2 year old no high chair meal times

[Jfoz22]

My DD is 20 months and we've had to get rid of the high chair at meal times as she would no longer sit in it. At nursery, which she goes to 4 days a week, they don't use high chairs and they sit at a small chair and table. So from a consistency perspective she eats the same both at home and nursery. Everything I've read says that this is quite young & no reason why kids can't stay strapped in until age 3. Well, it is what it is for us so we have to just go with it.

As imagines, she can just get off her little chair and wander. What do others do to try to keep they sat still? What discipline/teaching methods would you use on a 20 month old?

This all happened whilst in lockdown but we're now quite anxious and worried how we will manage eating out as she'd have to be in a high chair. We don't know if she would kick off and we need to push ourselves to do it and see.

We have exactly the same thing here. No highchairs at nursery so she refuses at home.

I would suggest really having a think about what matters and what doesn't. If you want her to sit at the table for the whole meal, it will be ppssible but you are going to have to put a lot of work in.

We decided that as long as the food stays at the table, we don't mind if she gets up and down. As she gets older, the conversation will hopefully engage her but at the moment we just feel it is not a fight worth having.

We don't reallu eat out anyway

DS stopped using a high chair very early, he could escape and tip it over! He sat/kneeled/stood on a normal chair to eat. He did get up and down but that did stop fairly soon. Eating out he was sometimes in a high chair, which he accepted and sometime just on a chair. I took nice snacks and the iPad.

Can you get a booster seat you can strap her into and put her up on an adult chair at your main table? She might be more willing to be strapped in at the "grown up table"?

Tripp trap chair?

We use a booster seat on a normal dining chair for my 20 month. It does involve straps, but she seemed much happier with it because she was on a big seat like us, at the table, involved in everything. We got ours from lidl for about 20 quid.

Second the booster seat. We use that and DD now sitting at the table with us and seems happier than high chair

bumbo.co.uk/?product=multi-seat We use this seat without using the straps (you can remove them) it just encourages ds to sit on the chair. He is 3.5 and has been in it since 2 and a bit.

Oh and dd 18 months tries and uses it when she can

Tripp Trapp chair tucked in works well.

We spent about a year eating alongside a plastic dinosaur who would steal DS's dinner if he left the table (hold it next to the plate and make nom nom sounds). He if he was still hungry he'd come back to steal it back of the dinosaur, if he was full and didn't want it back we just let him wonder.

Couldn't do either of eating out, but the stress of trying to get DS to behave, eliminated any enjoyment of a meal out anyway, so we just didn't bother.

We've not used a high chair at home since about 18 months. All toys are tidied away before meals so there's nothing to distract. I don't mind a bit of wandering - DD will often pop into the kitchen to look to see if there's anything else but lots of wandering off is taken as a sign that the meal is over.

It's never been a problem out and about - we allow her to move to sit on one of our laps but we take a bag of toys and snacks to help keep occupied and usually take her for a walk round while we wait for food. I find the threat of "we'll put you in a high chair" usually works as well.

My two year old sits on a booster cushion on a dining chair which works well for us. We also have a small table and chairs which he sits at with his brother for lunch . He tends not to wonder off if there’s food to be had !

My DS has the tripp trapp and can get on and off himself but if he’s got food and he’s hungry he will sit and eat.. You can only expect a 2 year old to sit still for so long though.

My dd decided at 17 months that a high chair wasn’t for her. We’ve got a booster seat - a chicco one - that straps to grown up chair which she’s happy with. For now at least. It means she’s strapped in which is good as she’s not big enough to get on and off the chairs safely.

DS has been out his high chair since around 18 months, he's 21 months now and sits happily at his little chair to eat. It for the first few months he sat for a few seconds then roamed, he still does this somethings but much less frequently now

Booster seat at the table with us from quite early on too.
If you get down, thats the end of the meal, food disappears, and no pudding.
It helped he very much liked his food!

Thanks for all your responses. I'll look into the booster seats as these looks good and like you say @Crackerofdoom I will have a think of it's a fight I want to have as whilst she gets off her seat, she still eats, just has a wander around the kitchen and then sits back down again and carries on eating. I was worried by not discipline now she may be a nightmare eating out. We are going to venture out this weekend for lunch and see how it goes x

Both of mine stopped using the high chair at 2. If they leave the table o take away their plates - that’s a good incentive. Going out with a two year old to a restaurant isn’t much fun anyhow you need distractions and to keep meals pretty short with or wi hour a high chair!

They behave differently in different environments. My DD went off the high chair at home too just before lockdown. She's just turned 2 so we've finally put it away as she used it I think 4 times in 4 months hah.

We are at my DPs house the other day and she went straight in her highchair there no bother. I wouldn't assume your child would refuse to sit in a high chair in a different environment.

Actually sometimes at 20m DD would only eat dinner if she sat on my lap at the table. Very annoying but I went with it, it was a short phase, only lasted a few weeks.

Now she's turned 2 she either sits at her chair and table or sits next to me at the table. We put an extra cushion underneath her bum and another behind her back to keep her a bit more secure on the chair.

When she sits at her little table and chair I do gently ask her not to wander etc but she mostly ignores, she likes people to read stories to her whilst she eats if we aren't eating with her so that tends to keep her in once place. She rarely sits down on the chair to eat though she just insists on standing next to it! Haha. It is very messy, we totally removed the rug that was in that area as it was getting ruined, and we have food marks all down the wall next to her table. And we obviously regularly clean her table and chairs and the floor! But it is what it is, she's 2. I certainly wouldn't expect her to be able to sit nicely in one place for a whole meal tbh she's 2, have to adjust my expectations accordingly. I do say "have you finished your dinner?" a looooot when she strays too far from the table which works because she will say no and run back to it for more.

What is wrong with him getting up and wandering around?

Eating out with a 20 month old is a pain even with a high chair.

DS (nearly 2.5) went to a nursery with no high chairs and I didn't have one at home (just never got round to buying one). He doesn't wander, they learn pretty quick not to. He has a little table, he used to sit on a little chair, I sat cross legged on the floor with my plate on his table and we (usually - not breakfast because I just have coffee and don't sit down for it) ate together. More regularly these days we just sit at the dining table on normal chairs. I thought about buying a booster seat but didn't get round to it - they do look great though.

I'm not sure how I got him to stay at the table. I think I took the food away if he wandered off but I can't really remember. Regardless, the wandering didn't last long. Good luck!

Some options are

Booster chair at dining table
Own little table
Tripp Trapp

My DS stayed resisting his Tripp Trapp in high chair form at this age. Took the baby set off and “bam” - big boy chair! He’s loves it, as he can get himself on and off of it. You can pick them up second hand and they’ll last you for years. And because it’s quite a tall chair, he doesn’t tend to get down as it’s not terribly easy to hop on and off of it multiple times in a row.

*Took the food away after a certain age. Just to make that clear. I didn't try to discipline a young baby.

Another one that has switched to a booster seat at 20 months (DS is 21 months now).

Even in the booster seat, which he loves, he won't sit for more than 20 minutes. Going out for meals at restuarants isn't something that's on the radar anymore. I'd try a cafe for lunch though.