Booster Chair

When my two year old grandson also wanted to "be big now" we also had to search the safety issue and found that the sold plastic booster seat that has two sides was the perfect fit. It attaches to the chair and also has a 'seatbelt' for the child.

He is five now and still can use it. Has he got taller we just flipped it over and it is still perfit. He loves it and even wants to take it with us on visits to others.

I believe it was a casco brand

My son is 2 1/2 years old, and we use the BabySmart Cooshee Booster Seat Hybak that we bought from Amazon. The great part about this seat is that is it very portable, and we can take it with us when we visit family and friends and dining out. It also gives my son options - he can sit in his booster, in his high chair pushed up to the table (without the tray) or a smaller table/chair set that we have for him. It appears very comfortable, portable, and easy to clean. The only trick is that he cannot climb up himself over the sides without it moving, but the benefits outweight this drawback.

My best friend and I each have these. We each have 2 children and they work great! It is The First Years Swing Tray - Portable Booster Seat
http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Swing-Tray-Portable/dp/...

When my daughter hit that stage, we found two solutions that worked for us. The first was a chair booster called a Kaboost (http://www.kaboost.com). This worked well until she started figuring out it was still easy to get in and out of her chair and getting her to stay put during family meal time was a major challenge. Then we got one of those inexpensive foam chairs from Toys R Us. The have princesses on them or spider man or whatever. They cost like $25. We slip it into a chair with armrests and it is totally stable and comfortable and it raised her up to the right level. SHe would stay put again for the entire meal. Plus the cover is removable and washable. (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3006541)

We got the Fisher Price Healthy Care deluxe booster seat for meals away from home when our little guy was about 15 months old, and now we're using it every day at the table (he's nearly 2).

It's sturdy and solid, and fastens securely to most chairs with 2 straps, and I like that we can still move it easily and use it with the removable trays. The deluxe version has a removable cover which we've found very useful for use when away from home. The seat is also useful for when smaller children visit since they can be secured in the seat. We may end up getting a cushie eventually, but would keep this one around.

When my kids were that age I bought them a stool, but then we had a regular sized table. Perhaps you can find a stool that will fit. Try going to one of those unfinished wood furniture stores and see what you can find.

My 2 year old has a Keekaroo, its an adjustable height chair. I love it. She can climb up and down safely on it and its adjustable for heights. Also, good up to 200 pounds. I got it at Queen's Mab, N. Killingsworth, Portland.

HI L.,

Funny we are having this same problem with our 21 month old son. He doesn't want to sit in his high chair at all and climbs up on a grown up chair but, when he sits down he is chin level with the table and will eat that way. There was one time we put our lowest step stool on the chair for him to sit on and that worked well. However, he sees it as an obstacle to getting up there. Very independent and wants to do it by himself. I thought about getting a booster chair but, we think it would be a waste of money to do so. Unless I find something at a garage sale. Anyway-----sorry I couldn't give you advise on what to buy. Just sympathy. Although my sister inlaw who has twin boys they used the kind of chair that clips on to the table and that seemed to work well for them.

We also have a "pub" table that sits up higher and I ended up buying a cooshie booster. The whole seat is basically made out of foam, so as the kid is sitting in the seat, it kinda grips the chair. Also it is extremely portable to put on different chairs and take it with ya. They are a little on the spendy side for what they are, but they are of fantastic quality! I have bought one of the hybak cooshie boosters too, which has more support for the child. Hope this helps!

I got a Cooshie booster seat for my daughter. I love it. It is soft for her to sit in and easy to clean. Some boosters have so many parts that they are difficult to clean. Not this one. It sits perfectly on our chairs and doesn't slide around. Plus it's black to match the black of our chair seats which my husband likes. :) Here's a link to one on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/BabySmart-Cooshee-Booster-Seat-Clas...

Check around though...I managed to find mine at a lower price plus got free shipping.

I have the First Steps booster for my daughter and it is awesome. I have had it since she was about 8 months old and it has held up wonderfully. I got it at Target, it wasn't expensive. It has a tray on it that is completely removable. We still use it on a regular chair just to give our daughter the height. It has safety straps, easy hooks up to chairs and is protable. I even packed it in our luggage to use in the condo in Hawaii.
I'd highly recommend it.

I have a Cushie seat for my 3 yr old, and for the most part I like it. It is easy to clean and doesn't easily slide. We did put it on the dining chair with arms just to be safe. The only bad part is that my little guy can squirm around and escape even when the chair is fully pushed in to the table. I saw a review this week for a similar type of foam booster that straps to the chair and has a seatbelt. Definitely a plus for a squirmy kid. I would have considered this seat if I had known about it. It was called the Summer Infant Secure Comfort Foam Booster Seat, and is reviewed at: http://www.pennypinchingparent.com

We have a Zooper Hook On instead of a high chair and I love it. It seems very secure (with harness) and the entire thing comes apart, so you can put the seat in the washer.
However you can only use a hook-on of your table has legs on the corners, if the top sits on posts in the center of the table (like many bar tables that I have seen), they are not recommended.
Good luck!

