i need to buy a high chair - whats the best one?

[Gini]

my ds has been sitting up for small periods of time but i need a chair that will help keep him sat up as well - any ideas? I'm keen to start having family meals and getting him involved without him sitting on my lap and grabbing all the food off my plate!!!!!!!

Well I can't recommend a particular brand but I went for a bulky mothercare (not the cheapest brand) and I can't tell you what a mistake it was!

It's too big for our room so looks really cramped, it's hard to fold away so it stays up all the time, you can't take the straps off to wash and even taking the tray off it's really hard to clean under the seat properly so it's quite disgusting really.

If I were buying one in hindsight I would have chosen a really lightweight cheap one that was easy to fold and easy to clean. Don't know if one of those exist of course

Once we move I'm getting a booster seat for ds so he can eat with us at the table - but I'm not convinced a booster seat right from when he started sitting would have been a great idea either.

Hopefully someone else will have a better recommendation!

We too went for a super-duper expensive highchair (M&P version) it was a complete waste of money. It was impossible to clean, bulky etc, etc. We went back and got the cheapest M&P highchair available, the Luca, it's very basic and you'll probably want to buy some reins to use as an additional safety harness, but it folds away and is very easy to clean. It cost about £30.

excellent - thanks! I didn't want to make the same mistake as I did with the pram - I got a mothercare travel system, it cost about £280, weighs a ton, doesn't steer properly and he hates the car seat - it cramps his tummy up and makes him sick!!
Will make sure I check them out properly and not get swayed by thinking spending a fortune equals good quality!

I think the biggest problem with these sorts of purchases is that you need to be the parent of 4 kids to finally work out what it is you need! Not much help when you're expecting your first and full of pregnancy hormones which make you feel like you need to spend a fortune to give your child the best!

Ds is two and we have bought a total of 4 pushchairs: one travel system (like you said, too big and bulky), a graco thing which is lighter and is good for public transport but doesn't fit in the car, one cheap one to go in the car (then we realised the wheels didn't turn) and another cheap one to go in the car which does have turny wheels but the raincover is next to useless...

I think there needs to be "rent-a-mums" that can accompany you on vunerable big ticket item purchasing to persuade you out of the more stupid buying decisions...

We too got a Mothercare one (Antonio??) - was about £60 two years ago. Would not recommend for the reasons stated by Georgina. Its high and low seatings heights never used, could fold, never used. Main problem is its awful to clean and straps aren't removable. Have heard good things said about the white plastic ones from Ikea. They are about £11 plus extra for the tray.

DS now uses a booster seat which I think is a good progression anyway. He has been using it out and about since about 9 months with the tray but now sits at the table with us. So I would go for the cheap Ikea high chair (doesn't fold but legs can be removed) and a booster chair. HTH

We've got a cheap plastic one from Ikea at my mum's. Great, very comfy. You also need to buy a harness and possibly a tray if you don't use a table to eat at. However, it's very ugly so not really an asset to your decorating unless you happen to have a nice spot to hide it. It's very light and easy to transport but the legs don't come off without a lot of struggle so forget doing it every meal.

At home we have a trip trap which dd has used happily from about 7 or 8 months to currently 20 months. You do need to buy all the extras if you get it younger than a year, and it's hugely expensive but I really can't fault it. You do need to use a table with it as they don't make a tray.

Something else I've remembered you ought to check when highchair buying - how vicious is the clasp on the seat harness? I have sustained so many blood blisters on my fingers from when I've caught my fingers in the clasp on ours that I've lost count. Terrified that ds will get his fingers caught in one day (but he hasn't done so far).

its true - you end up spending a fortune on things you don't need - or requesting them as presents - I ended up with a moses basket thats was used for a bout a month, and for christmas I asked my parents for a baby bjorn harness, convinced I would use it all the time - did I? Nope!

I bought a Graco highchair - have had it for about a month and seems quite good so far. I went for this over a wooden one as I hear they are hard to keep clean. This one is well padded and seems quite comfy. It has different seat settings and height settings so is good for a younger baby like mine who can't sit up on her own quite yet. It was about £80 from Babys R Us, but I am hoping to get quite alot of use out of it!

We have a triptrap one - very expensive, but looks nice, supposed to be good for posture, converts into a chair after use as high chair, easy to clean, only bad thing is it doesn't have a tray, but I don't find that a problem and allows me to feed dd from Sofa, also it is dead easy to get her in and out! I love it!!!!

My MIL bought a chair from Mothercare on Sunday so I thought I would get her to test it out before I got one for our house so if its c**p I don't have to make an expensive mistake. Didn't tell her that though....

Useless things in our house: 2 baby bjorn type carry things (screams in them), a bouncy door thing (ditto) and a Moses basket (too small after a month). My friends warned me about useless purchases but did I listen? No.

Having childminded about 40 children, I have been through a succession of highchairs, at least 7 that DH can recall!

The best ones todate is the Trip Trap and a handysitt, the handysitt folds up flat and you put it on an ordinary chair. It is brilliant, am thinking of getting another. It has a lap and crutch strap but it is easier enough to fit an extra harness, but not really any need if you jam the child right up to the table!

Thery do also have a cushion for smaller babies, it is great to fling in the car as it takes up very little space. A great chair if you want your baby to be at the table and be sociable, works well for me and my minded ones!

We opted for a booster seat, rather than a highchair as we have limited space in our house. It's 'Safety 1st' brand and cost about #24. I love it. It's small and folds up well. We can take it with us when we go out, to someone's place for dinner, or away. It's really easy to clean and DS is very comfortable in it. The only thing we did was to attach another strap at the top as DS rocks and wriggles and it was moving a bit too much for my liking.

