Best High Chairs of 2026

These high chairs will help keep your baby safe while making mealtime easier. 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 a five-point harness. Joan Muratore, the engineer 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.

• Look for models with a dishwasher-safe tray insert (it covers the main tray) or a removable tray. The tray should also be free of sectioning, which creates creases where food debris and germs can collect.
• Think about the available space in your kitchen or dining room. If your kitchen is on the smaller side, consider a high chair that folds compactly for easier storage when it’s not in use.
• Consider a model without a seat pad if you want a chair that’s super-easy to clean. “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. 

Safety: 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.

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. 

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 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. The majority of high chairs are designed for infants 6 months and older, because children aren’t ready to start eating solids until at least this age, the American Academy of Pediatrics says. 

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 have newborn modes that let you safely strap in a younger infant in a reclined position. While this isn’t a safe feeding position for babies who are eating solids, your high chair’s newborn mode can let you pull your baby close to the table while your family eats their meals together. 

According to the AAP, one of the biggest safety considerations with high chair use is the risk of tip-overs. 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. Keep an eye on older children around your baby’s high chair as well—if they happen to climb on your little one’s high chair, they could accidentally tip it. 

And those safety straps are crucial. Always use the high chair’s harness, including the crotch strap, to make sure your baby can’t slip down underneath the tray—another fall risk.

Also worth mentioning is that high chairs that clip onto a table aren’t considered as safe as freestanding ones. In a clip-on high chair, kids can push against a table to loosen the clamp and cause the chair to fall. Plus, tables can tip if they’re not heavy enough to support a child’s weight—especially pedestal tables that have a central support structure only.

Periodically check your high chair to make sure it’s holding up to everyday wear and tear. “When you’re using your high chair several times a day, screws can loosen over time.  Be sure to keep any tools that came with the chair, such as an allen wrench or screwdriver, handy, so that you can regularly check and tighten any screws as needed,” says Muratore.

This can vary from chair to chair. Some models are designed to transition into toddler or booster chairs that your child can continue using once they’ve outgrown the baby seat and tray. Others have a maximum weight that most kids will reach around age 2 to 3. Just watch that your little climber doesn’t suddenly maneuver out of their high chair and stand up on it, which can make it unsafe. 

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. 

If you’re buying or receiving a high chair secondhand, make sure it was manufactured after June 2019, when the CPSC mandated that all high chairs sold in the U.S. meet a federal safety standard that incorporates the ASTM International F404 high chair standard. You won’t find an official label noting that the high chair meets this standard, but you should be able to find the model’s name and the date of its manufacture on a label affixed to the chair. 

Before using any hand-me-down or secondhand baby gear, you should check the CPSC’s website to be sure it hasn’t been included in any safety recalls or warnings.

Any high chair you use should have these safety features, whether it’s new or used: 

• A crotch post, which may be located on the chair seat or on the underside of the tray
• A safety-restraint system with a five-point harness (federal standards require only a three-point harness for certification, but a five-point harness is safer because it can keep a child from standing or leaning over in a high chair and possibly falling or tipping the chair over)
• If the chair has wheels, make sure the wheels lock 
• If it’s a folding high chair, make sure it won’t pinch your fingers when you’re closing it

At CR, we hold baby gear to the highest standards—because nothing matters more than your child’s safety. Our testing is rigorous, independent, and free from outside influence. We buy everything we test, and we don’t accept advertising. Our nonprofit mission is to champion fairness, safety, and transparency, and to help every family make confident, informed decisions about the products they use. Support our efforts by becoming a member or donating to our mission today.