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What is the best option for your kitchen? A High Chair or a Booster Seat?
Let’s first give a quick rundown of a few features and options when it comes to seating for your baby at mealtimes.
We first have the traditional high chair. This seat sits away from the table with its own tray. Typical high chairs will have 4 legs that stick out a bit forming the base and keeping your baby safe from toppling over.
Here is a link to your traditional high chair.
Then we have what I am focusing on as a booster seat. This smaller seat fits into a chair at the table. When I say booster seat I am referring to one similar to what we own. It has straps that safely secure it to a chair at the table. It has the ability to attach a tray, but we primarily push the booster and chair right up to the table. It also has straps to secure the baby in the booster.
This is not the old-school booster seat at a restaurant that is basically a block your baby sits on.
The new school booster seat is essentially a miniature high chair.
Now an option I will not be focusing on is convertible high chairs. Some models come with removable legs. You can use it as either a high chair or a booster seat. I do not recommend this style because then you are storing extra parts and pieces.
And the last style I would like to mention is the fancy Tripp Trapp style. These are very expensive. They are of course an option and have very good features, but typically I am all about parenting on a budget. I do not own one of these and therefore cannot give a strong recommendation.
Kitchen Space and Layout
A big deciding factor in whether you go with the freestanding high chair or the booster seat is the space you have in your kitchen.
If space is tight you may not have room for the additional piece of furniture that comes with getting a high chair.
A booster seat on the other hand fits into an already existing kitchen chair. It is not taking up more floor space.
A huge reason we went the booster seat route was that I did not want a high chair in the kitchen.
Now I would say if you happen to have 5 people in your family and only a 4 top table maybe a high chair would be helpful. It gives that 5th baby a spot, even if that table is not large enough.
Do You Want Baby at the Table?
Do you want your baby at the table with you? I felt it was important to include our child in our meals at the table. The high chair can feel like its own little island. I wanted them to be close to us to watch and learn how we eat. We don’t throw our food or cups on the floor. We try not to smear mashed potatoes across the table.
if you want to learn more about how we encourage proper table manners check out this article, Drastically Improve Your Toddler’s Table Manners with these 5 Tips.
I want the booster seat to get them to eat at the table with us.
Now a couple of reasons you may not want them at the table. My husband and I had a 4 seater table. When we had another couple over we couldn’t fit the 4 adults at the table because of the booster seat. A high chair would have been a solution until more children came along of course.
Another reason to avoid the booster is if you are concerned about your little one damaging the chair the booster sits in or the table area in front of them. This could be a concern if you have a very nice table. A compromise here is to use a booster with a tray to set them back from the table or consider finding a nice placemat or even a full tablecloth.
Storage and Traveling
One reason I prefer the booster seat is the smaller size when it comes to storage and travel.
Some booster seats can fold up and travel well. The one we have does not have that ability, but it is small enough that we could take it places with us if necessary.
We could also more easily store it in a closet between children needing it or after they are done with it.
When our children are old enough to no longer need a booster seat I will hang on to it for friends and family to use when they are our guests.
Price
My final thought is the price. Price is always going to play a role in the baby items we purchase. Typically a booster seat is going to be more affordable than a high chair.
What I am currently seeing is booster seats typically under $50 whereas high chairs typically start at $50 and range more like $80 up to $200+.
If you do want to go the high chair route IKEA sells a very affordable option.
Conclusion
If you can’t tell by now I am team booster seat.
It puts our baby at the table with us, we have an optional tray, and it saves us space in the kitchen.
For us and our family the booster we found secondhand has been great! We would get the exact same one again if we could.
What do you think will be he best option for your family?
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