A high chair is one of only a handful of big ticket items you will buy for your baby. Before investing $100 or more into this purchase, you’ll want to do some research. And yes, you can get a high chair for under $100, but I’ve discovered that in this product category, the adage “you get what you pay for” holds very true.

I began researching high chairs with some personal biases in place. Many months ago, I researched and wrote an article about ergonomics in the home for www.theWAHMmagazine.com and I learned of the Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair. I was immediately hooked.

The high chair has several appealing features:

• sturdy solid wood construction (and available in a variety of colors/finishes)
• adjustable footrests
• removable tray for easy cleaning
• modular seat so it grows with the child, even converting to an adult chair

Most significantly, the Tripp Trapp is the first chair that permits you to pull your child—even an infant–up to the family table for dinner.

The solid beechwood construction is built to last and, with 11 available colors, you can purchase a high chair to match your kitchen or dining room table. The cushion is sold separately, so if you change your décor, you can buy another cushion. I love the fact that the high chair doesn’t look like yet another piece of baby gear, but an actual piece of furniture in the home.

And it becomes just that, years down the line, when you can convert it to a regular chair.

The Tripp Trapp allows you to adjust both the height of the seat and footrests and the depth, so your child can fit comfortably at any age and size. Designed ergonomically, the chair has a double curved back rest which takes pressure off your child’s developing spine.

Additionally, the adjustable footrests keep your baby’s feet planted solidly, not dangling in mid-air. Since children are able to shift their weight from foot to foot, they fidget less. (Aren’t you more comfortable and secure with your feet solidly on the floor or a footrest?)

For infants, a separate baby set is available, and a five-point safety harness keeps your baby safe and secure. Not many (if any) other high chairs offer the five-point harness, which exceeds ASTM safety standards for a high chair. The baby set / safety guard is available in colors to match your chair.

Many moms (myself included) might balk at the price tag of the Tripp Trapp. But when you consider that you’re getting a high chair that can change with your décor, last for the life of your child, and convert to an adult chair that holds up to 250 pounds comfortably, the price begins to make sense.

Even more important, however, than the style, durability and adaptability of this chair are the psychological benefits of a high chair / booster that brings your child directly to the family table during dinner. For co-sleeping parents, the concept is a no-brainer. Our children share the family bed; by all means they should join the family dinner table.

Studies show that the family dinner table is the optimal place for children to learn socialization skills, manners and good nutrition. Your child can be part of dinner in a conventional high chair, but they might feel separate from the rest of the family—the “grown-ups.” I’ve always believed in integrating children, whenever possible, to the adult dinner table. Let children be a part of dinner activities as soon as they are able to sit with support, and the learning and socialization can begin sooner!

Best of all, Stokke, manufacturers of the Tripp Trapp chair, have joined forces with Babies Online to offer a FREE Anabel Karmel feeding gift with each purchase made before March 31, 2009.

I didn’t want to do it. I really wanted to hold out until 6 months to introduce solid foods. Breast milk has all the nutrients she needs right now, and she’s growing up fast enough as it is. Why rush things?

But after sleeping five to seven hour stretches for weeks, Ashley woke up hungry every two hours for two nights straight. I may have let it go on longer, feeling her every two hours and letting her sleep with us, if I didn’t have to work during the day. But there I was, not quite desperate for a full night’s sleep but knowing I couldn’t do this for much longer. I called the pediatrician.

The doctor said there’s a slim chance she teething, but it’s more likely she’s just ready for solid foods. In the past week, Ashley has become much more active—kicking at her toys in her baby gym, wiggling every time I put her down. She’s constantly in motion so I’m sure she’s burning calories like mad. She may be blessed with her father’s metabolism, which would be any female’s dream — lucky kid!

So on Saturday, we placed her in her high chair, snapped on her Winnie-the-Pooh bib and gave Ashley her first taste of cereal. I selected Gerber Organic Oatmeal, as the doctor said rice cereal or baby oatmeal were fine. I eat oatmeal about three times a week for breakfast so I figured the flavor would be “familiar” to her. I’ve read that babies pick up the taste of foods Mom eats in breast milk and during pregnancy.

She ate two mouthfuls and didn’t seem thrilled, mushing it around in her mouth and opening and closing her lips together, a little frown on her face. But I’m optimistic. She’s very young – not even four months yet—so I didn’t think she would accept any solid food at all the first time. If your baby rejects the first solid food, you should wait a week before you try again. But I interpreted two tastes as just short of overt rejection.

I tried again that night – another two mouthfuls. The next evening at dinner, though, she took four tastes, and even licked her lips. She still hasn’t smiled though, and I don’t think she likes the taste of the formula I use to water down the cereal. I never got the hang of pumping breastmilk, unfortunately.

The author of Super Baby Food, which I’m using as a feeding guideline for the first two years, says you don’t have to start a baby on cereal. Another food, watered down to a thin, milky consistency, is just as good. So I may try sweet potatoes next weekend.

