Highchairs (view report contents)
About this guide
Feeding time should also be fun time. This Guide should help you to find a highchair that your baby or toddler likes to be in and that you find easy to use, whatever your abilities.
We selected 12 highchairs from around 50 available in the shops. They include three types – standard, multi-position and convertible. Each had features that you are likely to come across. The 12 highchairs were assessed by 27 adults with disabilities. This Guide reports on their findings.
Over the page we explain the types of highchair available and then describe in some detail their different features. This section should help you decide what is worth having and whether you are likely to be able to use them. At the end of What to look for there is a brief summary of features to look for depending on your abilities. This is followed by advice from a safety expert in How to stay safe in a highchair .
The Buying guide names the highchairs rated easiest to use by the disabled testers. See the individual product summaries for their detailed verdicts on all the assessed highchairs. These are followed by More highchairs on the market that lists key information on all the other highchairs that suppliers provided details on in Spring 2004. Finally there are contact details of Helpful organisations and Suppliers’ details so you can get further information about highchair models.
This guide was originally published in 2004. Contact and product details were however updated in 2007.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the Department of Health for funding this guide.
Our thanks go to the 27 people with disabilities who assessed highchairs
for us.
Research Lindsey Etchell, Jamie Keddie
Design Sarah Watson
Photography Robin Beckham,
Ginette Chapman
Illustration Cyrus Deboo
Highchair testers
Twenty-seven parents and other adults with disabilities each assessed 12 different highchairs for their ease of use. They put life-size dolls into the highchair seats and strapped them in, took them out and moved the highchairs across a room. Depending on the highchair’s features, they adjusted trays in and out and removed them, adjusted chair heights, locked and unlocked wheels, folded and unfolded highchairs and converted them to and from low tables and chairs. Their ratings were on a five- point scale from very good to very poor.
The testers had a range of needs as users of highchairs. They included
people with impaired manual dexterity, partial sight, no sight, walking
difficulties and wheelchair users. All the highchair testers are members
of the Ricability Inclusive Design Panel, which has over 300 members with
disabilities. Our Panel is based at the Intertek Research and Testing
Centre. Panel members help us to assess the ease of use of products for
people of all abilities.
Report Contents
About
this guide
Types
What
to look for
Favourite
features
Suiting
your own abilities
How
to stay safe
Buying
guide
Standard highchairs
Multiposition highchairs
Convertible highchairs
More
highchairs on the market
Helpful
organisations
Suppliers'
details
