Once your baby starts eating solids, you’ll spend almost as much time cleaning up food as you do preparing it.
And baby food is particularly persistent – have you ever tried to get dried Weet-Bix off the wall without taking a layer of paint off with it? That stuff sets like concrete!
Between the nappies, extra laundry and sleep deprivation, you already have enough to deal with – so anything you can do to lessen the load is worth it.
Since the high chair is ground zero for mealtimes, minimising the nooks and crannies where food can accumulate will make cleaning up faster and less agonising.
So what makes a high chair easier to clean? And how do you decide which one is best for your baby? We’ll explain, and tell you which hard-to-clean high chairs are best to avoid.
We smear a range of food on high chairs to see how easy they are to clean.
How we test ease of cleaning
To assess how easy high chairs are to clean, our experts play with their food – literally.
In our labs, they cover the tray, seat back, padding and harness with Weet-Bix and milk, spaghetti with tomato sauce, and baby food, then let it dry overnight.
The next day, they set to work wiping, scrubbing and washing each section of the high chair, then score it on how difficult it is to clean.
They find that chairs with lots of cracks and crevices are generally harder to clean, so they tend to score lower.
Chairs with lots of cracks and crevices are generally harder to clean, so they tend to score lower
Since cleaning is such a big part of what makes parents’ lives easier, the ease of cleaning score makes up 30% of the total CHOICE Expert Rating.
Just like every baby is different, so too is every family’s priorities for a high chair. Here are a few things to consider before you go shopping:
Space
How much room do you have? If your dining room is tiny (or non-existent), a high chair that folds up could help free up space in between meals.
Trays might be handy, but they do increase the size of a high chair. Would you be better off just parking the high chair at the table and using the table top instead of a tray? Or would you rather keep the mealtime mayhem well away from your furniture?
Safety
Toddlers are squirmy creatures and if there’s a way to escape, they’ll find it. If they’re not securely contained in their high chair they could fall or climb out and be injured.
“It’s best practice for a high chair to have a five-point harness with waist, shoulder and crotch straps,” says CHOICE baby and kids product expert Kim Gilmour.
It’s best practice for a high chair to have a five-point harness with waist, shoulder and crotch straps
Kim Gilmour, CHOICE baby and kids product expert
Stability
Chair legs that splay outwards will make a high chair more stable, so look for a high chair that has a footprint larger than the seat.
Our expert testers rigorously assess each high chair to check if it’ll topple over sideways or backwards – check our reviews to make sure you’re buying a chair that’ll stay put, no matter how active your child is.
Sustainability
Rather than buying a new chair every time your child grows, you could consider a convertible chair that you can modify to suit your child’s needs.
Convertible high chairs may cost more upfront, but take into account how much use you’ll get out of it – if your child uses it until they’re big enough to sit in a regular dining chair, then you won’t have to spend money on booster seats and the like.
Bear in mind though that you may need to pay extra for attachments such as a tray, harness and safety bar.
The high chairs that score lowest for ease of cleaning
Unless you’re keen on spending hours scrubbing mushed avocado, days-old Bolognaise and broccoli puree from hard-to-reach corners, avoid these high chairs.
They range in price from $35 to $578, which just goes to show that even expensive designer chairs aren’t necessarily designed to be parent-friendly.
The Leander high chair received the lowest score for ease of cleaning.
Alice Richard is a Content creator and marketer. Alice writes on a range of topics, from health insurance to heaters and BBQs to bargain-hunting, always with the aim to help consumers find the best products to buy, and which to avoid.
Alice can take vast amounts of data from CHOICE product tests and turn it into content that is easily digestible and fun for readers.
Alice has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland. LinkedIn
Alice Richard is a Content creator and marketer. Alice writes on a range of topics, from health insurance to heaters and BBQs to bargain-hunting, always with the aim to help consumers find the best products to buy, and which to avoid.
Alice can take vast amounts of data from CHOICE product tests and turn it into content that is easily digestible and fun for readers.
Alice has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland. LinkedIn
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