Best High Chairs For Baby-Led Weaning On Any Budget

Why read: If you’re looking for the best high chair for baby-led weaning, you’ll find here tips on how to choose one for the price you can afford. 

For your easy shopping, this post contains affiliate links. If you click highlighted links or pictures and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.

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Starting your baby on solids is such an exciting milestone!

You watch your little one try new foods. She smashes it, squeezes it, and throws it on the floor. Then you clean all that mess three times a day.

Ahhh, what can be more fun!

But jokes aside, from now on and for the coming 2 to 5 years your baby will be sitting in her highchair trying all the flavors of the healthy foods you offer her.

So you want to create a safe and enjoyable environment for your baby. But also to make it easy to clean up after her.

Because here is the truth – baby-led weaning is messy!

Nonetheless, it has so many benefits to traditional spoon-feeding. Baby-led weaning is the most natural and healthy way to start your baby on solids and help her grow up to be a happy and confident eater.

Forget all the stress of force-feeding, fussing, the need to use distractions, and getting frustrated. You’ll put a strong foundation for an adventurous eater who loves to try and relish new foods.

Look at how my girl eats her food independently and eagerly, sitting in her Abiie high chair at 2.5 years old.

Because BLW is so messy you want to choose the right high chair for baby-led weaning and a few other accessories to make your life easy.

You don’t want to get discouraged after a couple of messy and difficult-to-clean instances and resort to spoon-feeding instead.

Now, look at the picture of my girl just starting out with solid foods at 6 months old and of course all the mess she made (scroll down for more messy pictures in the article, because I know you can’t get enough of messy blw pics, lol!).

So let’s break down everything in easy-to-follow steps so that you can choose the right blw high chair for your little one with confidence. And make baby-led weaning enjoyable both for her and you!

When can your baby sit in a high chair?

All babies are unique in their developmental milestones!

My baby girl is early in everything. She started to sit straight up on her own at 3 months old.

Most babies, however, can’t sit unsupported until they are around 6-8 months old.

World Health Organization recommends starting babies on solids at around 6 months old. The digestive system of babies is not ready for solid foods earlier than that.

Because my baby girl could sit up unsupported way earlier than the recommended age for starting solids, we began to put her in a high chair at around 5 months.

She would sit with us at the table during mealtimes and watch us eat. While she was following us her curiosity toward food would rise each day. And after a couple of weeks, she started to reach her little hands to grab food from the table. 

That’s when we knew she was ready to eat solids.

(Here she is watching us eat at a restaurant in her high chair. She is all happy and smiling as I just breastfed her).

If at 6 months old your baby cannot sit upright in a high chair, offer some support.

It’s important for a baby to hold her head and body straight before she can start handling solid food. Leaning back while eating is not safe for babies. So if needed, hold your baby or tuck a small rolled-up towel around her hips until she learns how to sit straight on her own.

Is a high chair really necessary?

While you can offer your baby solid foods when holding her in your lap or on an adult chair this is of course not convenient. 

Your baby needs a safe and enjoyable place to eat.

High chairs are specifically designed for small babies to sit safely for feeding and staying in one place. Plus, sitting your baby in a highchair at the dinner table with the rest of the family will have a positive impact on how she perceives mealtimes and food. 

If you’re on a budget there are a lot of affordable options to look into. Check my list of the best high chairs for baby-led weaning below organized by price from low to high. 

Or you can even get a high chair from your local mom community for free. A lot of parents are willing to give away their baby items once their child outgrows them. 

You can score a great gently-used high chair on the Facebook marketplace or in your local Facebook mom group.

The easiest way is to ask if anyone is giving away their high chair. You’ll be surprised how much people are willing to pass on their baby items to fellow parents. 

What to look for in a high chair for baby-led weaning?

When choosing a high chair for BLW there are 3 main aspects you should pay attention to – safety, ease of cleaning and foot rest.

When all 3 of these are met, you can then consider your family’s budget, your style, how big your space is, how portable you want the high chair to be, etc. 

1. Safety 

Recent research by Safe Kids Worldwide found that “every day in the US an average of 24 children are treated in an emergency department for an injury related to either a high chair or chair booster seat – that is one child every hour”.

When choosing a baby-led weaning highchair make sure it meets all safety standards. Look for the JPMA (Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association) seal on the high chair itself, or in the chair’s instruction manual.

