Baby travel booster seat feeding

12 Best Travel High Chairs (You'll Actually Travel With in 2023)

You are probably wondering to yourself, do I really need a portable travel high chair when I travel with a baby or toddler?

Let’s be honest, if you are traveling with a baby or toddler in the United States or Canada then you do not need to worry about portable travel high chairs. Almost every restaurant will have a high chair available for you to use.

As you begin to travel internationally with a baby, you will find that this is not always the case, even if a restaurant is family-friendly.

As parents traveling with a baby you already have enough to worry about, so bringing your own travel high chair for toddlers or babies is an excellent idea. Having your own baby travel high chair will enable you to give your baby their own seat while also being able to eat your own meal!

A luxury all moms should have!

A portable high chair seat for your baby can also come in handy if you plan to self-cater at your hotel or Airbnb apartment, if a high chair is not provided.

Depending on which of the travel high chairs for toddlers and babies you choose, you will also find it to be useful for camping and for visiting family or friends. If you are flying with a baby, all of the ones recommended below should easily pack in your suitcase.

In this list you’ll find only portable travel high chairs that are exactly that – portable. We only include travel high chairs that are practical and realistic to travel with.

While we know that toddler booster seats like this Fisher Price portable high chair are amazing (we know, we own two of them), we wouldn’t travel with one. What they are perfect for is using both at home and taking to grandma’s house.

The best travel high chairs are the ones that fold small and that you’ll be willing to carry along with you on your daily outings. Otherwise, what’s the point of bringing it?

Shop the best travel high chairs on Amazon

You’ll want to consider how much you’ll want to use it in the hotel and Airbnb as well. This might cause you to choose something a little more robust than a fabric high chair, though I can share from our own experience that it is completely doable.

Portable high chairs are an important part of your strategy to feed your baby while traveling. We cover everything after this list of the best portable travel high chairs for babies and toddlers, so read on as we walk you through finding the best high chair for travel.

Best Portable Travel High Chairs

Top 12 Portable High Chairs for Travel
I. Best Stand-alone Travel Booster Seats
1. hiccapop Omniboost Travel Booster Seat with Tray for Baby
2. Summer Pop ‘n Sit Portable Booster Chair
3. ciao! baby Portable High Chair for Babies and Toddlers
II. Best Fabric Travel High Chairs
4. The Original Easy Seat Portable High Chair
5. liuliuby Travel Harness Seat
III. Best Travel Booster Seats
6. BOMBOL Instant Popup Booster Seat
7. The First Years On-The-Go Booster Seat
8. Munchkin Brica GoBoost Travel Booster Seat
9. Nuby Easy Go Safety Lightweight High Chair Booster Seat
IV. Best Clamp-on Travel Highchairs
10. Inglesina Fast Portable Highchair
11. Mountain Buggy Pod Clip-On Highchair
12. guzzie+Guss Perch Clip On High Chair
What to Look for in a Portable High Chair
- How Sturdy Is the Chair for Keeping Your Baby Safe?
- When and Where Will You Use the Portable High Chair?
- Size of Portable Travel High Chair
- Cost of Portable Travel High Chair
Which is the Best Travel High Chair for Your Family?
- First Hand Experience From Real Parents…
  - Using a Fabric High Chair for Baby
  - Using a Clamp On High Chair for Baby
Traveling Without a Portable High Chair
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This post contains compensated links.

Top 12 Portable High Chairs for Travel

Most Popular: hiccapop Omniboost Travel Booster Seat

Best Fabric High Chair: Original Easy Seat Portable High Chair

Best Clamp-on High Chair: Inglesina Fast Table Chair

Best for Camping: ciao! Baby Portable High Chair

Shop the best travel high chairs on Amazon

What to Look for in a Portable High Chair

How are you going to decide which one is the best high chair for travel? The main things to consider when looking to purchase a portable travel high chair are how sturdy is it for keeping your baby safe, when and where do you plan to use the travel high chair, the size and cost.

How Sturdy Is the Chair for Keeping Your Baby Safe?

The portable high chairs for toddlers and babies that we recommend are only those with high ratings and without any major safety concerns. If there is anything to be aware of when it comes to the safety of a portable baby seat, we made sure to note it.

As an extra precaution, never leave your baby unattended in a portable travel chair, they just aren’t as secure as a regular high chair.

When and Where Will You Use the Portable High Chair?

If you are traveling internationally with a baby and want to bring your own folding portable high chair, how small should it be?

Will you bring it out with you when you are sightseeing or will you only use it at the apartment rental? If you plan to carry it with you, consider trading off some functionality for size.

We travel with as little as possible and often without a stroller, so to carry a travel high chair along with us meant it had to fit in our backpack diaper bag.

If you plan to use your portable high chair for camping with a baby, then you’ll want something more sturdy than a fabric travel high chair. You’ll want one that is stand alone and doesn’t need to be attached to another chair, like the hiccapop Omniboost Travel Seat or the ciao! baby portable highchair.

Shop the best travel high chairs on Amazon

Size of Portable Travel High Chair

If you are looking for a travel high chair for your baby that takes up the least amount of space, a fabric travel high chair is the best option. These portable cloth high chairs fold up to the size of a diaper.

