High chair decisions.

A running theme in my dad-life (and consequently on this blog), has revolved around trying to find the best stuff for my child without my life becoming overwhelmed by bunnies, yellow ducks and ugly furniture. Some battles I’ll happily loose if it keeps Madame occupied and happy (like her swing does), but some are worth fighting, especially for the things she doesn’t directly interact with. So now that she has started down the path of solid foods, we had to decide on what kind of high chair to get.

Originally I was very interested in getting the Nest chair from Mozzee. It’s a beautiful, modern pedestal high chair that will convert to a toddler’s chair later on. You have to order it from the UK, but because it would be a big part of our lives for quite some time I was willing to justify the expense. And the expense is the real issue – almost $500 (with the exchange rate) before shipping.

The other high chair option I was coveting considering was the Stokke Tripp Trapp (formerly called KinderZeat). Reminiscent of the Rietveld Zig Zag chair, it’s a clever design that adjusts the foot rest as your child grows. I guess the theory is that if your child’s legs aren’t swinging about wildly in a normal dinner chair, then the child will be more grounded and less wild at the table. It makes sense to me, and it looks great too, though it's really more for kids a little older (starting for kids 1½ years old). It's available for $199.99 at Amazon.com.

Then I found this simple high chair from Ikea a while back and I realized that I could reach a compromise. The chair is basic, solid, looks pretty good and costs a whopping $15 (with the tray that is). For that price we can double up and get a KinderZeat for when it’s time to transition her out of the high chair and to the dinner table with the rest of us. We got one at Ikea on our way home from Thanksgiving last weekend and it’s working great.

The chair that is, the feeding is more of a challenge.

Comments

[Doug]

We just bought this high chair and it is a breeze. It is so easy to clean (being one piece of molded plastic (2 with the tray).
It is very stable, we tested it's stability with a 20lb sack of flour, and it took some serious pushing to topple it over.

For $24 (with tray), you can't beat it. We do recomend getting the tray.

[moderndaydad]

You buy the tray seperately. I think it's like an extra $5 or something. We still use the high chair and it's great.

[Lucas Van Lenten]

The IKEA chair looks pretty cool and it's cheap....
but no tray? How does that work?
Or not?

thanks,
expecting dad

[ponch]

We purchased a Kettler Kombi high chair [http://www.kettlerusa.com/page19.html], figuring the functionality, style and price (about $80)made it ideal for us. One caveat: The directions are mostly in German. The Svan chair [http://www.scandinavianchild.com/demonstration.html] grows well with the child, but for the early years, it looks like a dentist's chair or a torture device (is there a difference?). It sells for about $230.

[heather]

We had that same Ikea highchair for both of our boys and it outlasted some of our friends' highchair purchases. It's quite sturdy and fairly sleek.