A safe high chair is sturdy with a wide base and fully functional safety restraints. Check if the safety straps are easy to buckle and unbuckle.

It’s important to always buckle up your baby before feeding and never leave her alone in the high chair.

Unsupervised babies are more likely to try to wiggle out of the strap or choke on their food!

2. Easy to clean

Remember all the mess you’ll need to clean?!

The best high chair for baby-led weaning is the one that is easy to clean! This means no fabric! Fewer seams and crevices – food gets stuck in those all the time. 

Preferably, a removable tray that you can quickly wash in the sink or pop into a dishwasher. Some modern high chairs even come with an extra tray so that you can use the second one when the first is being washed.

Larger trays are the best because less food ends up on the floor but be conscious of your sink size too. If you have a smaller sink, a large tray can become a pain to clean with water splashing everywhere.

3. Foot Rest

Did you know that good high chairs are those with a footrest?

One of the factors that affect how well a child eats is their sitting position.

To sit well and have a good posture kids need their feet resting, not dangling. A baby with dangling feet loses its focus and interest in food too fast. Plus, it’s bad for their posture and can bring to slouching. And, with BLW your baby will also be working on getting food back up so as not to choke. Hence, she needs full-body support.

As your child grows, remember that moving her into an adult chair without a footrest isn’t ideal for her comfort and posture. 

4. Comfort

While you want your baby to be comfortable and love her highchair, stay away from high chairs that have any fabric. Those are a pain to clean. Look for a high chair that’s well-padded instead.

5. Design

After all, a high chair is a piece of furniture. While the safety and easiness of cleaning must be your main focus, there is no shortage of sleek-looking high chairs of different designs that can perfectly fit your home decor.

6. Space Saving

If your kitchen and dining area are small adding another big chair to the already crowded space might not be a doable option.

In that case, consider foldable high chairs that can be stored. There are also high chairs with wheels that make moving the chair around a breeze. This comes especially handy when you need to push the high chair to the table for meals and then back to the storage or against the wall.

7. Durability

Most high chairs today come with removable trays and a transition option. This allows for it to be used into toddler years and beyond. 

Our son’s high chair served him as a regular chair at our table till he was 5 years old and eventually transitioned to an adult chair. This was ideal as his high chair had an adjustable footrest that we could lower as he grew. There are high chairs that can be used even beyond that age.

And now our girl is using the same high chair. She is 3.5 years old and continues to eat in it. Our Abiie high chair is 8 years old, it continues to function well and looks like new.

Best high chairs for baby-led weaning

As a mom of two who did baby-led weaning with both kids, I did my fair deal of research on what makes a high chair good for baby-led weaning.

Here’s my list of the best high chairs for baby-led weaning, including the one I’m using now with my girl after it was passed down to her from her brother. 

The list is organized by price from low to high so that you can see what fits your budget. 

1. IKEA Antilop

Like with the rest of its furniture, IKEA proves that less is more. No wonder IKEA’s Antilop minimalistic highchair is so loved among parents, especially for BLW. 

Pros: 

• Easy to clean – all plastic, no crevices, a minimalistic chair that you can easily wipe clean or even hose down in the tub. 
• Affordable – Probably the cheapest high chair out there. You can’t beat $20 price tag. 
• Lightweight – Easy to move around the house or pull up to the table. 

Cons: 

• No footrest – This is a major con (see above why footrest is so important for kids). But you can tie something around the legs of the chair to make an impromptu footrest. Just google search “IKEA high chair footrest” for some genius hacks on how to make a footrest. Or you can order a footrest designed specifically for IKEA Antilop from Amazon. 
• Doesn’t convert to toddler chair – Although it’s not convertible to a toddler chair parents with bigger kids report that they had no issues using it up until their child’s 2nd birthday. 
• The tray is difficult to remove – when you clean after your baby 3 or more times a day, every day, you want ease of use so this is another big con. But you can get this removable and washable placemat.
• The look is not ideal – Unless your dining chairs are also made of white plastic, this chair won’t blend well with the rest of the furniture. 

2. Fisher-Price Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat

While not a high chair, this Fisher-Price booster seat is very popular among parents. Even if you have your main blw high chair, you might want to use this booster seat as a transition to an adult chair, or as one that you use at the grandparents’ house.

