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20 March 2009

Fabric high chair alternative

When Sunnyboy was a baby I didn't buy a high chair and found that I didn't need one. Before he was able to sit unaided he would sit on my lap to eat and then I bought a fabric chair harness, which was so much more convenient than a high chair, and we were able to use it with the dining chairs we already had without losing the space that a high chair would have taken up. It's such a simple idea but ingenious; it works with most upright chairs, can be rolled up and put in a bag when going out, can go in the washing machine whenever it needs cleaning, and also was much cheaper than purchasing a high chair.

Tamsit Chair Harness*


Note: I've featured this product because I liked it and wanted to tell others. I haven't been asked, or paid, to do so. All opinions are my own.

16 comments:

  1. I have never seen one of these! I never bought a big high chair because I couldn't stand to have one more big baby thing in the house (we used on that straps onto the chair) but THIS would have been a real space saver. I like that it is very portable as well. If only I had known sooner :)

    Thanks for linking up with Kid Friendly Friday!

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  2. Great idea...I will pass it along to my daughter.

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  3. Wow, I've never heard of those -- we'll definitely keep that in mind for when/if we have another baby. We were really anti highchair, and my family insisted we'd NEED one, which made us more anti highchair. LOL, we survived without, but I did buy a booster kind of thing for our table chair. Half the time he eats standing up at the coffee table anyway, though.

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  4. We actually had something like this for going out to dinner when my kids were babies. It always worked really well.

    Our highchair was a hand-me-down and I was grateful I did not have to buy one. Like Sarah said, they take up so much room!

    Thanks for sharing with us.

    Sharinskishe

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  5. Love this! Too bad I am done with highchairs, I really hated those bulky, grubby things! I love the name of your blog :)

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  6. What a great idea! But what do you do about getting them high enough to reach the table surface? I'm subscribing to the comments so I can follow the conversation. :)

    I especially like the idea of a more frugal and space-saving option.

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  7. Brianna, we did Baby Led Weaning so when we started using it I would just put a cloth over the chair first and put finger foods on that.
    We actually used it most for eating out in cafes etc (which we did a lot at that age) than at home (at home we'd eat picnic style mostly) and I think it wasn't that long before he was able to see and reach above the table enough to put the food on there. He wasn't as high as in a standard high chair but he seemed quite happy to be actually sitting right at the table with us instead of back from it as high chairs often are.
    There was one cafe where the tables were higher and I would either take a small cushion for him to sit on or use a rolled up coat.

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  8. Hmmm. Interesting. So, I wonder if it would work to use it with a low back booster in the seat? Would that still be safe do you think? I am just really loving this idea!

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  9. I'm not entirely sure what a low back booster is but if it's just a kind of booster seat that is strapped securely to the chair then I think it would be perfectly safe and sounds like a good idea. It would be the same as the cushion that I used but just stapped on. The fabric chair harness is strapped very safely round the chair (I always did a double knot) and the baby is very safely tied in that because of the design. The only unsafe thing I can think of would be using it with a faulty chair (i.e. one with a leg thats about to drop off or something!).

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  10. http://www.amazon.com/BabySmart-Cooshee-Booster-Seat-Classic/dp/B0016C1B90/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1238055759&sr=8-3

    I wish I knew how to make the above into a hyperlink! Sorry, sunnymama! But this is the booster we have. I really, really think that I might get one of these for the next time around. Inexpensive, spacesaving, portable, washable. What's not to love?

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  11. Brianna, I think that would work. Obviously use your own judgement to decide if it is safe, but I can't see why not. Also, making a hyperlink is easy (I only learnt since I started this blog a few weeks ago). Here are instructions: Hyperlink
    (scroll down the page to where it says this - Example: To embed a link into a Page, blogpost, or comment, it may take this form:)

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  12. Oh, thank you! And just to test:

    Click here

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  13. I clicked and it worked - great picture!

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  14. I'm kid free, but this would make a nice gift. I agree that highchairs do take up a lot of space and aren't gorgeous to look at.

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  15. Kirby3131, I agree it is a great idea for a present for a parent. Even if they have a high-chair at home these are just so useful and convenient for eating out and travelling. When we used it eating out people always came up and asked where I bought it, and some of those people told me they were thinking of buying one as a gift for someone they knew.

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