8 Best High Chairs of 2025, Lab Tested and Reviewed - Consumer Reports
A high chair is one of the most relied upon baby gear items—up there with strollers, car seats, bassinets, and cribs. These seats allow little ones to safely and comfortably learn how to pick up and eat solid foods, while the built-in trays help to (somewhat) minimize mess.
The high chair you choose will be a fixture in your kitchen for quite some time. Many are designed to accommodate kids until ages 2 or 3, and some can be converted into booster seats that toddlers and preschoolers can use for even longer.
In this article
These high chairs will keep your baby safe and help make mealtime easier for you. For more advice on choosing a high chair for your child, see our detailed high chair buying guide.
In our high chair buying guide, you can learn more about the top qualities to look for, including must-have safety features like a passive crotch restraint and five-point harness. All of our picks above have these features and have harnesses that can be converted from a five-point to a three-point.
Joan Muratore, who oversees Consumer Reports’ high chair testing, says there are three key things new parents should keep in mind when shopping for a high chair.
The tray should also be free of sectioning or molding, which leaves seams where food debris and germs can collect.
If your kitchen is cramped, consider a high chair that folds compactly for easier storage when it’s not in use.
“A chair without a seat pad can seem stark or too cold for your baby, but it really is easiest to clean,” Muratore says. “If you prefer a chair with a seat pad, look for a pad without piping, ruffles, etc., that can collect food mess. A smooth, wipe-clean pad is good, and a machine-washable pad is better.”
CR tests high chairs for three key attributes: safety, ease of cleaning, and ease of use. Our safety tests are based on the same standards used by the federal government and include evaluations of the restraint system and the chair’s stability, as well as static load assessments to make sure the chair can hold more than its stated weight capacity without sagging or collapsing.
For ease of use, our testers evaluate how easy it is to adjust the harness, fold and unfold the chair, remove and replace the seat cover, adjust the seatback (if it reclines), and remove and replace the food tray or tray cover. For ease of cleaning, we evaluate how easy or difficult the chair is to clean by looking at all its parts, including the materials it’s made of, the design of the food tray, the frame of the chair, whether it has a machine-washable seat pad (or no seat pad at all), and how the seat pad is configured in the chair.
A high chair may not be in the same absolutely essential gear category as a child car seat or crib, but it comes pretty close. Sure, your little one could sit on your lap while learning to handle and eventually eat solid foods, but a high chair makes this process infinitely easier.
While a high chair is pretty important, you don’t need to rush to buy one as soon as your baby is born.A majority of those on the market are designed for infants 4 months and older because children aren’t ready to start eating solids until at least this age (though the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends waiting until the 6-month mark).Plus, newborns don’t have enough strength in their trunk, head, or neck to sit upright and unsupported.All of which is to say: There’s no need to have a high chair in the house until your pediatrician gives you the green light to introduce solid foods.
Some high chairs do have newborn modes that allow you to safely strap in a younger infant. In this case, though, your baby wouldn’t be using the chair to eat solids just yet, but rather as a chair to stay in while you do something else nearby.
The tip-over risk of a high chair is one of the biggest safety considerations when using one, according to the AAP. Be mindful not to place your child’s chair near a surface they could push against to tip it over, such as a counter, wall, or table. If older kids climb on your little one’s high chair, they could accidentally tip it, too.
And those safety straps are crucial. Always use them, including the crotch strap, to make sure your baby can’t slip down.
Also worth mentioning is that high chairs that clip onto a table aren’t considered as safe as freestanding ones because kids can push against a table to loosen the clasp and cause the chair to fall. Plus, tables can tip if they’re not heavy enough to support a child’s weight.
This can vary from chair to chair. Some models are designed to transition into chairs that your child can continue using once they’ve outgrown the baby seat. Others have maximum weight or height that most kids will reach around ages 2 to 3. And some toddlers are able to maneuver out of their high chair and stand up on it, which can make it unsafe.But for the most part, many children are ready to sit on a regular table chair—possibly with the extra height and support of a booster seat—by the time they’re about 3.