My Safety Firsts are now about 7 and 5 years old and still going strong ... I got the 'portable' kind, because we visited grandparents and sometimes went to restaurants and a seat with a tight-fitting buckle arrangement was important to me ... but, if the current ones don't live up to that, they don't. Bummer. And you have to have a non-tipsy chair in the first place, especially when they start pushing back from the table (at about 3).

That said, if I had it to do over again, I think I would have bought the hangs-on-the-table kind. WAY easier to do floor-cleanup, and just as transportable.

And I would look for them on Craigslist, because I haven't the money for new ;).

I would buy one that goes on the chair - not the table. We never used one - our son started to sit at the regular table, on a regular chair right around the age of 2. There is one that is made of a rubber/foam material (think it is called the cushee chair), but it doesn't hook on - several friends have that and like it. Otherwise, I know many people who have a fisher price one that straps to the chair.

The kind you put on your chair will last you longer, most have various hights.

We have one that hooks onto the table and really like it. It makes our son feel like he is eating with the family not seperately. Also we can take it with us when we go other places. The only downfall is it is a little hard to clean.

Hi L.,I tried the cooshie booster seat but it didn't work for us. It was so unstable - my son would try to hold onto it when he would get on the chair and it would just flip over. I thought about the kind that you attach to the table but if it doesn't attach to the table that you have (or go to) then you're just out of luck. I ended up buying the fisher price healthy care booster (I think the rainforest booster is the same style) and I really like it. It has height adjustments, straps down to the chair easily, and it's good for traveling. It's not too heavy and we've taken it to friends houses and if they don't have an extra seat it is also very functional on the floor b/c it comes with a tray that you can use. I've been happy with it so far. Hope this helps!

Hi L.,

They're a little expensive, and I'm usually quite money conscious, but I've found the BabySmart Cooshee Booster Seat (Hybak) worth the money for both my boys. They're safe, durable and really comfortable for them and it's the ONLY booster than my 2yo will sit in. (We had a few from my older son, including a portable one, that he refuses to sit in.) Plus there is room to grow in them. My almost 5 year old uses one also and will probably continue to for a few more years.

The only possible downside to it is it doesn't have any kind of seat belt, but at 2yo+, we don't find them necessary. That might be different for you though, so it was something to mention.

I've heard people that like the Kaboost too, but it wouldn't work for us because my 2yo likes to be able to get in and out of his seat by himself, and it seems that the Kaboost would make his seat too tall to do that. I'm not sure about the extra height for falling too. Could be ok though - I just don't know.

Good luck!

Hi L.,
We have the Cooshie booster seat and love it. It's about $40 at BabiesRUs. Very worth it. My 5 year can even sit in it comfortably at the table. My 3 year old uses it most of the time and now we need to get one for my almost 2 year old. :)
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2908479

if you don't need it to have a tray i found some good and inexpensive ones at wal-mart they have pink and blue and they r 12.99. I have two of them a blue for my 18month old and a pink for my 3year old and my five year old likes to use them also. good luck if you get it they are not in a box just stacked together on the shelf in the diaper isle i think

We also have the Cooshie Babysmart booster. It has worked well for my son and I need to go buy another for my 20 month old. She is constantly fighting with our son for his.

A friend of mine turned me onto the "Kaboost" and it is awesome! It is not a typical booster seat, instead it is a "gadget" that boosts the whole adult chair up so that our youngsters can feel like us in a regular chair that is boosted up to the proper height of the table......and it is much safer! Check out Toys'R'Us or Babies'R'Us that is where I found mine.

We had one that hooks onto the table but it didn't work on all tables so that was frustrating when we tried to use it at friend's houses or restaurants. Now we have one that straps onto a chair and it has a tray and it works well for us.

Hi L.-

I also started out with the safety 1st booster seat and wasn't happy with how flimsy it was either, not to mention how difficult it was to clean. I then gave one of the seats a try that just sat on the chair (the Babysmart Cooshee) and that was a huge disappointment! It stayed on the chair just fine, but one poke from my toddler's fork into the soft, spongy, material and a big crack down the side soon developed! This happened within six months of it's purchase and made it completely unstable. Finally, I tried the Kaboost, which fits on the chair legs to raise them up, and have not had any trouble since. It's sooo simple with two height settings, stays completely out of the way, makes cleanup easy, and let's your little guy really feel like a big kid! I'm not sure if it will work for the type of chair you have, but you can order it from Walmart's website (they don't carry it in the store) and give it a try since they have a great return policy. Here's a link to Kaboost's website if you'd like to check it out: http://www.kaboost.com/

My daughter just turned 2 year old too. She is still ok with using her high chair. But we have a BabySmart Cooshee booster and she likes it a lot. It's light and stable and doesn't have the high chair constrain. I think it might work for you too. Good luck.