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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to expect restaurants to clean their highchairs?

26 replies

WiIdfire · 19/03/2016 19:50

We've only been using highchairs for 2 months, but we've been to a fair few places already. Without fail, the highchairs are filthy. Really disgustingly grubby, even bearing in mind that I have very low standards of cleanliness. Is it too much to expect them to be wiped down along with the tables? I suppose it would really help if the people using them wiped off any visible gunk before they left, but since people clearly don't, should the staff not do it? Just having a little rant as yet again we've been given a chair caked in dried on food, with a big smear of tomato sauce across the seat. This one even had a slightly rancid smell about it too. It's a bit frustrating to have to clean the highchair at both the start AND end of a meal, or am I just picking the wrong cafes? Gah!

OP posts:
VoldysGoneMouldy · 19/03/2016 19:54

You can get little packs of anti bacterial wipes that you can pop in your bag, about the size of small baby wipes pack.

Some places are better than others. But then, some parents are better than others at tidying up.

Doilooklikeatourist · 19/03/2016 19:57

You're going to the wrong places
We always wash ours down , and use sanitising spray after they've been used
( cafe owner )

SauvignonBlanche · 19/03/2016 19:59

I once watched my poor DN, swell up and go all blotchy after sitting in a restaurant high chair. He was dairy allergic and whilst BIL had wiped the chair down before he put him in the straps must have had ice cream soaked into the straps, they had to take him home.

YANBU OP, they're usually manky.

MumOnTheRunCatchingUp · 19/03/2016 20:04

Well straps aren't easy to clean are they?

Original poster
WiIdfire · 19/03/2016 20:07

Voldy - yes I have a pack. Tonights chair was a four-wiper 😷

Doilook - where?! I'll visit! It would be such a lovely change.

Mumonthetrun - i do realise i'll have to gloss over straps. I reckon theres money to be made in designing wipe clean straps for these things.

OP posts:
ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 19/03/2016 20:10

I think the problem is a lot of places don't own babies so don't realise fabric straps are impossible to clean, and don't realise that babies eat of trays so they actually need to be cleaner than tables. Also folk helpfully putting the chairs back means that staff may not realise they need cleaning.

MyBreadIsEggy · 19/03/2016 20:15

I'm just amazed than someone took their child out of said highchair and left it in the state you've described Shock
Doesn't everyone wipe down a highchair as best they can after their little savages have decimated their dinner on it?? I know I do Hmm

unimaginative13 · 19/03/2016 20:21

Most places have ikea chairs- which we have at home. They are so easy to clean! So when we went out I was shock that I had to dettol the thing! I would wipe anyway but not have to scrub!

Same with baby changing units Confused

Badumchhhhh · 19/03/2016 20:25

YANBU
I have a child with severe allergies and have to scrub the chair first before sitting him in it to avoid a severe reaction. Nobody would expect an adult to eat off a table that dirty.

ISpeakJive · 19/03/2016 20:37

Urggh, I hate this! It just makes me wonder that if they can't keep their high chairs clean what else are they neglecting...... It really puts me off certain places!

AuditAngel · 19/03/2016 20:47

My husband owns a restaurant. I visited once and went to use a high chair and made him get the staff so I could show them the high chairs weren't clean

Heatherjayne1972 · 19/03/2016 20:49

You mean they don't clean the high chairs as a routine thing? That's disgusting. Yes I agree parents should wipe it down with baby wipes but surely the staff disinfect them

TigerLily666 · 19/03/2016 20:54

God I'm so glad you started this post. Makes me feel normal. i used to wipe down highchairs in cafes/restaurants with baby wipes all the time because they were so disgusting generally. my mother and mil used to have digs at me for doing this - usual crappy lines were ' you can be too clean'; 'he'll never build his immune system' and 'no one else bothers!" .... well according to this thread they do! Thank you ladies for having some standards ...

newmumwithquestions · 19/03/2016 21:06

Yanbu. They are almost always grim.
Doilook- seriously let us know where your cafe is - I'd come too!

nonicknameseemsavailable · 19/03/2016 21:43

I am a bit of a hygiene freak so we had a portable booster seat tray. I refused to use high chairs out and about.

Chillyegg · 19/03/2016 21:48

Yanbu at all its rank. I had to get a staff member at soft play the other day to clean the high chairs. Every single one was absolutely caked in food and crap and tissues and other shit. It's disgusting. It's annoying when you go some whare and the highchair straps are broken aswell this gives me the rage.

TartanTrousers · 19/03/2016 21:50

We always clean down the high chairs when we go out to eat and 9/10 they are absolutely disgusting.

I find it very annoying, I'm a real clean freak and it really bothers me to have to clean something that's dirty before I eat Angry

Malermalergoni · 19/03/2016 22:00

I cannot understand this either. Since the ikea chairs cost 12 quid and are stackable, I cannot fathom why every restaurant doesn't have a huge tower of them going on, immaculately cleaned after every use. It isn't hard, even in the middle of service in a packed restaurant. The worst is when you're given one of those bloody awful massive chairs with loads of plastic adjusting pieces. Inevitably in lemon tartan vinyl or greasy navy blue with bears on in bow ties, and every nook and cranny is filled with congealed crumby shit. Why ???? And why can the straps on those things never just slide out to be washed ? Yep op. It's horrible

1hamwich4 · 19/03/2016 22:03

I agree a clean highchair is a rare thing indeed. Grim.

I often use a portable booster- I've got a munchkin one that folds into a bag, it's really convenient and often easier in crowded places because it fits on a normal chair.

Sparklingbrook · 19/03/2016 22:10

Ewww this brings back memories, sad to hear nothing has changed in 16 years. They should be clean when you start and you should leave them clean when you leave..

Doilooklikeatourist · 20/03/2016 20:32

Small cafe , only have 2 high chairs from Argos
Wales

JellyTipisthebest · 20/03/2016 22:06

The problem comes when parents 'clean' them when they leave to a young Saturday girl they then look clean so they just put them away if you just leave them they are more likely to get cleaned. Wet wipes are not the best thing to clean them with anyway. If you have to clean all the mess your child makes in a restaurant you might as well stay home as its easier to clean up with a vacuum and proper cloths.

Just as I often ask for a table to be cleaned before I sit down I have asked for a high chair to be cleaned.
If we were going to a big family meal where having a high-chair was v important I always took my own incase they ran out

Whatdoesaduckdo · 21/03/2016 07:06

I used to work in a hotel that stored highchairs in the male staff toilets - I went ballistic with the staff when I found out - totally disgusting.
I always clean before use as if you watch staff putting them away in restaurants it's a cursory wipe with a damp cloth

pigeonpoo · 21/03/2016 07:21

YANBU

I gave up with them early on and used the buggy as a high chair rather than even risk it after a few occasions of being grossed by them

Also used a travel mat on top of buggy for baby changing rather than the changing mats everywhere too mind

Lamu · 21/03/2016 07:26

Glad we're over the need for them, Dd's nearly 2, she refused to sit in them long ago. Filthy straps and previous occupants food ingrained into nook and crannies, it is rank. You wouldn't expect an adult to sit in a filthy chair, why should a child.

We never used to clean high chairs after use, by all means pick up the big bits but i would have assumed places would properly disinfect them after use.

The worst places I found were 5 star hotels. You're paying at least £400 a night for your child to sleep in a filthy, sticky travel cot previous occupant had clearly been snaking in it and eat in a chair I wouldn't feed a dog off!