Have you recently bought a high chair that’s advertised as durable and versatile? Is your high chair branded as the best high chair for babies? How can you tell?
A high chair becomes your child’s seat for eating, playing, and bonding with the family. So, before you let your child sit on your recently bought chair, you should test it through our quick and easy tests. Discover if you have the best high chair for your baby today.
#1. Safety Test
High chairs for babies are essential when babies learn to eat solids, but these booster seats pose risks such as falling and choking. Thus, the first test would be checking how safe the high chair is for your little one.
Try out these quick tests on your chair.
- Stability test: Place a doll on the high chair and apply force on the side, rear, and front to see if it wobbles or topples over. You can also test its foot rest to see if the high chair can handle a 26–28 pound toddler climbing.
- Construction test: Does your high chair look well-made? You can find out by feeling the edges and wood finishes for anything sharp or shoddy. Look for crevices in the armrests, for instance, that might pinch or entrap your little one when they use the chair.
- Harness test: A good harness for your little one must have three to five straps. But even if your high chair has this key feature, test it out by pulling the safety harness to see if the locking mechanism is flimsy or not.
#2. Assembly Test
Any parent will tell you that caring for a baby is no easy feat. Between feedings, changings, and trying to get them to sleep, there’s barely any time for anything else. If you’re trying to do all this while also dealing with difficult-to-assemble baby gear, it can feel like you’re constantly fighting an uphill battle.
The good news is that you can find out if your portable high chair seat will make your life easier—as promised—or harder.
- Instructions: Take one glance at the high chair’s instruction guide: does it make you scratch your head because of technical terms and a lack of illustrations? Or perhaps it doesn’t even come with a manual at all.
- Tools: Most high chairs have screws on them for stability and durability. A quality chair should have tools such as screws, screwdrivers, and wrenches included in its package. That way, you don’t need to look through your toolbox or run to the hardware store.
- Portability: Check if the high chair is light enough to easily move around your home without disassembling it.
- Storage: If you live in small spaces like a flat, is your convertible high chair easy to store? Also, consider how your booster chair packs for when you travel or visit your parents for the weekend.
#3. Ease of Use Test
Has your portable baby seat chair passed our first two tests so far? If so, let’s continue to the important detail: real-life use. What’s it like using your high chair every day?
Ask the following questions to see how convenient your baby high chair is.
- Does your little one look comfortable sitting on the high chair?
- Do you have trouble with its removable tray?
- Is the footrest easy to adjust depending on your child’s age or height?
- Can you easily strap your little one in with the harness?
#4. Cleanup Test
Feeding a baby is quite messy. There’s no way around it. But that doesn’t mean the cleaning up should be stressful. A good baby high chair that’s easy to clean will contain most of the mess.
Below are some ways to check how easy it is to clean after mealtime with your little one.
- Stain test: Put baby foods like Bolognese sauce or pumpkin purees on your high chair and try wiping it off with a damp cloth. Messy food bits like these should come off easily on your high chair.
- Crumbs test: This is another test on your high chair’s edges and crevices. Baby food can accumulate in those tough-to-reach places. The fewer corners your toddler chair has, the fewer crumbs it will collect.
- Crayon test: Sometimes, your toddler goes out of the paper lines and draws onto the clean surface of their toddler chair. So, the bottom line is, can you clean these doodles easily?
#5. Appearance Test
A high chair is still considered a piece of furniture. So not only should these chairs be functional, but they should also add an aesthetic appeal to your home. Baby high chairs come in various styles, from traditional wooden high chairs to more modern designs. But the right high chair must look great in any room for many years.
Plus, a minimalist high chair can look less daunting to infants who are only new to sitting. Given the height of this chair, it’s better to stick with toddler chairs with fewer parts sticking out or fewer designs on them to avoid your baby from getting overwhelmed.
Criteria for Judging the Best Adjustable High Chair
So, after testing your high chair, did it pass our series of tough tests? The key elements in choosing the right high chair for your baby are broken down as follows:
- 45% safety
- 25% ease of use
- 15% cleaning
- 10% assembly
- 5% appearance
The End Result: Ashtonbee Easy Seat Portable High Chair Passes the Test With Flying Colors
Choosing the right high chair is hard work, but our guide will make it much easier to decide on the best one for your growing child.
Did your high pass the test? If not, we highly recommend checking out our Ashtonbee high chair. Our chair passes all the tests easily and is sure to make feeding time a breeze for you and your little one. Plus, our easy-to-clean design means less hassle for you when it comes time to clean up after meals.
For the best convertible high chair, check out Ashtonbee’s today!