BLW and High Chair options?

[sssheri]

We have decided to do blw and am looking into high chair options currently. I don't want a high chair because of the space issue and because I would like ds to be at the table with us. There seem to be either booster seats that may or may not have a tray attachment and the kind that clip onto the table. What do you use for your blw feedings? 

[Chamomile Girl]

Well, we used a highchair that we pulled up to the table, or in the earlier (ie. less squirmy) days we would sit DS on one of our laps.  I have a booster chair with the tray but I don't like it.  Once the kid is big enough to reach everything on the table, but not big enough to understand the danger of hot/sharp/fragile things then sitting right at the table becomes a liability.

I have to admit I hated the idea of a highchair when DS was wee, but now I couldn't live without it.  It keeps him safely contained and keeps his attention on the food because he can't get down.  It calms him enough that he will actually eat actually.  It folds up quite small although it has a large footprint when open.  We have a tiny eating area and it works pretty well (although I did break my toe on the darn thing when we first started using it.  But I think that says more about me than about the chair).  Its really important to me that we all eat together as a family and this chair makes that possible.  I suspect that as DS gets older he might want to wander during meals more (he is 18mo now) but for now it works great for our family.

Probably not what you wanted to hear but there you go.

[Terrilein]

We use this chair and it's very stable, and I've used it as a chair for myself when dd was older. I've never had it tip over, and I also used to use it as a stepping stool in the kitchen. We don't need the harness with our ds, and there's no way he can climb out with the new baby set. We love it!

[crystal_buffaloe]

We use a bumbo chair with the tray attachment -- I got it on Craig's List :) We have a big square table, and just set it on top of the table towards the middle.

Edited by crystal_buffaloe - 1/11/11 at 2:55pm

[MJB]

With my first I used a fisher price booster seat attached to a regular chair. To clean it you had to take it apart and scrub the whole thing. It trapped crumbs. It was also ugly. 

With my second I used a clip on high chair but it was hard to get the fabric part off to wash and the part that is actually on the table got gross. 

This time around I am using an IKEA junior chair (which is like a regular chair but the seat is higher) with a "travel highchair"/harness strapped on (the one we have is called mylittleseat). The harness is very secure, is easy to put on/take off the chair for washing, is very cute (it has a black and white bird print!) and has the bonus of packing up in a little pouch if we need a travel high chair. The junior chair wipes clean and will last her until 4-5 (my 5 yr. old was using it until recently). We'll take the harness off the chair sometime between 1 and 2. 

[dancingflower]

We got the antilop from Ikea. It seemed to be a favorite for BLW because the simple design makes it easy to clean.
I love ours.
You can have the tray or not. Without the tray, you can bring it flush to your table.
It costs just $20 and you can actually "try it on" because they are available for use at the ikea cafe.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

We own both the Stokke Tripp Trapp and the Ikea Antilop. Love them both. The Antilop is sooo easy to clean, and very secure for a baby. We have our 11-m-old in it with the tray (because our table is small and he can grab everything) and it's perfect. We had a massive fabric-covered highchair for DD and we couldn't get rid of it quickly enough. The Antilop is by far my favourite high chair. And the price is right.

The Tripp Trapp is also wonderful - DD has been using it for a couple of years now. Although it's advertised to be useful even in the teen years, I doubt that a teen would be caught dead sitting on it - but it should see her up until she's big enough to sit on a standard chair properly.

We do own a booster chair which we take when we go visit family. It's fine, but I prefer our full-size chairs for stability and ease of cleaning.

[northerngirl]

We have a keekaroo, we love it. I really like the removable tray cover, makes for easy cleaning. I would not call it space saving though. I've kinda always wanted a chair that hooked on the table, but our dining table is not super sturdy. You could use the high chair you hook onto the chair that has a tray and then remove the tray when your little one is ready.