Pros: 

• Straps to an adult chair – If space is your major issue, you can go with a booster seat instead of getting a high chair. When going this route though, make sure that the adult chair has a footrest or DIY one yourself. 
• Good transition chair for toddlers – Before moving your little one to an adult chair this booster can be a transition chair. Many kids hate sitting in a high chair. They want to feel like an adult sitting on an adult chair so this can be a good option. 
• Portable – It’s a great travel chair for your baby if you are on the move a lot. 
• Dishwasher safe tray – While you can rinse the tray in the sink, for those times when you can hardly stand on your feet after a long and tiring day, popping the tray into the dishwasher can be a lifesaver. 
• Affordable – Another very cheap option if you’re on a budget. 

Cons:

• The tray isn’t easy to remove – The tray isn’t as easy to remove as in other fancier high chairs. 
• Not very comfortable – This is a small booster seat so it’s not as comfortable as a high chair. It might be too small and tight for a chubbier baby. 

3. Primo Cozy Folding High Chair & Toddler Chair

Primo Cozy is a great folding high chair for those with limited space. 

Pros: 

• Space-saving – You can either fold it and store it or fold it and place it against the wall. 
• Converts into a toddler chair – When not used for meals it can serve as a toddler chair at a small kids table. Which is a win-win. 
• Easy to clean – No fabric, no padding just minimalistic design with removable tray. Such a breeze to clean! 

Cons:

• Not very sturdy – This high chair is a bit wobbly compared to the wooden ones. 
• Small – As the intention of this chair is to save space it is on a smaller side and might not be suitable for chubbier babies and toddlers. 

4. Abiie Beyond Wooden High Chair

This is our high chair. As a first-time mom, I did lots of research and bought this Abiie Beyond wooden high chair that my friend had recommended. It worked quite well, and 8 years later I am still using it – now with my baby girl. 

Pros:

• Durable – It’s made of solid wood so will serve you long with as many kids as you have and you can resell it too. After 8 years of use, ours still looks like new. 
• Easy to clean – The cushions are waterproof and stain-resistant which makes it perfect for baby-led weaning. 
• Removable tray and padding – My girl is very active, turns a lot, and chews on the cushions sometimes with her mouth full of food. And because both the sitting and back supporting cushions are removable, every now and then I rinse those in the sink. 
• Adjustable seat and footrest – Similarly to Stokke high chair, ours also has an adjustable footrest. My son sat on this chair at the dinner table until he was 5 with his feet supported on the footrest. This is a major asset for a high chair. 
• Good design – It’s a nice-looking high chair with a minimalistic wooden design. It comes in different wood and cushion colors to choose from. 

Cons: 

• The tray isn’t wide – This is the only con of our favorite high chair for baby-led weaning. With a narrow tray, a lot of food ends up on the floor. Abiie silicon dishes partially solve the problem as they have a great suction so at least the whole plate doesn’t end up on the floor.

5. Stokke Tripp Trapp

This is by far one of the best high chairs out there and works perfectly well for baby-led weaning. Yes, Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair is expensive but if you can afford it, it’s totally worth the investment as you’ll use it for years to come. Plus, used ones sell really well, so you can resell the high chair when your child outgrows it.  You will need to buy a separate tray for it as well.

Pros:

• Grows with your child –  while the first thing one notices is the seat adjusting as the child grows, another great aspect is the footrest that adjusts as well. I mentioned above how important it is for a child’s chair to have a footrest even beyond the baby or toddler stage. And because its adjustable footrest and seat height allow the right 90-degree angle at the knee and hip joints, it’s recommended as the best high chair for kids by pediatricians.
• Easy to clean – You can use the chair with or without the padded cushion. It is very easy to wipe. 
• Resells well – Honestly, your child can use the Stokke chair up until 7 years old. And even after that you can resell it and get a big chunk of your investment back. 
• Sleek design – It comes in many different colors and has a modern look that will blend in perfectly with the rest of your furniture.  

Cons:

• Expensive – Yes, Stokke high chair costs a lot but look at it as an investment. Your baby and you will enjoy mealtimes so much better with a great high chair. Plus it will serve you and other families after you for years to come. If you absolutely can’t afford a new one, you can ask your local Facebook groups for a let-me-down. 

One Last Thing

While baby-led weaning is messy with the right high chair for blw that’s easy to clean the whole experience will be more enjoyable for both you and your baby. 

Your Turn

Have you found the best high chair for baby-led weaning? Please share with us in the comments.

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