s legs in place, but the harness is solid and secure enough that this doesn’t present a problem.
Adjusting the harness is a simple matter of pulling the straps tight to the shoulders after clicking together. The tray might make it more difficult to put a toddler into the seat, especially when wearing hard-soled shoes – though, in practice, our tester’s 33-month-old toddler much preferred to use the seat without the tray.
Disassembly can be done in minutes and the Pocket Snack folds down to an extremely convenient handbag size, with a shoulder strap for easy transport. Katrĩna found it a perfect, unobtrusive accessory for visiting grandparents, restaurants or friends without children.
How safe is it?
One of the great advantages of the Pocket Snack is that, secured off the floor and tucked next to the table, it’s never in the way. There’s no trip hazard and a greatly reduced chance of toddlers bumping their heads on their way through the kitchen.
The booster is secured to the chair by two straps – one around the chair back and one underneath the seat. It’s easy to tighten the straps and they feel secure once in place. The harness and tray mechanism also feel solidly unmoving, but watch out for little fingers getting pinched as you adjust the tray position.
During the resilience tests, the Pocket Snack was dropped repeatedly onto a hard floor and came out with only a few scratches – impressive for such a lightweight piece of kit. The tray, too, was dropped numerous times with no damage at all.
Whether your child can push themselves over while in the booster will likely depend on the solidity of the chair you’ve attached it to, but our tester’s children (the youngest being nine months old) never managed it.