Wooden high chairs continue to come in and out of fashion. Their rustic look makes for a product that will never truly go out of fashion. Typically the wooden look in baby furniture more easily matches with all your other decor, when compared to the plastic alternatives. There are a number of other things to keep in mind though if you are considering the wooden variety of chair. We have tried to outline these considerations for you below.
Aesthetics
A high chair is your baby’s place of eating. It is usually put in your place of eating. As such, aesthetics can be important insofar as the look and feel of your dining furniture can actually change the way you feel about eating. One comment I have often heard with plastic high chairs is: “plastic chairs are ugly, unnatural, and not something that I want to touch my (or my baby’s!) food.”.
There is probably no scientific grounding in opinions like this, but that is irrelevant. Imagine feeling that way every time you sat down to eat because you bought a high chair you did not particularly like. It could impact your digestion over time and therefore your health. Aesthetics are certainly an important consideration.
Practical Considerations – Baby Comfort
It is often reported that wooden chairs are less comfortable for your baby than their plastic counterparts. This can lead to shorter periods of time that your baby will tolerate sitting at the table, prior to demanding to be picked up. Personally, I think these reports are a little bit hard to quantify. Is it the specific child’s temperament causing this or the chair? (Lets face it, no-one buys one of each high chair type and tests this with the same child do they?) Most wooden high chairs come with additional padding these days, or high chair cushions. This should somewhat alleviating the issue of baby comfort.
Practical Considerations – Cleaning
There are pros and cons with wooden high chairs insofar as cleaning is concerned. Often the smooth flat surfaces of wooden high chairs are much easier to wipe down than their plastic counterparts. Other times people report the wood staining from spillages, making wooden high chairs much more difficult to clean. The jury seems to be out on this one.
Practical Considerations – Adjusting
Typically wooden high chairs are much more robust than plastic high chairs. This robustness comes at a price though and that price is in the adjustments. The plastic variety of the product tend to be much easier to adjust, which is great when your baby grows over the months.
Robustness And Resell Value
Because of their robustness and aesthetic qualities, the resell value of wooden high chairs tend to hold better than the plastic ones. Babies will only sit in these chairs for so long, before they want to “sit like an adult”. So this is a real plus with this variety of high chair.
