Deciding between 2 high Chairs, need advice

[jennifer2saint]

Hello- I am trying to decide between two high chairs. One of them, the Fisher Price Healthy Care Deluxe Linkadoos has 3 detachable trays. How important is that? I have heard that it is so important from one mom, and that it makes very little difference from another. I really like the Linkadoo's chair, with the exception of the big blue plastic ruffle. Having a tiny bit of trouble getting past that. The other chair is the the Zooper Peas and Carrots, which seems really nice, and I have heard good things about. It just doesn't have the detachabale trays. It also doesn't have a plastic blue ruffle. Any advice/ suggestions??
Thanks,
Jennifer

[TracyBee]

We have the healthy care deluxe with the three detachable trays. Honestly, they are more of a pain than they are worth. They take up a lot of room - in the cabinets and in the dishwasher. I don't even use mine. It's just so much easier for me to just wash the tray immediately after every meal.

They are definitely not a necessity for me.

[jennifer2saint]

Thanks- anyone use the trays and have storage ideas? I can't think of anywhere to put them! I am leaning towards the Zooper chair......

[geochick]

Unlike the pp we REALLY like the 3 trays. We can fit all three of them in the dishwasher at one time and still have room for dishes. Last night I told my hubby that I wish we had 4 trays since my ds ends up eating in his high chair 4 times a day. We store the trays on top of the refrigerator right when they come out of the dishwasher. I LOVE having 3 trays.

[barbarhow]

ITA. I used them at the beginning but found it was so much easier to just wipe/wash the main tray down. I think it is just a personal preference thing.
Now that he is older we pull the highchair up to the breakfast bar and don't use a tray at all.
Barbara-mom to Jack 3/27/03, a Red Sox fan
expecting #2, a Yankee fan, around 5/9/05!

[JLiebCamm]

I have the FP Health Care HC with 2 trays and the 4-in-1 Feeding seat with one tray. I actually find that I like only having one tray better. It forces me to stay on top of washing it instead of laying it by the sink and lettting things pile up. If I was running a dishwasher daily I might feel differently about it. I think it's up to your personal preferences/habits for taking care of dishes.

[murpheyblue]

I totally agree. We love the three trays. It wasn't such a big thing when DD was spoon fed but no that she self feeds I love just popping the trays out and into the dishwasher. It's so easy.

[amp]

I honestly think you will adjust to and appreciate (hopefully) whatever chair you choose. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the 3 detachable trays! I am so happy we have them. I can fit 2 easily on the sides of the dishwasher and can make a 3rd fit in an unfull load if needed. I don't have to wash it each time myself. We love our FP Healthy Care Deluxe, but I'm sure whatever one you want, you'll like.

[June Mommy]

I have the Linkadoos chair and love it. DS doesn't use all the trays yet since he is just beginning to be spoon fed, but I love that I can just pop the tray in the dishwasher. But that depends on your washing preferences, like the pp said. I run my dishwasher every night. About the ruffle, yes, the chair screams 'baby' and doesn't really blend in to any decor! But, I've found that with a baby, I have baby stuff everywhere, so it doesn't bother me. Bouncy seat in the living room, playmat in the office, Pack n' Play in the bedroom, bottles drying by the sink, not to mention toys. It is just the norm now, LOL! So I would choose a chair based on functionality and features most important to you.
ETA: If you can, try them out in real life. I found by checking out highchairs that I liked the FP chair much better than the Baby Trend or Chicco Mamma (my other choices.)

[dowlinal]

I have the noahs ark print of the fisher price chair. It is almost identical to the linkadoos chair that my mother bought except my chair is a nice brown/green plaid and it doesn't have a storage basket on the side. I bought mine at buy buy baby in June/July.

Until recently I did not use the three tray, but now that DD likes to play with her food I love them. It is just so much easier to stick the food encrusted tray in the dishwasher rather than scrub out all those bits of stuff.

[iujen94]

Here's another vote for the Linkadoos and the detachable trays, which we also LOVE. I didn't realize just how much we love them until we visited my sister who had borrowed a high chair without trays - what a pain to wash them every time! Plus I am so paranoid about food germs that I was always worried I hadn't washed the tray well enough, or hadn't gotten all of the soap off, or something else! I don't know how the Zooper compares, but I will mention that something else we love about the Linkadoos is that the cover (ruffle and all :) ) can go in the washer AND dryer which, surprisingly, is not always the case. The fabric also wipes down really well for small spills. As for storage for the trays, we throw them on the floor of our pantry. Is it the best place for them? Probably not, but it works for us!

[Lynnie]

i have a prima pappa, and when i visited my sister, who had the fisher price, liked hers much better. so i just got one for my second (since the first still sits in the other one sometimes).

i only got the regular old healthy care, which has one snap out tray, but so far i love it. the one tray gives me enough leeway not to have to immediately wash it, since you still have the actual tray, but also, i don't have to deal with storing all three.

the regular one also does not have a ruffle. :-)

i searched for it online, and actually found it at k-mart. for $49, i am very very happy with it.

[patricksmom]

I also have the Linkadoos chair and love it. I have only used one of the 3 trays so far since he is spoonfed but I am glad that I have been able to detach it and slip it into the dishwasher. Some nights I just wash it off with hot soapy water but when it gets particularly messy it is great to be able to remove it and let the dishwasher do the work. The plastic seat itself is easy to wash too--even when it gets attacked by sticky, goopy rice cereal . And ds really likes chewing on the linkadoo toy attachments (which can also be put into the dishwasher---great after times when ds likes to chew on them with a big mouthful of bananas.)

[mysweetboy]

We love our Linkadoos chair. We use all 3 trays and usually just pop them into the dishwasher. On the rare occasion when he's not too messy, we're able to wipe them down, but it's nice to have the option to just throw them into the dishwasher. Also, I love the attachable toys and bright colors of the chair. The ruffle doesn't bother me at all....this is for my baby after all! My only complaint is that we're tight on storage for the trays. If they could configure a storage solution for them underneath the chair, that would be perfect.

Lori
mommy to Charlie, 7 months old!

[Laurelsmom2002]

We have the original healthy cart w/ one tray and i'd love to have more, but it wasn't available. The cover does wash up fabulously in the washing machine and the chair colapses just enought to get it into my stall shower when it really needs a hose down- it dosen't happen often now, but when she was first self feeding it was soo much easier.

[heidi_timms]

We have the deluxe healthy care chair with the three trays and I wish I had more trays! I must be a lazy mama because I love that they go in the dishwasher and I don't have to hand wash them all of the time. I am so bummed when I forget to run the dishwasher!!!

~Heidi
Mom to Kailey
4/03

[HallsofVA]

We have the Linkadoos chair, and are very satisfied with the chair, but probably would have been just as satisfied with the non-Deluxe version of the chair that Target carries.

The deluxe version has 3 trays, while the basic version only comes with 1. Only 1 tray will fit well in my dishwasher at a time, so I rarely use all 3 in the same day. The Linkadoos version also has a basket for one side, and a jar holder for the other side. I don't know if other folks are more coordinated than we are, but we're always knocking the baskets/holders off. And I still haven't figured out how to fold it without knocking one or the other off. The deluxe version also has wheels, which my son insists on locking whenever he notices they're unlocked, so it's just as difficult to move around as if it didn't have the wheels to begin with.

If you end up with the regular version, you can order additional trays from the Fisher-price.com website. They were only like $3-4 a piece, which was much less than the price difference between the regular and deluxe chairs. If you get it from Target, you'd also avoid the ruffle, since you mentioned not being too keen on it.