When to ditch the highchair?

[ilovehotsauce]

Dd will be 1 this week she has started refusing to sit in the highchair screams wildly and refuses to eat.

After this morning my sofa is covered in yoghurt, shall I just go to ikea and get a mini table and chairs? She is already walking very well and able to climb on and off stuff.

I am with the Stokke posters. My DDs are going on 9 and still using their imitation Stokke seats.

Stokkes here too, dd1 had various highchairs and tried booster seats (better than any highchair we had for her) and finally an ikea junior chair was best thing we had and finally at 6 she is more or less ok at our huge table! So we went for a stokke for dd2 (good condition second hand one, lucky find at a nearly new sale!) and age 4 she still uses it everyday and is not comfy or high enough on our normal chairs, it sits her high enough and supports feet nicely, in restaurants she is def not as comfy but of course she manages, baby no 3 now 10 months has been in his own stokke since he was 5 months with the baby set on, to be honest if I saw one locally on eBay I'd consider nabbing it for dd1 so they all have one!! She looks so comfy on her little sisters one, would need to drop the footplate for her but it's so easy to adjust them, def second hand bargains as expensive new, but for years use they are certainly worth it IMO. Also fab for putting toddlers and older dc at correct height at a table for drawing/writing/craft and reaching stuff as easily as an adult would without knocking stuff if having to lean up and over out of a lower normal dinning chair, weirdly though I am not a fan of their buggies but love the highchairs!

DS1 came out of his when he was 20mo, because we didn't bring it over to Australia with us and didn't bother getting one when we arrived.

DS2 is still in his at just 2 - he has a tendency to fall asleep over his lunch, so it's safer than a chair, plus it keeps him safe and allows me to get on with other stuff while he's eating, especially now he can climb out of his playpen

My DD was 2 last month and we are still using her Tripp Trapp with no intention of stopping anytime soon. In fact the thought hasn't even crossed my mind yet!

It only crossed my mind when I read this thread, Porgie!
I'm not ready to get DS2 out yet - he is, once again, asleep halfway through his lunch, cosily reclining in his highchair - which has allowed me to get my own lunch unhindered and do some chores before coming back here.

I got DD a plastic garden table & 1 chair from Tesco for about £6 altogether, I think Homebase had some reduced last week, she also has a canvas fold up deckchair that she loves.

For the moment we don't eat at the table and she would still be strapped in the trip tapp and that's the issue she want to be freeeeeeeeeeee! & if I didn't I'm pretty sure she'd just jump off it all the time! I will look into ikea junior chairs for when we move.

2.5 yo and 1 and a bit yo still in antilop highchairs pulled up at the table.

I think eating together is very important apparently. (after a close friend of mine came to stay with her 2 pre schoolers who spent the whole visit wandering around with bits of half eaten food and snacks and didn't sit at the table at all. and I hated it)

As you don't eat as a family she has no idea what sitting to the table means and perhaps she gets bored. Sounds as though a mini chair and table might be best for you. We took the tray away and pulled the chair up to the table

Just to clarify we were eating at the table until recently we had to take it down and put it in storage as we are currently living in a tiny rental waiting for our house sale to go through.

She doesn't like being strapped in anywhere I've currently stopped using the pushchair for the same reason its either trike or ergo. But thanks for reassuring me that Im rasing a wild animal child with no table manners!

Ilovehotsauce I'm so sorry I didn't mean to be rude. Of course you haven't raised a wild child. Go with the mini table and good luck with the move.

Oh dear Ilove people haven't understood your question have they ?? The ikea small tables are great btw. I would get one. Use it for eating now and then craft etc when you get your dining table back. We have a cheap plastic one for outside but it is very wobbly, although the plastic chairs are fine. The wooden ones are a better investment. For eating at the table mine used the baby dan (no belts bar or straps so free to move about) until 2 then moved to ikea junior chairs.

Neither of my DC would have gone anywhere near a proper high chair by 18 months and went berserk if you put straps on. They would kick until they knocked the chair over or climb out. People have DC who don't mind sitting nicely in a high chair simply won't understand this

I think the mini table and chair would work well for you. We use it if we're not all eating together, although this is unusual.

We have the ikea junior chair too, a relatively recent purchase that works well for us.

We don't have a table, my 2yo still eats in his high chair when he is eating alone - I sit with him and help him. When we eat together we have a messy mat that we put on the living room floor and eat picnic style. It works ok, even for a roast dinner! It's not ideal but we have no other option. He is very good and will happily sit at the table when we eat out or at family. He used a booster seat on holiday which worked very well.

It totally depends on the child and how happy they are to be strapped in. DS1 was fine and quite liked it. DS2 kicked up a fuss from around 1y, probably because he wanted to be like DS1 and sit in an ordinary chair.

It is tricky though. One thing I did find is that they were much more likely to sit and eat nicely at the table if we ate with them. Not always possible I know.

my comment was about eating together - not so much about eating at the table.

my daughter was 3 when we stopped but my 6 year old used one until he was 5.