Fisher Price Healthy Care High Chair Review

This Healthy Care High Chair was purchased in 2001, and we have used it with three children. I particularly liked the advertised perks of this high chair, but I have found that some of the features that looked nice in the store are actually a hindrance at home.

• Assembly was a little challenging, but we eventually got the high chair together and it didn't look like it should be in a Dr. Seuss movie.
• The adjustable shoulder straps are nice to have but once we moved them to the top level, they have stayed there for future children.
• The height of the chair is adjustable, but we haven't really used this feature. Once we found the height that worked for us, we have left the height where it is.
• The seat has the ability to recline, but we have rarely used that feature.
• I like the vinyl material for the seat. It is convenient for cleaning and the colors are neutral, which is a plus to me.
• I thought it would be nice to have a top tray that could be removed and placed in the dishwasher. Well, our dishwasher sprung a leak years ago and I'm washing dishes by hand. I never actually put the top tray in the dishwasher because it only takes a minute to use a wet rag to clean the tray when the baby is done eating and then I'm ready for the next feeding.
• The cup holders and extra places on the sides of the top tray looked neat in the store but have proven to be useless to us. I haven't found a sippy cup that will sit in the cup holder part, and this irritates the baby since she can't get the cup to sit in it correctly. Try to explain to a 17-month-old that she's doing it correctly but that the manufacturer made the hole too small and you'll know my pain. This also makes the top tray harder to clean.
• Babies tend to make a big mess when feeding themselves. The shoulder straps have lots of grooves that are hard to clean, but I do appreciate the safety feature of the restraint and so far my baby that resembles Houdini in a grocery store buggy has not been able to exit the seat. I also like the plastic piece that comes up between the legs as an added safety feature.
• Putting the tray on and taking the tray off the seat takes two hands for me. There is a button in the front that can be pushed to release the tray, but it is hard for me to press while using only one hand. The ones that are easier to use are the ones on the sides of the tray, but both must be pushed at the same time in order to easily lift the tray from the chair. Thankfully, our Baby Houdini has not discovered how to push those yet. Unfortunately, the 5-year-old may decide to help and can somehow manage to dump the entire tray in the floor as soon as I have placed the baby's food on the tray.
• This high chair is rather large and does not fold up for easy storage. It would also be nice if it would double as some sort of fun game or toy below (I see that current models do have a toy theme on the tray but I'm not sure if this would distract the little one from eating and make it more difficult to clean) or convert to a stool so that it would get a bit more mileage for the money. (The current one says it converts to a booster, but if ours does, it is not designed to be used with our kitchen table.)
• The current Healthy Care High Chairs run about $100.

My Viewpoint:

If I had it to do all over again, I would opt for a sturdy, easy-to-clean high chair with a similar restraint but with straps that are easier to clean and one large tray without all the grooves that I could remove with one hand, which I would test in the store. We have used this high chair for about seven years, so it has held up well, but unfortunately, none of our children have particularly liked to use the Healthy Care high chair and tend to want to get out to eat at the table.