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Baby Weavers Snack Highchair
by xmum2threex
**The high chair**
While browsing Kiddicare for my bump I found this high chair reduced from £60 to £15. As ours has been used by two of my children it is a little worse for wear, and so at that price I decided to snatch it up. It is available in different designs but I chose the green apple version as it can be used for my ... little girl, and then for my little boy when he is ready to begin weaning.
When it arrived it took all of a few minutes to build up as the main body of the frame was already built. It was just a few pieces that need clicked into place and then it was all ready to go. If I had paid £60 I would have been a little unhappy as it looks very basic, but at £15 it was not bad. The feel of the materials and chair when it is put together is very stable, and the build over all is really good. The frame is sturdy and the seat has enough padding to allow my daughter to sit comfortably.
I think because of the PVC finish on the seat itself it of course has a shine to it which just makes the material look a little basic. That with the simple white and green apple design makes it attractive enough but not overly amazing. It is still bright enough to appeal to babies and the lime green colour seems to attract my daughter s attention. The seat has plenty of padding to be comfortable for little one and the metal frame makes it very sturdy. It sits well on the floor as the base is wide enough to make it stable even with wriggling from little one. There is plenty of room to get little one in and out maybe even a little too much room between the tray and the seat itself. There is no room for movement on the floor as the rubber bands on the base of the legs stop it from moving even on wooden flooring.
What I really like is that it can be folded down very quickly and stored away. With us being such a big family space is always an issue, so it was essential that it could be folded and put away taking up as little room as possible. Also I can open it up and click it into place even with my little girl in my arms. It only takes seconds and again this was a feature that was really important to me. It is the perfect height to join the family at the table. With my previous high chair I found it was a little high meaning it would hurt my back leaning over to help my children eat. With this chair it is the perfect size to be pulled up for a family meal, and no more stretching and straining to try and feed my daughter.
**In use **
The seat is recommended from six months which seems a fair age range. I personally think it would be better for spoon feeding rather than finger food up to around nine months. The reason for this is the space between the tray and the seat. While it is not big enough for little one to slip through there is a fair gap which could easily result in the child dropping their food on the floor. The back has enough padding to keep little one comfy and sits at a good angle to keep them sitting correctly while eating. It has a five point harness so I know that my little girl has no way at all of getting out while she is eating. It is also adjustable so it can be loosed as your child gets older. Of course you should never leave you child unattended, but it helps put my mind at rest that she cannot slip out because of the roomy gap between the tray and the seat.
The tray itself is a fair size so you can fit a small toddler plate or bowl on to it, or of course finger foods. It is not overly large but perfect for a small child's plate. Cleaning is extremely easy. As it has a plastic cover over the seating, and the main tray itself is plastic I find it can be wiped down very easily. A few sprays of an anti bacterial spray and a cloth bring this high chair up to new condition. The only part I find difficult to clean is the drinks holder located in the tray itself. It is handy for placing my daughters juice in but can be a nightmare as it attracts every single piece of food and crumb. As the gap is rather small it can be difficult to get the cloth in and ensure it is completely clean and so this takes a little more time but is still achievable.
It fits a small beaker in the cup holder easily but a larger cup would have difficulty fitting in. I would have preferred if the seat cover was removable like our previous high chair, but it comes up clean enough with a wipe down anyway. While the main seat has not stained the harness has got a few marks on from her food, but it nothing over the top just from general use. There is a foot rest which at 11 months my little girls feet only just touch. This is not adjustable, but the chair is still comfy enough without being able to use the foot rest.
**Summary**
My only downside is that the tray is not adjustable, but to be honest for £15 you cannot expect the world. It sits in a good position so my little girl can eat in comfort but there is still ample room to get her in and out. She is 11 months now and will still be able to use this for a good few months yet. For the £15 I paid I think this is a really good high chair. Although the covers are not removable they can be wiped down easily. My daughter is more than happy to go into the seat, and the padding makes sure she is sitting comfortably. It is a fair size but does not take up huge amounts of space which means it can be pulled right up to the table. It is not overly pretty to look at but again is not an eyesore either. The chair is exclusive to Kiddicare, but if you spend over £30 they offer free next day delivery. I was given a time slot within an hour which I thought was impressive for a free service. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a basic but reliable high chair.
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Cosatto Aurora Highchair
by haybel19
When we were preparing to start weaning my daughter, we looked around at the vast array of highchairs available before eventually settling on the Cosatto Aurora. We paid £115 for this and it is widely available including from Mothercare and Amazon. Prices do vary quite a bit so it is well worth shopping around.
