Highchairs you rate and recommendWhat makes a good highchair? Well, that really depends on what your needs are. It could be the most feature-packed funky highchair around, but if it won't fit in your kitchen, it's useless to you. You need a space-savvy highchair. If you want up-to-the table dining for your baby, a highchair that can't have its tray removed or height adjusted probably won't get your vote. And if you only have £70 to spend on a chair, a £100 price tag isn't going to get you gushing. The point is, before you buy a thing, you need to find out how to choose a highchair that will suit your needs. It will also pay to understand which highchair styles you'll come across. Thinking a booster seat could be a better choice? Check out our buyer's guide to boosters and travel highchairs. The next step is looking at what other mums and dads rate, hate and recommend. Here, we reveal the highchairs that have scored the best in the reviews you've shared. MFM mums and dads, here are your top 10...
Stokke Tripp Trapp, £169At the time of writing, 19 MFM parents had shared their reviews on this highchair, with the Tripp Trapp racking up an impressive overall user rating of 4.5 stars out of a possible 5. From the review calling it the "best highchair I have ever used!" to those of you who saw even the possible negatives as a plus - "does not fold away, but why would you want to put it away?"- this 1972 classic is still going strong,. It is pricey, but with the additonal harness (£29) and baby pack (£39) it can last from babyhood well into your child's teenage years. Read our professional review of the Tripp Trapp and see exactly what mums and dad love about Stokke's highchair. Buy the Stokke Tripp Trapp on Amazon Compare deals from top retailers IKEA Antilop, £13Another highchair with an overall user score of 4.5 stars out of 5 stars, the simplicity and budget price of the Antilop won you over. Its straightforward design makes it easy to clean, and had you raving - "I'd say this is the best baby seat by miles" and "wish I'd have bought it sooner!"
Read our professional review of the IKEA Antilop and see what other mums and dads rate in our Antilop user reviews. Buy the Ikea Antilop from Ikea, or on Amazon Chicco Polly 2-in-1 highchair, £109.99A big highchair that's packed with features, such as 7-position height adjustment, the Polly has been described in your reviews as "durable and made to last" and a "good solid versatile piece of equipment". Read our professional review of the Chicco Polly 2-In-1 and check out the Polly highchair's user reviews to see if it could suit your lifestyle. Buy the Chicco Polly from Amazon Cosatto 3Sixti2, £119.99The 3Sixti2's looks definitely gain a mention in your reviews, but the pretty face is backed up with some functional features. It doesn't fold away, but you rate its ease of cleaning and that handy swivel function. Read our professional review of the 3Sixti2 and see what mums and dads love about this Cosatto highchair. Buy the Cosatto 3Sixti2 on Amazon
Chicco Pocket Snack booster seat, £29.99A small booster seat described as "perfect to pop in the car and take to Grandma's", the Pocket Snack also scored 5 out of 5 stars in our MFM review for its ease of use, cleaning and value for money. Read our professional Pocket Snack review and see what user reviews rate about this Chicco highchair. Buy the Chicco Pocket Snack on Amazon OXO Tot Sprout highchair, £204.95Described as "a comfortable, compact highchair, which is easy to clean and looks great" in one user review, the Oxo Tot Sprout is ideal for those short on space and keen on style. With a longer life span than the average highchair, the price tag can also feel more justified. Read our professional review of the Sprout highchair and see exactly what other parents love about this OXO Tot highchair. Buy the OXO Tot Sprout on Amazon Cosatto Noodle Supa highchair, £110With its ability to fold, recline and have the height adjusted, the Noodle Supa has been described as "great from early weaning to toddler".
While functional, its value for money and style are also rated. Read our professional review of the Noodle Supa and see what user reviews rate about this Cosatto highchair. Buy the Cosatto Noodle Supa on Amazon Knuma Connect 4-In-1 Highchair, £190Described as a stylish, sturdy highchair by our reviewer, as suggested by the name the Knuma Connect 4-in-1 chair converts into four modes; a full-size high chair, a mid-size high chair, a toddler chair with tray, and a table and chair. It has gotten 5 stars in most of its user reviews on the net, with one parent declaring: "We absolutely love it!! I wish its had been around when my first little one arrived." Check out our professional review of the Knuma Connect 4-In-1 and what our user reviews say about this highchair. Buy the Knuma Connect 4-in-1 from Mamas & Papas or Mothercare Mamas & Papas Baby Snug, £39Style wise, some of you will love this and others will find it very bright - or as one happy user said, it's "a toy and a booster seat combined!"