Helpful tips for offering solid foods for the first time:

• Iron-fortified cereal is recommended as a first food because allergies to it are extremely rare. My pediatrician said she’d never heard of a case.
• Introduce a new food at breakfast, so if an allergic reaction occurs, it’s less likely to happen in the middle of the night.
• Wait 3 – 5 days before offering a different food, again, to test for allergic reactions.
• Smile and act upbeat when you give your baby food for the first time. She will pick up on your enthusiasm.
• Food can be served room temperature or lukewarm, the same temperature you would serve formula.
• I put the food in a baby bottle and used the bottle warmer to heat it. If you microwave food, stir carefully to avoid any “hot spots.” Microwave heating is not recommended except in a pinch.
• Don’t expect your baby to love it the first time. She may make faces. Go slowly to give her a chance to absorb this new experience.
• If baby turns her head or closes her mouth, stop. She may need to be burped and then you can try again. But if she refuses food twice, pack it up for that meal.
• Don’t forget to take lots of pictures of baby’s first meal!

Before I had a baby, everyone told me how much faster life flies by with kids. And I believed them, in the same way someone has never experienced it can. The same way you believe people who say, “Everything changes once you get married,” but you don’t really know what they mean until you unpack after the honeymoon.

On February 12, my daughter will be four months old and I can’t believe it. She feels so new to us yet it also feels like she’s been a part of our lives forever. Life without her is a rapidly fading memory.

Beginning at about 3 months, she’s been learning something new everyday. She’s becoming more aware of our surroundings and more interactive in her dealings with us. She’s selected her favorite cat out of the four who live with us, has definite preferences in toys, and makes her needs clear in ways that don’t always involve crying.

My husband assembled her high chair the other night, and today I put her in it. Our pediatrician said we can start giving her cereal “at any time” now. Breast milk has everything an infant needs for the first six months of life, and I’d love to hold out that long. But my daughter is an eating machine and I don’t know if I can keep up. I’d prefer solids to formula. After two weeks of sleeping through the night, she was up to eat every 2 hours the past two nights. I’m wondering if she’s not hungry for more than milk. She’s also started trying to grab food off my plate and is close to double her birth weight, which are all indicators that she may be ready to start solid foods.

She offered up a big smile when I placed her in the high chair and began looking around the kitchen, as if waiting for some food. “This is your seat now,” I told her. I’m hoping that even if she doesn’t eat her meals with us, I can place her in the high chair to enjoy mealtime as a family. For the first time in three months, I may get to eat with both hands!

She’s also outgrowing her bassinet (it holds up to 15 lbs.) and we have to make the decision to move her to the crib (I’m not ready for that until she’s sleeping through the night steadily!) or into her Pack and Play bassinet in our room temporarily.

This weekend, we may set up her Exersaucer, too, as it’s definitely a challenge to keep her entertained all day.

I got a little teary-eyed thinking about these changes. This is the next stage. My little girl is growing up and in the blink of an eye, she won’t be my little baby anymore. Now I truly understand what parents mean when they say, “It goes so fast.”

High Chairs Recalled Due to Fall and Choking Hazards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Evenflo Majestic™ High Chairs

Units: About 95,000

Manufacturer: Evenflo Company Inc., of Miamisburg, Ohio

Hazard: Plastic caps and metal screws on both sides of the high chair can loosen and fall out, posing both fall and choking hazards to children. Plastic caps and screws that become loose and fall out can cause the seatback to suddenly fall back or detach from the high chair. Children can fall out or collide with objects and suffer broken bones, abrasions, cuts and bruises. Detached plastic caps and metal screws also pose a choking hazard to children.

Incidents/Injuries: Evenflo has received 140 reports of seatbacks reclining, falling back and/or detaching unexpectedly, which resulted in at least 47 reports of bumps and bruises to the head, two reports of broken bones, and at least 45 reports of other injuries including abrasions, cuts, and bruises. Evenflo has received more than 1,000 reports of plastic caps and screws falling out of the high chairs, including seven incidents in which caps and screws were found in children’s hands or mouths but were removed before choking occurred.

Description: The recall involves Evenflo Majestic™ high chairs made before January 23, 2007. The recalled high chairs have the following model numbers: 3001395A, 3001583, 3001633A, 3001669, 3001700A, 3001713, 3001713A, 3001730A, 3001732, 3001732A, 3001733, 3001742, 3001742A, and 3001756. The model number and production date can be found on a white label on the seatback. “Evenflo” is printed on the label and on the push button on the front of the tray.

Sold at: Juvenile product and mass merchandise stores nationwide, including Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Burlington Coat Factory and Shopko, and on-line at walmart.com from January 2006 through May 2007 for between $80 and $110.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the high chairs and contact Evenflo to receive a free repair kit.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Evenflo at (800) 233-5921 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit www.majestichighchair.com

For a limited time at Amazon.com

Save 36% ($25.00) on this convenient space saving high chair from Fisher-Price.

• Space Saver high chair has a new fashion and pattern
• Provide a full-size feeding experience for a small-size home.
• All of the features of a full-size high chair without taking up the space.
• It easily straps to most kitchen or dining chairs. It has 3 height adjustments, 3-position recline plus a full-size one-hand removable dishwasher safe tray. The full-size wipeable and machine washable pad has a 5pt to 3pt restraint for additional security.
• When baby is older, the pad and back remove to make this a toddler booster seat. The efficient size makes it easy to store when not in use.