What appealed ... to me about this highchair, was its sturdy durable design and fully wipeclean surfaces. After all weaning is a very messy process. The seat of this chair is extremely padded and its look although it would be very comfortable for baby.
This highchair has a 5 point harness to secure baby into the chair and the seat has three different recline positions. At the moment we are only using one of these positions but I like that there is the option to adjust this. There are also three different positions for the table tray so that this too can be adjusted as baby grows and 6 different height positions for the chair and this makes it extremely easy to find one to suit.
This chair is suitable from 6 months to 3 years of age. However a downside we have noted is that although the 5 point harness system is adjustable it does not go as small as we would like for our daughter. We started using this at six months old, but find there is more room than we would like in the harness even on the smallest size and she sometimes slides forward as the crotch strap is quite far forward. We find our daughter is more secure in her other much cheaper and smaller highchair.
It is very durable, well made and easy to clean and the ability to change positions of both the chair and tray and the height of the seat is useful.
The fabric of the seat is wipe clean and the PVC seat can be removed. I clean the seat with baby wipes or antibacterial wipes and use the same on the table tray. I have found that the tray and seat have not stained even after being covered in orange and red baby purees so it still looks like new.
After use this chair can be folded down and is freestanding so can be pushed up against the wall.
However another downside of this highchair is its sheer size and bulk, unlike some of the other smaller highchairs you would not pack this on a weekend away, it is simply to large. It weighs 13kg and does not fold very flat so would take up quite some space. For this reasons we have another smaller and cheaper highchair we use for this purpose.
A good well made highchair but in my opinion more suitable for children older than 6 months due to the sizing of the 5 point harness and this highchair is not portable like other smaller chairs. For these reasons I have given it 3 stars.
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Ikea Antilop High Chair
by sas87
Weaning babies is a messy business! Buying baby equipment, such as highchairs is an expensive business - or so we thought...
A highchair is an essential piece of furniture you have to buy at some point once you become a parent, and the big brands know it - and make such items ridiculously expensive because they know parents ... feel obliged to pay up, wanting to buy the best for their children. There are some highchairs on the market for a three figure sum, which is more than I'd pay on a dining chair for myself - and they are usually made of plastic (not even gold plated), cumbersome, difficult to clean and simply not worth it for the 18-24 months they are using them for. Ikea have made the exception with the Antilop highchair!
The Ikea Antilop highchair is everything the majority of parents could want - it's easy to clean, compact, simple and sturdy. Oh, and did I mention it's CHEAP as chips?! £12 for the highchair alone, which comes in either white, blue or red, and £4 for the removable tray. £16 for a complete highchair is unbelievable value, and it's far from being cheap rubbish.
The highchair seat unit is one solid piece of moulded plastic, which couldn't be simpler to clean - there's no nooks and crannies for bits of food and crumbs to get stuck in. There's an adjustable waist strap to keep baby secure, but no five point harness, which may be a minus point for some parents for being "less secure" - but really baby should be supervised at all times, and security could only be a potential issue if they weren't supervised. I personally like that there's no shoulder straps to get smeared in food, and the highchair has a crotch bar incorporated into the seat unit reducing the need for a separate strap.
The legs of the highchair are made from sturdy metal, and are easy to pop on and off to make transporting/storing easier. Despite the legs being removable, they are really solid whilst in place. They also have colour coordinated rubber 'feet' to protect your flooring, and to prevent sliding around.
The tray is definitely worth a mention (despite being a separate item), as it clips on really easily and securely, is a good size and has a raised edge the whole way around to help stop things rolling or falling off. It's really worth getting to make the highchair a complete package - as although it is the perfect height to go up to the family dinner table, it's also useful to be able to use it away from the table too, for example to take into the kitchen and let baby play on the surface whilst you're cooking/cleaning.
As always, there are a couple of cons - the main being that it doesn't fold flat. However I personally use the highchair so frequently I'd rarely fold it anyway, if it were an option. I'm sure many other parents are the same. The other con is that it isn't height adjustable and doesn't recline - however (again) I find it to be the perfect height for our family table, so it must be a fairly standard height. Also I wouldn't want my baby to be sleeping in the highchair either, so recline functions are irrelevant to us. Another potential downside is that you have to purchase in store (or pay more than the chair in postage), and for many people Ikea isn't local - my "local" Ikea store is about 25 miles away and I don't drive. It would be nice if Ikea made their website delivery costs cheaper and their products more easily accessible to everyone.
Anyway, for us this is the perfect highchair for an absolutely brilliant price, and I think Ikea are fantastic to make such an inexpensive essential baby item. Every little helps after all!
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