The High Chair Dilemma

Remember how I said I was going to get a hanging high chair for the little mister?

Well, I did, but I had to send it back.

After googling around and reading reviews, I picked the Summer Infant Secureseat Booster.

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I knew the potential downfalls from reading the reviews, but I hoped they wouldn't be problems for us. Naturally, that wasn't the case. The arms wouldn't allow the chair to be attached to our dining table or our counter. I suspected it wouldn't fit on the table because of the size of the aprons, but I didn't anticipate the counter being a problem. There's not enough depth to the counter for the arms to fully extend underneath.

This particular chair can also be used as a booster (which is one reason I was really hoping it would work out- a twofer would mean less money spent in the long run), but there's not enough space to slide the booster under the table apron when it's attached to a chair, so TLM is too far away from the table surface. There's a removable tray, but the overall setup still doesn't work because the chair has to be so far away from the table- it just gets in the way.

After some deliberation and research, and the realization that all hook-on chairs would have the same issues, as would booster chairs, we decided to give an actual high chair a try. I know, the horror! I hate high chairs and have never wanted one. The giant plastic monstrosities are so ugly!

After looking around, we decided to give the Summer Infant Bentwood High Chair a try:

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The pros: The seat is adjustable: it reclines and moves up and down; the large tray can be moved in our out, the chair folds up to be put away, the trays can be removed and the chair used as a toddler chair, it looks much nicer than the ugly plastic high chairs, and is less expensive than the other wood option we considered.

The cons: There's a weird fixed smaller tray under the large tray that can only be removed when you convert it to a toddler chair, the legs spread out farther than I'd like (though this makes it more stable).

The other wood high chair we considered had a smaller footprint (the legs didn't spread as wide, but the design of them was such that I would probably constantly be tripping over them), and no weird fixed tray to get in the way, but the seat was not adjustable and it was more expensive.

Here's where it pays to google around for the best price and not just trust Amazon to have the lowest price. Frequently they do, but definitely not in this case.

amazon + shipping (no prime available): $296
manufacturer's site + free ground shipping: $180
Meijer (on sale) + free shipping: $119

Obviously, I ordered from Meijer's site. It was the first time I've ordered from their site, but since I was familiar with the store (they're kind of like Target, and there was one in the area when I was in high school), I wasn't too worried about ordering from them.

I'm glad I took the time to comparison shop: $177 is a huge price difference. $119 put us at slightly more expensive than the cheaper plastic monstrosities but a lot cheaper than most higher-end chairs, plastic or wood.

The chair arrived today and only took a few minutes to assemble.

With just the snack tray and the seat raised to the highest level. 

I was hoping it would fit over the tabletop, but no such luck.

The larger tray clipped on over the snack tray.

Full length shot.

Folded up- it fits nicely in the corner next to the shoe bin. 

The large tray clips to the back of the legs for storage.

Final thoughts for now: I like the way it looks, but the snack tray is a pain, like the reviews warned us. TLM's chubby legs go in easily, but it is hard to pull him back out without scraping his legs. We will probably end up just taking the trays off and scooting him up to the table. The harness will still keep him in the chair. Like others mentioned in their reviews, it's a shame the tray is in a fixed position. I think they did that because there's a plastic leg divider attached to the underside of the tray that makes it harder for little ones to slide out of the chair and fall. If the tray was moveable in some way it would solve the problem of getting the kiddos in and out without scraping their legs. Other than that, I think it will work out well.

Some smiles from TLM :)

This week he decided he didn't want to be in his bouncy chair on the floor during meal times- he wanted to be held by Mr M or I so he could see what was going on. I think the chair arrived just in time!