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Before I get started, let me say that I didn't want to write this post until we had used this high chair for several months. And I wanted to see how it held up with an active, messy boy! ;) I can honestly say that we would buy this high chair 3 times over...we love it THAT much!
So, why do we love it?
1. It is SO easy to clean! -- It is a combination of foam & plastic, and parts of it it can be put into the dishwater! And because it's foam & plastic, it wipes down SO easily. I spray it with my homemade vinegar water solution, or I just remove the pads & wash them in the sink. We haven't tried the dishwasher yet....just because everything comes off easily with a little scrubbing! I never imagined how often I would be cleaning the high chair (like at least 3 times a day), and I'm SO grateful we chose this one!
2. Removable top tray -- Another thing that makes this high chair amazing is because there is a top layer on the tray that comes off for even EASIER washing! We pop this off every time Jack is finished eating, and I rinse it off quickly under the sink. It is AMAZING...especially now that he's feeding himself and he's SUPER messy! High chair trays are a little bulky, and I love that I can just pop the plastic top off and on and not have to worry about the rest of the tray!
3. The tray is easy to take off with one hand! There is a button on the front of the tray that allows you to easily remove it...which works great when you forget to take the tray off before picking up the baby, you only have one free hand, and you're trying to get the baby into the seat! ;)
4. The high back-- because this highchair has such a high back, we were able to put Jack in it at around 5 months without worrying about the support for his back and his head! It is so supportive, and he LOVED being upright and able to see the world! ;) Actually, before he could sturdily sit on his own, this high chair was his favorite spot!
4. The foam pads-- I like these, because they make the chair more comfortable than a solid plastic chair, but they also also easily removed and are easy to wash & dry in the sink. Again, everyday I take off the pads to scrub it off in the sink... and I love that I don't have to wash it in the washing machine every time it gets dirty... because it gets dirty a LOT! ;)
5. The 3-in-1 capability -- we LOVE this feature of the high chair...especially for travel! Jack eats best in his high chair, so we take it with us to the lake & the beach. When we were looking for a high chair, we wanted something that would be portable...but we also wanted it to be durable, sturdy, and safe. This highchair is awesome, because the actual "chair" part detaches from the base. And we only take the with us when we travel! The chair easily clicks in and out of the base, and then there are straps in a compartment on either side of it that you can use to secure the chair to a dining chair. It's amazing! A bonus is that the under side of the chair has rubber pads on the bottom, so it really grips whatever dining chair you put it on. We don't worry about Jack falling or sliding off of a normal chair with the rubber pads & the straps.
6. The chair grows with baby! -- This kind of goes along with # 5, but this chair can be used 3 different ways: as a standard highchair (great for at home), just the seat of the high chair attached to a dining chair (great for travel), or as a tall booster seat (great for a toddler). We're excited to use the booster seat part of the chair (the base) as Jack grows into toddlerhood!
7. The removable straps! -- This highchair has a 5 point harness, so it's super secure for when baby is still learning to sit upright. We loved the shoulder straps when Jack was 5 & 6 months old. Then as he started getting older and more sturdy, we removed the shoulder straps and just had the lap strap.
8. The wheels! -- We love that this highchair has wheels, because we just roll Jack around the kitchen, up to the table, into the living room...wherever! It makes our lives much easier!
Ingenuity has another SmartClean chair that can be attached to a dining chair (no base)...while I've never tried it, it is less expensive than this chair and has a lot of the same "cleanable" features. That being said, we LOVE this chair, and I think it was worth the higher price point!
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