Choosing the Best Fitting Highchair

A highchair is one of the essential pieces of equipment you'll need if you have a child. With so many different models on the market, how can you ensure you choose the best fitting highchair?

Highchairs are great for young children. As well as serving a practical purpose of being somewhere for them to sit and eat their meals, they also allow children to be up at a similar level to the rest of the family, so they can see what's going on and feel a part of a group. There's a wide variety of different highchairs on the market, so it can be a bit overwhelming when you first set out to look for one.

Choosing a Highchair

When it comes to choosing the best fitting highchair it should be both comfortable, practical and safe for your child, plus be easy for you, as parents, to manoeuvre around and easily fit into the space you have available in your home. The best way of seeing what will work out best for you is to have a good look around at what's available.

Most highchairs should be on display in good retail shops, so you can see exactly what size they are, how your child will be harnessed in and what they look like. If they're packed away in a box and you're unsure of what they'll be like, then don't be afraid to ask a sales assistant for a demonstration, so you know what it's like to put up and down and you can get a good idea of how it will fit your purposes.

Most highchairs are standard sizes, so your baby should fit into the seat quite comfortably. As a rough guide, babies are usually ready for a highchair from about the age of six months old, or when they're able to sit up unaided on their own. Highchairs are used until they've grown and become too uncomfortable to sit in it any longer, or until they're able to use their weight to rock the highchair, which could prove dangerous.

If you're unsure about whether your child will be comfortable sitting in the highchair - certain models have extra padding and adjustable seat positions - then you could always ask to try it out in the shop. As your baby will be using it for a fair bit of time, it's not unreasonable to ensure they like it and it's a good fit before you buy it. Some of the various different types of highchairs available include:

• Convertible highchairs - these tend to have a longer life, as they convert from a highchair into a lower chair and table as your child gets older.
• Lightweight highchairs - these weigh less than other highchairs, are easy to fold-up and are good if you need to take a highchair with you when travelling, as they're much more portable.
• Multi-level highchairs - these tend to fall into the luxury highchair category and have from four to seven different height adjustment settings. This means it provides comfort for your baby, but can also prolong its use so you can adjust the height to suit an older toddler too.

Safety issues are really important where any highchair is concerned, so it's important to check they meet recommended product standards. All highchairs should conform to BS 5799 and the harness should conform to the BS 6684 standard.