Hook-on chair better than high chair for small city condo?

[mcyentyres]

We live in the city so space for the baby's stuff is always a challenge. I was wondering if people use these hook-on chairs at home vs. a traditional high chair. Or do you just buy hook-ons to use when travelling? Does anyone have a Chicco Hippo hook-on chair? What do you think of it?

TIA for your input!

[Jenn98]

My DD is 15 months and we do not own a high chair - we have a fairly big house, but I still could not fathom using up that amount of space with a high chair. We used the Bumbo and her bouncy seat early on and have since moved to the clip on or the booster seat. My advice would be to try the clip on and if it works great, if it doesn't you can search out other options.

Oh, and as a hint, the clip on is great for messy art projects. I put a layer of newspaper down on the table and then a big sheet of paper and clip her chair on over it and she can finger paint/color/whatever and not fling the paper all over the place.

[new_mommy25]

We have a hook on chair that we used outside on our patio. It was really nice. I don't know the brand but it had a tray. We used the FP Healthy Care booster that straps onto the chair and that was really nice too.

[Erin_Matts_Mom]

I and a few friends have all used our Fisher Price Healthy Care booster seats instead of a highchair. We all have small homes, and those highchairs take up huge amounts of space. I do own a traditional highchair but it was very quickly retired to the basement in place of the booster seat. The great thing about the Fisher price booster is that it does have a small tray so it helps to contain the mess a bit more. I don't have experience with any of the hook-on chairs, but it seems like a great idea to save even more space.

[lhk777]

I've never used the hook-on chair but we have a booster with the straps to keep it in place as the PP's have mentioned.

I never used a high-chair and thought the booster worked well for us. I also have a 2nd one that I leave in my trunk for when we go out to eat. For some reason my DD is better behaved when sitting in her booster rather than a high chair. I also get disgusted by how dirty some of the high chairs are so I rather use my own.

HTH.
-Linda

[MonicaH]

We used a high chair alternative that strapped on to a regular dining chair from The First Years (3 in 1 feeding seat, I think). We've been very happy with it but are going to upgrade to a Kinderzeat as soon as I can decide what color, so within the next year lol.

We have also borrowed a friend's Chicco hook on seat, maybe the Hippo? It's nice but I don't think it would work for a baby much younger than a year old. There is no support for sitting and it also seems to sit a little low, so if she were much shorter she'd have trouble seeing over the table.

HTH,
Monica

[new_mommy25]

Here is the one that we have. I stuck Ruby in it the other day and she fit perfectly. It wasn't low at all. She will be 6 months in a few days. I like it because it has a tray. It's actually my nephews seat. He is 20 months now and still fits with plenty of room to spare. He has been using the seat since he was about 8 months and it has held up well. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2485006

eta: We had the Regalo hook on chair with DS1 (bought from Onestepahead) and it was a total pita. It broke pretty quickly, too.

[emmasmama]

I used this one instead of a high chair (once they could sit) for both of my kids. I've LOVED it! It won't fit on every table, but it works awesome on a butcher block or bar counter or any dining table without a lip under it. It's light, folds up for travel (even fit in the basket of my stroller) and has a higher weight limit than a lot of hook-ons as I recall. This is one of my favorite baby items I ever bought. It also works great in the booth of a restaurant so that waiters aren't carrying trays of hot food right over top of your baby's head while they sit in a restaurant high chair.

http://store.barebabies.com/metoochairfr.html

ETA: You can also just soak the whole chair in the kitchen sink when it gets dirty and then let it air dry!

HTH!