The 8 Best Hook On High Chairs
Special Honors
How to Survive Eating Out with Baby Bringing along a convenient hook-on high chair is just one step in making eating out with your baby a stress-free experience, or relatively at least. This is a good resource with valuable tips that any new parent will find useful when they first begin venturing out to restaurants with their little bundle of joy in tow. parents.com
Editor's Notes
June 14, 2020:
Hook-on high chairs may all look the same at first glance, but there are actually a lot of minute differences that greatly affect how they function. For example, the Chicco Caddy and Chicco 360 both have long frames that are supported at six points, as opposed to four like many other models. This adds to their stability, making them a smart choice for use with rambunctious kids. The downside is that they will be slightly more cumbersome to travel with, as well as heavier than many others. The Chicco 360 does deserve special mention though, for its ability to rotate, allowing you to position your baby in variety of orientations.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the Mountain Buggy Pod, which weighs just 2.2 pounds and has very short arms and small clamps that make it very compact. The downside to a design like this is a slightly lower weight capacity, which is only suitable for children under 33 pounds, as compared to the 37 pounds of most others. The Phil&Teds Lobster is another model that is impressively compact and, though slightly heavier than the Mountain Buggy Pod, is still very convenient to travel with. Its best feature is its versatility, thanks to the rubber-coated clamps that can attach to tables as thin as 1/8 of an inch or as thick as 3.75 inches.
The TCBunny Table Chair, Inglesina Collapsible, Guzzie+Guss Perch, and Toogel Fold-flat all do a good job of balancing portability with stability and capacity. We think most parents will appreciate the five-point harnesses on the TCBunny Table Chair and Toogel Fold-flat, while the Inglesina Collapsible has a fabric-covered clamp assembly, which may help prevent some bumps or bruises if your child starts fussing and kicking wildly while seated in it.
If you like the concept of a high chair you can easily take on the go, but aren't quite sold on hook-on models, you may be interested in the options on our portable high chairs list, which contains some very lightweight options that are either freestanding, but fold up compactly, or boosters that are designed to be placed on top of a standard home or restaurant chair.
Whichever model you end up choosing, it is vital that you follow the manufacturer's guidelines regarding maximum weight capacity and recommended usage, which often means never using them on glass tables or those with very high lips, to ensure a safe and comfortable experience for your baby.