Your reviews rated its portability and the fact it saved on space. Read our professional review of the Mamas & Papas Baby Snug and see what else user reviews rate about this Baby Snug booster. Buy the Baby Snug from Mamas & PapasAccount access only available on desktop and tablet computers currently. Your account panel is currently being updated and is therefore only available on desktop computers and tablets. However, we'll be updating this section shortly across all devices to give you a much better experience. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.The child car seat wobbles dramatically as Peter Knowles, a road safety officer at Bromley council's road safety team, grabs it. If there were a crash, the little boy sitting in it would be thrown around. We are in the car park of the Orpington branch of Sainsbury's, checking whether child car seats are fitted correctly. Last week The Observer revealed how two thirds of child car seats are not properly fitted, putting children at risk of injury or even death.
Data collected by road safety officers around the country showed a litany of problems, from incorrectly routed seat belts to harnesses that are too high or loose. Nor is the problem necessarily solved by buying a child car seat from a retailer offering a fitting service: consumer organisation Which? found that, in a mystery shop involving 43 stores, mistakes were made in nearly half of fittings. At the Orpington Sainsbury's, parents are being offered a free car seat check. The mother with the wobbly seat says she was given it by a neighbour. "She showed me how to fit it," she says, as she opens the door of the family car to show us. "Not very well," says Knowles. The seatbelt is twisted on the way in, and has been threaded in front of the tensioner, so it won't do its job, then back through both of the seatbelt guide clips, instead of just the one on the exit side. The occupant is just 10 months old and small for his age, and this is a forward-facing seat. Even properly installed, it won't offer as much protection as a rearward-facing one.
In a crash, facing backwards is much better as the child is thrown back into the seat rather than forward with the risk of whiplash. Knowles explains this and, as the boy's other seat is still at home, his mum promises to put him back in it. Another woman is shopping with her third child. Her seat, a Maxi-Cosi Priori XP, is also fitted incorrectly. She says she knows how to do it properly but her husband has used it in his car and it hasn't been put back properly. Again the seatbelt is twisted and mis-routed, but this time so badly that later Peter says it "would have been no help whatsoever in a crash". The seat was bought from John Lewis, but by mail order so she has never been shown how to fit it properly. As Knowles explains how to tighten the seatbelt with the tensioner, she exclaims that she did not even know it was there. These parents are not alone in making potentially dangerous errors: most apologise as their car door is opened and see straight away that the seat isn't fitted properly.
Various reasons, from husbands visiting the tip, to children undoing seatbelts, are given, but the problems seem to have the same origin. Parents are moving the seats regularly between two cars, are in a hurry as they do so, and do not really know how they should be fitted. By the end of the day around 60 have been checked, 30 have been refitted and six have been declared incompatible or condemned. In the checks I watch there are several common mistakes that can be easily fixed. When it comes to group 0+ seats for the youngest babies, parents are putting the seats in the car with the handles in the wrong place. Many have the handle clipped back behind the child's head when in fact it should be up as it acts as a roll-bar in the event of an accident, and prevents the child from being pressed against the back seat. Many of these seats are also too close to the front seats — a mistake I used to make with my own child. I believed that it would stop the seat moving and be a good thing in an accident, but actually it would have focussed the impact of the crash on one part of the seat.
The seat should be around three fingers' width from the front. When it came to group 1 seats, those for children weighing 9kg and over, most parents seemed to fit the belt through both of the seatbelt guides at the top, rather than just the one on the exit. This makes it hard to tighten the belt, and if the guide that it is incorrectly threaded through breaks in an accident, there would be a lot of slack in the belt and the seat could easily move. Harnesses do not tend to be tight enough in either type of seat — you should be able to put just two fingers between the harness and the child, and parents seemed to be in a hurry to move their child to the next level of seating. Knowles's colleague, Val Currie, tells me: "You should always keep your child in each seat for as long as you can, as they each offer more protection than the next one up." Only when a child is either too long/tall or too heavy for a seat, whichever comes first, do they need to move to the next one.
Most worrying are the parents who decline help. One we encounter clearly has a child in a rearward-facing seat, but has strapped the seat so the child is facing forward. With no powers to stop her, the road safety team have to let her drive off, even though the seat may not offer any protection. The Observer is campaigning to highlight the problem of badly fitted car seats and encourage retailers and parents to ensure they are using seats properly. ■ Retailers to ensure all their fitters are fully trained; ■ For retailers who sell online to offer fitting services in-store where appropriate, or offer parents details of where they can find local fitting services; ■ Better information for expectant parents on the importance of buying the right seat and fitting it correctly; ■ More manufacturers to provide "fit finder" services, like Britax. This shows which seats are compatible with their car. One of the best ways to ensure your seat is properly fitted is to visit a clinic run by your local road safety team.