High chairs
Kerri Stalton

When your baby is ready to sit up straight, it's time to get him a high chair. Even if your baby is not into solids due to extended breastfeeding a high chair is a safe landing place for your baby, from where he can watch all the interesting activities that take place at the dinner table.
"Next to the crib, my freestanding highchair is the most used baby product in our home," says Sheila, a mother of three. A highchair is very convenient when you want to sit directly in front of your baby while feeding him. Since it is portable, you can carry it from the dining room to the kitchen or the bedroom.
In the past, highchairs were just big wooden chairs. Today, highchairs have evolved into multi-functional, all-purpose dinner tables for young babies. Features such as a one-hand tray release, seat recline, height adjustment and wheels at the base make these chairs highly versatile. Additionally, a highchair is adaptable to a wide range of ages. So it can be transformed into a safe chair for young infants and then a youth chair - all in a few easy steps.
Your highchair can be the classic tall wooden chair, a folding metal-framed model or a full-featured plastic chair. Whatever the material, one thing is for sure. Your kids will climb, beat, scratch, topple and spill on the highchair for about 2-3 years. So it had better be sturdy enough to take all the (ill) treatment it receives.
From a purely aesthetic point of view, a tall wooden highchair would be the best choice. But in real life, wooden chairs have a lot going against them. First off, they are difficult to clean. Wood cannot resist stains as easily as synthetic materials. Next, wood is heavy - that makes it difficult to lug the chair around. Most wooden chairs don't fold. Their seat is often too deep and the footrest is too low for a young baby.
From a practical point of view, the newer highchairs that come with padded seats are comfortable for little ones and convenient for you. The hand trays are easy to detach and the whole thing folds up very nicely. Cleaning is child's play. Easily adjustable, reclining seatbacks can adjust to a baby's changing height and girth. A metal or plastic chair may not look very beautiful. However, it will serve all your basic feeding purposes and is easy on the pocket too. Being lightweight and portable, the collapsible frame makes it that much easier to store or move.
Basic features of a good highchair:
Your baby will be spending many hours in that chair. So, look out for some useful features:
Safety: The safest product for your baby must come with a Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) certificate on it. Most reputable highchair manufacturers follow the JPMA voluntary safety standards.
Stability: A wide base and a low center of gravity ensure total safety.
If there are wheels on the highchair, they should have strong locks to prevent accidents.
Folding mechanisms should lock well and operate easily. A highchair should not get folded in accidentally.
Buckles: The chair's belts and straps should be strong, sturdy and easy to wash. A crotch strap or a five-point harness system is the best. Steer clear from models that make it easy for baby to slip through.
Ease: After safety, ease of use is the next most important feature. The tray should slide easily, and there should be no holes, rough edges or sharp spots.