Feeding a baby when travelling Whether you’re heading on holidays or just for a day trip, a portable mealtime seat can help simplify feeding on the go. Balancing a wiggly baby or active toddler on your lap doesn’t always result in the easiest eating experience… for you or your child! There are four main types of travel-friendly feeding seats to choose from: Travel highchairs – a bit like the seat part of a highchair, minus the long legs. They sit on top of a dining chair and are strapped on. They can be folded to a compact size for portability. Foldable booster seats – these attach to a dining chair and, unlike normal boosters, can be folded to reduce their size to something a little more travel-friendly. Clamp-on seats – a seat that attaches to the table’s edge, rather than the chair. Fabric seat harnesses – basically, these are like a fold-up piece of fabric that wraps around your baby and the chair. You can use them instead of a booster or highchair, but it won’t give your baby any height.
Unsure which style would suit your need? Our buyer's guide to booster seats and travel highchairs is the place to start, plus we’ve rounded up 10 of the best options here, to help you find the perfect match for feeding a baby away from home… Tomy Freestyle 3-in-1 Booster Seat, £19.99Light and easy to clean, the Tomy Freestyle 3-in-1 Booster Seat can be folded into a bag shape. When it comes time to use, you just undo one zip and the seat pops out, ready to be attached to any chair with a back. It also boasts a changing mat and has storage compartments for a bottle and nappies. Read the full Tomy Freestyle 3-in-1 Booster Seat review Buy the Tomy Freestyle on Amazon Compare deals from top retailers Mamas & Papas Baby Bud, £31.95The Baby Bud is a tabletop feeding and booster chair that has four clip-on feet that can be adjusted to three different height settings to fit to a variety of different chairs and tables. Featuring a safety harness, cushioned seat insert and removable tray, you can also buy an activity centre to place on top of the tray to keep baby occupied.
For the full Baby Bud spec and to see why our MFM reviewer gave the seat four and a half stars out of five, click here Buy the Mamas & Papas Baby Bud on Amazon Concord Lima travel highchair, £49.95Streamlined and compact, the stylish Concord Lima is a travel highchair that easily connects to any chair. It feels secure once attached and is comfy for your child, too. The Lima comes with its own carry bag, cup holder in the tray and the covers are washable. Read the full Concord Lima travel highchair review Buy the Concord Lima on Amazon Totseat seat harness, £24The Totseat falls into the fabric seat harness group. It’s light and compact because it’s made of fabric and can be folded down into a small pouch, thrown into your handbag/change bag/buggy basket and be forgotten about. It fits most types of chairs and is really straightforward to use, as well as being the only product of its type to be recognised by the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT), the UK's leading child safety charity.
Our MFM reviewer gave the seat four out of five stars for safety, style and value for money. Read the full Totseat seat harness review Buy the Totseat on Amazon Phil & Teds Wriggle Wrapper, £44.95Phil and Teds have pushed the boundaries yet again – the Wriggle Wrapper doesn’t neatly fit any category, but it does what it does very well! The Wriggle Wrapper can be strapped around a chair or your waist and used as a restraint when feeding your baby from 6 months to 2 years. Or, with an extension strap, you can use it as a sort of safety harness to strap your little one to a single mattress and stop him from rolling around on a bed. It’s clever, compact and it impressed MFM’s reviewer no end! Read the full Phil and Teds Wriggle Wrapper review Buy the Phil & Teds Wriggle Wrapper on Amazon Polar Gear Go Anywhere Booster Seat, £17.99The Polar Gear Go Anywhere Booster Seat is lightweight and easy to wipe clean. It’s also easy to use, and folds away to a compact size – it’ll look more like you’re carrying a laptop than a booster for you toddler!
It’s comfy for your child and best suited to older babies, from 12 months to about 4 years. Read the full Polar Gear Go Anywhere Booster Seat review Buy the Polar Gear Go Anywhere on Amazon Chicco Pocket Snack, £19.99An award-winning compact booster seat, the Chicco Pocket Snack is easy to assemble, comes with adjustable straps, so that it fits a variety of chairs and has a safety harness to keep baby wobble-free. The Pocket Snack tray has three height positions and can come off completely, and it has a cute spoon and fork design on the seat unit. The booster seat is highly recommend by our MFM tester who gave it a whopping five out of five stars. Buy the Chicco Pocket Snack on Amazon Stokke Handysitt, £54The Stokke Handysitt can be used as a booster seat that hooks onto the back of adult chairs or, with the addition of the additional leg accessories, it can be used as freestanding children's chair. Unlike most travel chairs and booster seats the Handysitt is composed of birch wood, not plastic, which makes it a little more weighty, but also sturdier and more durable.
Buy the Stokke Handysitt on Amazon Phil & Teds lobster, £60The Phil & Teds lobster directly clamps onto the table, so your baby is always at table height. It pops up and is attached and ready in seconds. It feels durable and keeps your little one safe with a 4-point harness and shoulder straps, but is lightweight and compact enough to fold down and carry in your handbag. The lobster also has a dishwasher-safe, removable plastic food tray. Read the full Phil & Teds lobster review Buy the Phil & Teds lobster on AmazonOur Reviews of the Best Travel High Chair 2017Highchairs 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 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. 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!!