I also did without a proper highchair and haven't regretted it. I bought the mothercare plastic booster seat (plus a padded cushion) which was fine for ds from about 5/6 months (when he started to sit) - very practical with a washable completely removable tray. Not very pretty but easy to hide away.

Once we wanted to have ds sitting with us at the table we bought an IKEA wooden highchair - £25 - and even quite attractive! Looks rather like a normal dining chair on extended legs. Should last him for a while as well.

dd2 is nearly 8 months and I have the Ikea Antilop - cheap and I think very cool looking as it is just plain white. Easy to clean and comes with a non-slip 'cushion' for comfort.

I also have a Bumbo chair - like a large foam potty that is great for babies as they can sit in it on the floor and really get involved with everyone.

When dd2 is old enough she'll have a handysitt.

I got a reasonable Mothercare high-chair from Oxfam for £4, which my ds has been using for the best part of 2 years. Its very easy to fold away and fits into a narrow space when folded - when travelling we often take it, lying in front of the rear passenger seats.

I say "reasonable" rather than good because one problem I have noticed with it is that now he is using plates rather than bowls, they don't quite fit properly on the tray (so are always at an angle and wobbly, but I'm too mean to buy a new one as he won't be in it for much longer!). So my advice would be take a plastic plate with you to the shop and make sure it fits on the tray before you buy.

If you want to buy just one which is going to last until he is 2 or 3, you may find that he has problems sitting up straight for long enough in it at the moment, but you can get support cushions to fit inside until he's bigger - I got one of those second hand as well, and it only cost me a couple of quid.

I got a reasonable Mothercare high-chair from Oxfam for £4, which my ds has been using for the best part of 2 years. Its very easy to fold away and fits into a narrow space when folded - when travelling we often take it, lying in front of the rear passenger seats.

I say "reasonable" rather than good because one problem I have noticed with it is that now he is using plates rather than bowls, they don't quite fit properly on the tray (so are always at an angle and wobbly, but I'm too mean to buy a new one as he won't be in it for much longer!). So my advice would be take a plastic plate with you to the shop and make sure it fits on the tray before you buy.

If you want to buy just one which is going to last until he is 2 or 3, you may find that he has problems sitting up straight for long enough in it at the moment, but you can get support cushions to fit inside until he's bigger - I got one of those second hand as well, and it only cost me a couple of quid.

Georgina you MUST have the same high chair as us (well ours is confined to the loft) because I remember teh blood blisters from the clasp all too well.

We have the Tripp Trapp too - cost about £140 with the chair, baby seat and the cushion. But we do love it and it looks great too. DD has been using since she was about 5 or 6 months old.

For out and about we have a plastic foldup seat that you attach to a normal dining chair. Only cost about £10 i think and it does the trick.

You need to think of what you want your chair for - is it just for eating, or will you use it at the table for painting and drawing, baking, etc a bit later on (if so, a tray may be in the way), does it need to fold up or do you have enough room, cost, what it looks like (DH hates the bold bright colours of many baby products), etc.

Also don't forget the mumsnet recommendations listings - from the home page I think.

Tripp trapp does make a tray, though you have to buy it separately. I must admit I've only ever actually seen them in shops in Germany and Belgium, but if you insist with the supplier they might be able to order one.

We bought two - a posh wooden " ooh that looks nice in your ancient farmhouse " one, and the cheap white plastic one from IKEA (£12 I think, plus £5 for the clip on tray.)

I can't recommend the ikea one highly enough. It is MUCH better than the fancy one, it's just so well designed.From a really young age it holds a baby upright in exactly the right position ( our 3 babies have been very different shapes!)

One unexpected benefit is I can hand ds a felt pen and let him scribble away on the tray...and just wipe it off later. Also it has no foot rest so he can't climb out so easily.

We have the East Coast folding wooden one and have been really pleased with it. I bought a basic wipe clean padded insert for it from Mothercare as it's quite spacious for a young baby.

I wanted a folding one so that we could move it between the kitchen and the dining room easily and fold it down when we needed the space.

My friend with the Tripp Trapp is quite envious of it as it has a tray and my DS looks more comfortable in it than her DS in the TT and at half the price too - hurrah!

I would recommend buying a lightweight folding highchair. They can be stashed away easily if you need a bit of space and also stored between babies! Also, you can pop them in the boot of the car when visiting granny, going on holiday, etc. Make sure the tray is detatchable as that will make it easier to clean. You might need to buy a harness to go with it (this will partly help to support the baby). Baby can be propped up with a cushion (washable!) until he can sit unaided.

I'm not sure if someone else has said this but I have one of those chairs that sits on a normal chair. This works well for us as we don't have a kitchen table at the moment so I feed him on the floor sitting in it and he also loves it and uses it to sit in and watch tv. He's so funny when he goes and sits in it himself to do something other than eat. We use it when we travle too and it is very lightweight and compact. I bought it for £10.00 of ebay and then bought a strap to restrain him in it from Ikea for about £1.00. We don't tie him in though as he loves his food so much there isn't any need. He doesn't get up until he's had enough and he can't fall out as he's already on the floor. Hope that helps.

Second that, Meanmum. We have the Safety First one, which is the most highly recommended of the booster seats (on the Recommendations listing). We were giving a full-size second hand high chair, but it was such a faff to clean it, we switched fairly early to the booster seat and used a rolled-up towel alongside ds until he could sit unaided.