- Over the last 10 years,
I have seen countless number of babies
who parents have described to me as fussy eaters,
or just wouldn't stay in a high chair.
And after providing them with a suitable high chair
that gives them the postural support they need,
they will start to eat.
A high chair can literally mean the difference
between having a baby who's a fussy eater
or mealtimes being a struggle
to mealtimes becoming an enjoyable experience for everyone.
So today I'm gonna share with you
the best high chair out there,
which is gonna give your baby the support that they need
to sit to make mealtimes enjoyable.
But before we talk about that,
make sure you click on that free PDF document
in the description box below
which will cover the developmental milestones
you can be expecting for your baby
in the first year of life.
This will give you invaluable peace of mind
as you'll know what to be expecting
and when to be concerned.
Also, if you wanna make parenting significantly easier
make sure you start now
by subscribing to my channel and hitting that bell
so you won't miss a thing.
So what is hands down the best high chair out there?
It is the Stokke Tripp Trapp chair with the baby set.
Now, I know this high chair is expensive.
In Australia, you can get it for around $400,
but the bonus of this high chair
is it has lots and lots of features
that existing high chairs, so the cheaper options don't.
Also the cheaper options aren't that much cheaper.
So I'm gonna talk about the six features of this high chair
that make it the best high chair available
for your baby now and into the future.
So the very first thing about a Tripp Trapp chair
is it actually has adjustable foot rest,
in depth and also height,
which means that your baby's actually going to be able
to have foot support when they're six months old
and first using this chair.
Now, I know you think that other high chairs out there
have foot support.
They do, and some of them claim
that they've got semi adjustable foot rest support,
but when you place a six month old baby in them,
their feet often do not make any contact
with that foot rest.
And it's extremely important
that your baby does have foot support
because when they're sitting at six months
they don't yet have the ability to sit
for a really long period of time.
They might be sitting for five minutes tops
and then they start to topple over.
So just imagine if I gave you a bar stool
and told you to sit without any foot support.
You would find that extremely difficult.
So a six month old who has no foot support
and doesn't have the ability to sit
for a really long period of time
is going to find sitting in a high chair
with no support, really, really difficult.
So having adjustable foot rest is a must.
Now, because the Tripp Trapp chair has the ability
to adjust the foot rest,
your baby's going to get that support
at their feet from six months of age.
And then as they grow
you can start to lower that foot rest
which means that they'll always have that foot support.
The second feature I love about this chair
is it has the ability to adjust the overall seat height
of the high chair,
and that's simply by moving the seat lower
as they grow bigger.
Now, what's really important about this
is that generally high chairs out there at the moment
are too big for babies,
so that their arms are resting up really, really high.
And they're not able to interact with the food
because their arms are up too high,
and the added difficulty is that
they can't really see the food really well.
So having the ability to adjust the overall seat height
of the chair means that your baby, from six months of age,
when they first use this chair,
they're going to have their arms resting on the table
at the ideal height, which is bent 90 degrees
at the elbows so that when they're resting on the tray,
their arms are resting,
or at the table, their arms are resting really nicely.
And they're able to see the food
they're going to be interacting with,
but they're also most importantly
gonna be able to use their hands, to interact with the food.
And as we know,
if you give your baby that opportunity
to look and smell and interact with the food,
you're really one step ahead already.
So the third feature I love about this chair
is its ability to grow with your baby up until adulthood.
Now, we know it has adjustable foot rest
in regards to overall depth
and also height of the foot rest.
And that's the same with the overall seat height.
So you can change the overall height of the seat,
and you can also change the overall depth of the seat.
Now, the added bonus of this chair is that
it's really easy to make these adjustments to the chair,
to grow with your baby.
You simply use an Allen key to loosen off the side
and then you pull the slab out
and then you move it down a few slots
and then slide it back in and then you tighten it up.
So that adjustability and the ease
of making those adjustments makes this high chair
significantly easy to use as a parent.
It also has a huge weight capacity
of 110 kilos or 242 pounds, which is amazing.
Other high chairs that you can get at the moment,
have a weight capacity of 15 kilos or 33 pounds.
Now, my one half year old is already 15 kilos.
So technically I wouldn't be able to use
any of those other high chairs anymore
because he's simply too heavy,
and trust me, he's not overweight.
