Best High Chair for BLW: 2024

Creating a registry for your baby can be both fun and extremely overwhelming. There are a million different products targeting new parents and it can be really difficult to figure out what’s actually important (and what’s just trying to make a buck). Picking out a high chair for BLW or purees can be challenging with so many options on the market. A high chair is actually one of only a handful of feeding tools I recommend investing in (if it makes sense for you financially).

Now, if you already have a high chair for whatever reason, it’s probably fine to use it, but if you’re shopping around for the best one on the market, this post will help you figure out what you need.

What age does baby need a high chair?

I recommend getting and using a high chair BEFORE you actually start solids. Let baby get comfortable in the chair and be a part of family meals before they’re completely ready to start. You can give them a toy to play with while they are sitting there, but make the experience fun! Many parents like putting their baby in the high chair while they are prepping meals so that baby can be included, but safe.

You want your baby to be able to sit up with support before you place them in a high chair. If you’re not offering them food, you can place towels or blankets around them to offer additional support. This means for many babies, they can sit in a high chair somewhere between 4-6 months (remember that every baby develops on their own timeline).

What do you look for in a high chair?

First and foremost, I realize that cost is a huge factor when it comes to buying any baby equipment. There are definitely some ways to adapt more budget friendly chairs to meet these goals.

90-90-90

You want your baby’s hips, knees, and ankles to be at 90 degree angles (like a capital letter L). You don’t want your baby to be reclined at all. They should be completely upright. The knee and ankle bends help to provide some stability. Remember that while sitting is a very easy skill for us, it is still very new for your baby. They will likely be very easily fatigued in this position, so it’s important to make it as easy on them as possible.

Footrest

In order to get that 90 degree angle at the ankles, there needs to be a footrest. The footrest is important for a couple of reasons. First, it provides stability. It helps to ground your baby and help them to keep balance. It’s also going to be more comfortable. Try sitting in a tall barstool for a long period of time without a footrest. Odds are you’ll be squirmy and uncomfortable. This can lead to food throwing and kids wanting to leave the table more quickly.

Easy to Clean

Babies are incredibly messy when they first start eating. Messier than you can probably imagine if you’ve never seen a baby eat. It’s incredible how they can take a “clean” meal and completely destroy it. You want to make sure that whatever chair you’re using is easy to clean. Many chairs come with cute padding that many parents end up tossing because it is so difficult to clean. Babies have enough padding in their diapers. You don’t need to waste your money on extras like that.

Straps

Every high chair comes with some kind of strap. It’s important that you use them, so make sure that they are something that you are comfortable using. Some systems are needlessly complicated. Babies fall out of high chairs all the time and it can happen very quickly. Make sure that you are also comfortable using them quickly in case there ever is a choking incident. Practice unclipping them until you feel comfortable.

One Handedness

This is a perk, not a necessity. See how much of the high chair you can actually adjust one handed. Often, you’ll be holding your baby and need to pull the tray off or undo the straps. If you have multiple kids, this will probably become more of an issue.

Best High Chair for BLW

Overall – Cybex Lemo

My new favorite is the Cybex Lemo high chair. I believe the Lemo 2 has an infant adapter, but I don’t think that’s necessary. It’s very similar to some of the other runner ups, but there are a couple of features that I think make it a slightly better option.

• Highly adjustable: it comes with a younger feeder insert that can be removed to make it more of a chair. The foot rest is also adjustable. The tray can be removed as well. The seat depth is also adjustable.
• One handed adjustments: it’s super simple to make adjustments.
• Can hold up to 209 lbs – slightly less than the Tripp Trapp, but that should be an adequate weight to work through most childhood years. Most kids can’t reach the ground in traditional chairs, so having a foot rest on the chair (which can basically make it work like a booster) is a great choice
• Can use it with the tray or pushed up to the table
• Has wheels which make it easy to move – it’s designed so that if your child pushes back from the table, the chair will roll backwards instead of tipping backwards
• Tray and baby set accessories are dishwasher safe

Budget – Ikea Antilop

The best budget high chair for BLW (besides the one you already have) is the Ikea Antilop chair with an added footrest.

• Easy to clean – not a lot of moving parts means that it’s easier to wipe down than a lot of other chairs
• Relatively portable as far as non-travel high chairs go
• Max weight of 15 kg (33 lb)
• Would recommend adding a footrest, but there are a lot of options available for that either DIY or store bought

Runner Ups

These options are very similar to the Cybex, but didn’t have as many of the benefits. The Stokke is a bit harder to adjust and the others offer a little less support. The Abiie has a weight limit of 250 lb, meaning it will still grow with your child for quite some time. The Badger Basket goes up to 175 lb. It’s a little tighter squeeze than the Abiie or Tripp Trapp, but still a great option.

Stokke Tripp Trapp

You can often find this one used in Facebook groups for a better price.

• Highly adjustable – easy to get the angles correct no matter the child size
• Can hold up to 300 lbs – intended for use up to 3 years, many kids continue to use it and it can hold many adults as well. Many kids can’t reach the ground in regular chairs and still benefit from a footrest
• Can purchase with or without a tray – many families just pull it up to the table and serve baby at the table with the rest of the family from the start
• Tray is dishwasher safe, straps are machine washable, the rest of the chair can be wiped down (the bottom of the tray is textured, making it easy for food to get stuck in it, meaning if you don’t want to run it through the dishwasher at least sometimes, it will not be easy to clean)
• Provides a lot of support with the infant seat which is great for early eaters or those kiddos who may need the extra support

Abiie Beyond

Badger Basket Embassy