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Home › Articles › Baby Gear › High Chairs

High Chairs

Choosing the Right Highchair for Baby

By Laura Cone

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Buying a highchair for your baby is not unlike buying your first car. When purchasing a car, you may check its accident record. With a high chair, it's important to check to see if it has been placed on a recall list. Some cars are certified. Manufacturers can have highchairs tested and approved by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA).

With the number of injuries caused by unsafe use of a highchair at 9,000 per year, it's wise to invest in the safest highchair, whether you choose a traditional wooden style, a conventional chair with a contemporary design or an adjustable highchair with adjustable heights, seats and trays to accommodate your growing baby.

Buckle up for Dinner
If your child is a little Houdini who can escape in the blink of an eye, you should look for more than just an ordinary seatbelt.

Patty Davis, a spokeswoman and public affairs specialist for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) based in Bethesda, Md., says the industry standard for highchairs was updated in 2004 to include a five-point harness. "Any of the newer highchairs should meet the standard," Davis says. "What you are going to be looking for are passive crotch restraints, which is the hard plastic piece between your child's legs. Also, the seating area is smaller, more snug."

Davis says there have been numerous injuries associated with children standing up and falling out of highchairs. "The new standard makes highchairs' seating area smaller so there is less wiggle room for the child and less ability for the child to fall out," she says. Baby is also less likely to slip down under the tray and get strangled with highchairs that meet the industry standard, which is not mandated by the CPSC, says Davis.

If you receive a hand-me-down or purchase a highchair at a yard sale, check the CPSC Web site

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