So that would mean
that I'd have to then go and purchase another high chair
which means that the overall costs of my high chairs
would be significantly higher.
So going straight to the Tripp Trapp,
even though it is expensive,
means that I can use this high chair
for a longer period of time.
Now, you might be thinking,
is my baby really gonna be needing a high chair?
When they're three, four, seven, nine years of age.
The answer is they will use some form of adaptive seating
up until I would say mid teens.
And that's simply because the dining chairs
and the tables are too big
for our children and early teenagers.
So they need to have that foot support
when they're still older
which you can't get when they're sitting on a dining chair
and that table is still too high.
So you need to raise them up off this chair a little bit.
So having a Tripp Trapp chair
which they can use when they're older
means that mealtimes are gonna be more enjoyable
for the extended period of time.
So into the future, and also will help in assisting
in developing their fine motor skills
which is gonna be particularly important
when they're having to do homework.
So the fourth feature of this chair, which I really like
is that you can actually pull this high chair up
to the dining table, which is huge for me for three reasons.
The first reason is that
babies learn to eat by watching others eat,
so they're able to watch you eat the food
at the dining table.
Then that leads to babies are more willing
to actually eat the food
because they've seen you eat it and they know it's safe.
And the third reason is that babies create
lots and lots of mess when they're eating.
So basically because you don't have a high chair,
there's less cleanup required
because you just simply wipe that dining table.
The fifth feature of this chair
which I really like is that it's easy to clean.
Now, this is really important
because mealtimes themselves are really, really messy.
And we want babies to be messy when they're eating
because that's how they explore food.
But having something that's really difficult to clean
like a high chair can make mealtimes
extremely stressful for parents.
So because the Tripp Trapp is made
from just timber and plastic, it's really easy to clean.
The seats that are high chairs
that come with the plastic covers are great,
but they're difficult to clean
because food will often get caught in those crevices.
So having simple timber that you just wipe over
and the plastic means that it's really easy to clean
the Tripp Trapp chair, which is extremely important
because we're really busy as parents.
The sixth feature of this chair is that
it has a five-point harness.
Now that's really important for safety reasons
because it ensures your baby is safe
when they're in a high chair.
Some high chairs out there don't have harnesses at all
or they only have a two point harness
which makes it not as sturdy for your baby.
So having a five-point harness is great
because it ensures stability and their safety.
Now the Stokke Tripp Trapp Chair with the baby set
doesn't have some features which include the ability
to recline the back rest.
This is not required.
I know it's sold in a lot of other commercial high chairs
but really when your baby's starting solids
at six months of age, you want them to be sitting upright
not significantly reclined,
and also having that ability to recline
isn't necessarily required.
The other thing it doesn't have is wheels.
In my whole 10 years
practicing as a pediatric occupational therapist
I have never seen parents wheel a high chair
from one room to the other.
High chairs once they're set up,
generally stay in the same spot.
So wheels are not required.
What this chair does have is it has any tippers
which is fantastic because when they're babysitting
in the Stokke Tripp Trapp Chair,
they're not going to accidentally tip themselves
which is something that you worry about
when they're getting older
and they're pushing themselves away from that tiny table.
And lastly, it doesn't have the ability to fold up.
Again, I don't think this is a feature
that is required in a high chair,
simply because yes, initially your baby at six months
might only be having solids once a day.
But by 12 months of age,
your baby is having solids five times a day.
So basically that's every two and a half hours.
You are not gonna be folding up that high chair
in between meals.
The other thing is I actually recommend high chairs to use
to help develop your baby's fine motor skills.
So in addition to sitting in the high chair for a mealtime
you can place them in that high chair
to work on that fine motor development.
So you're definitely not gonna be putting a high chair
into a cupboard in between mealtimes and in between play.
It is actually gonna be standing out in your living room
or dining room all the time.
So that ability to fold is definitely not required
in a high chair.
So that's it, moms and dads.
Those are the reasons I think the Stokke Tripp Trapp Chair
with the babysit is the best high chair out there
at the moment and why I recommend it to all new parents.
Remember to get that free PDF document
in the description box below
and hopefully I'll see you next week
where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks
to make your life as parents significantly easier.
(upbeat music)