1st Years or Safety First Portable High Chair

[belindapooh]

We'll be doing some traveling for the holidays and I would like to bring a portable high chair that will fit in our luggage. Anyone have experience with the Safety 1st or First Years Portable High Chair that fold up and which they recommend? I have the Me Too chair from babycenter.com for restaurants but I'd like one with a tray as dd uses the lip to help her pick up food. Thanks.

Belinda
Nyah's mom born 2/6/02

[LisaS]

We have this as my DD's high chair at my parents house for visits. It works great, easy to clean (we have the Me Too as well and love it). The only possible negative that there is not all that much room between her stomach and the tray. She is 10 months (20lbs, 28"/50%ile) and there is not a lot of space between her belly and the tray, so if you have a big baby, you may want to try it out before you buy it or consider something else that will have a longer shelf life.

[egoldber]

I have the Safety First Fold N Go portable booster. It works just fine. I would agree that they tray is quite close to your baby but it is not yet a problem for my 15 month old. It would be a bit large to put in a suitcase (it wouldn't fit in my suitcase), so I would test it before counting on it.

Also, you could buy one at your destination (or have your family get one if that's possible) so you don't have to pack it.

HTH,

[belindapooh]

Lisa - Thanks, do you have the first years brand or the safety first brand?

Beth - Thanks for the input. I did buy the Safety First one at Target. I haven't opened it yet because I wanted to check on the First Years one at ToysRUs (closer to me than BRU). It looked to me folded up that it would fit in a suitcase. We do have the First Years reclining portable seat that is at my parents house - that is definitely too big to put in a suitcase. I would buy it where we're traveling to but we're going to see both sets of inlaws (divorced) next week, come home, then out again the next week so we need it for both trips. On a side note, I took your advice and bought the duck tub from target. It'll be fun to see dh to blow it up. It'll be interesting to travel with all this stuff. Thanks.

Belinda

[LisaS]

Safety 1st (colorful, red yellow and blue plastic)

[megsmom]

I got the First Years one as a shower gift and it also works fine. I was initially jealous of my friends who had the Safety First one since it had that neat retractable strap thing. I then finally read the directions for mine and found out how to attach the straps so this is no longer an issue for me. The thing I really do like is that they tray is adjustable and Meg still has plenty of room for her belly at 24 pounds. I think they both are about the same in terms of compactness when folded.

We did bring ours along when we traveled by plane the weekend before last and just checked it in it's box. It didn't get beat up by the airlines, but I admit to being a bit nervous since you never know what is going on with the luggage loading folks. If you had a very big suitcase this would also work.

Jen
mom to Meghan
7/13/01

[belindapooh]

Thanks for the info, Jen. I haven't opened up the Safety First one yet so I think I will exchange it for the First Years one. From the box, it doesn't look that big that it wouldn't fit in a luggage. The one we're using is probably a normal size one. We are bringing our packnplay so the more we can fit in the suitcase, the better. Another question for you, did you hand carry the carseat or did you have it in a tote that you swung over your shoulder? Thanks.

Belinda

[megsmom]

We used a car seat tote that we bought for 20 bucks or so at BRU. We have the Prince Lionhart one that is a back pack type. It's much better on the spine and those carseats get heavy if you're lugging them for any length of time! The first time we traveled with the convertible, we carried it through the airport and it was such a pain. We just had dd in the front carrier and didn't bring a stroller (she was only 5 months and it was a short trip). A lot of folks have put the carseat/diaper bag in the stroller and put the baby in the Bjorn, hence no carseat bag is needed. Our dd is too big for a Bjorn now and we only travel with our Kolcraft cheapo umbrella stroller now that wouldn't accomodate a convertible seat. Once the trunk is loaded with the PNP, luggage, booster seats, etc. my nice Combi stroller doesn't fit and it's actually nice traveling with a stroller you can put in the overhead bin. I have to gate check it sometimes and it wouldn't be a huge loss if it got wrecked by the baggage guys.

Have a nice trip!

Jen
mom to Meghan
born 7/13/01