If size isn’t an issue, then a travel booster seat, a portable baby chair with a tray or one that clamps to the table will have the most features. You’ll just need extra space to carry it around.

Cost of Portable Travel High Chair

Fabric travel high chairs are the most cost effective of all the high chairs. The other foldable high chairs for travel will not only take up more space but they’ll be more expensive too.

If you are on a budget, consider getting a chair that can be used at home as well as when you travel, rather than spending more money on a second travel high chair.

Which is the Best Travel High Chair for Your Family?

We say this so much that we will probably start to sound like a broken record, but not everyone travels the same. Not every family will have the same needs when it comes to traveling with a baby. As you compare the best portable high chair for travel options, you might find one will meet your needs better than others.

Based on our own experience, we recommend the My Little Seat travel high chair. Update: The MyLittleSeat is no longer for sale at the big retailers. If you want to purchase a fabric high chair from Amazon, we recommend the Original Easy Seat.

Shop the best travel high chairs on Amazon

First Hand Experience From Real Parents…

Here are a couple of first hand experiences from real parents, like you, who’ve traveled with some of the best portable baby high chairs.

Using a Fabric High Chair for Baby

We are definitely minimalists when it comes to travel, so the fabric high chair that fit in our diaper bag or backpack was the perfect solution.

Get our FREE printable packing list for baby travel here!

We used it in our hotel room for breakfast before heading out for the day and also in our Airbnb apartments. We started using it when our daughter was 6 months old. It was easy to pack and washable, so it came everywhere with us.

What we didn’t love about it, was that our daughter was often too low for the table. This wasn’t a deal breaker, she could still reach her food.

We were still using it for our son, but came to a realization that it wasn’t the best portable high chair for travel to all destinations! It was not at all usable on traveling to Japan with a baby or toddler.

We realized shortly before leaving on our trip (by reviewing our apartment rental pictures) that we were not going to have any way of securing our 14 month old during meal times since our apartments were set up with a traditional Japanese style of eating with no chairs and only a small table.

You’d think we would have made that connection earlier, but what can we say?

We did our best to improvise several different ways by blocking him in a corner, having a plastic table cloth for him to eat on and feeding him small portions at a time. We luckily found a plastic basket in our Kyoto apartment which worked perfectly as a toddler travel high chair, though we don’t recommend traveling with one.

Desperate parents get creative!

Further to that, while trying to find baby food in Japan, we discovered many of the restaurants in Japan did not have chairs with a back or they were very small. We also traveled without a stroller, so we couldn’t even make use of a snack tray. To keep it in perspective though, our challenges in Japan were a one-time thing and we’ve had no other issues elsewhere.

Using a Clamp On High Chair for Baby

To get more first hand experience on portable high chairs for travel, we enlisted the help of We’re Out of Here. This family traveled the world with a toddler for almost a year and we knew they would know a thing or two about the best travel high chair for toddlers!

The chair they use is the Guzzie+Guss Perch portable high chair and they were kind enough to do a comparison of this clamp on baby travel chair to the phil&ted’s Lobster high chair.

The specs on the phil&ted’s are pretty similar except it’s a little lighter and slightly more expensive.

The big difference between these two is the number of tables they can be used on. Robyn & Shane of We’re Out of Here have owned both and told us that the Guzzie+Guss fits on 90% of the tables they encountered on their travels throughout Asia, where the phil&ted’s would only be usable on about 20%.

The Guzzie+Guss has a c-clamp instead of the lobster claw, allowing it to be used even on tables with a lip or ridge. Another benefit is the back sits higher and the chair isn’t as deep on the Guzzie+Guss allowing smaller babies to have something to lean back on and to elevate them relative to the table.

Click here to see the latest prices on the Guzzie+Guss Perch travel high chair and the phil&teds Lobster travel high chair.

The clamp-on style, though it packs flat, likely won’t fit in your diaper bag meaning you will need to carry another item out with you. If you are travelling with a stroller, it could easily be tossed in the lower compartment of your lightweight travel stroller, or you can do what Robyn does and use the travel bag straps to carry it on your back!

Shop the best travel high chairs on Amazon

The clamp on portable chair will allow your baby to be up closer to the table and more level with everyone. This would likely lead to less mess and I’m certain they would enjoy it more!

One additional benefit, your baby or toddler can’t push themselves away from the table!

Traveling Without a Portable High Chair

Do you really need a portable high chair for travel?

Eating out in Paris with a Baby

How do you eat at restaurants when there aren’t any high chairs if you are traveling without a travel high chair? Here are your options:

Find a restaurant providing high chairs. Not always possible.
Hold your baby or toddler on your lap during the meal. I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy trying to eat while holding a wiggly baby who’s getting food in my hair.
Use a stroller that has a snack tray. Not all restaurants will have the space to accommodate a stroller.
Use our baby travel hack and attach your baby or toddler to the seat with your baby carrier.

See all our recommended baby carriers for travel.

We’ve done all four of these and though they work in a pinch, they aren’t always feasible.

Besides eating in restaurants, if you want to do some meals in your hotel or apartment rental, you can keep the mess contained by bringing your own portable baby high chair.

Baby Travel Tip: Always ask your Airbnb apartment if they can provide one. Sometimes the highchair just isn’t included in the listing.

Shop this entire list on our Amazon Store List: Best Travel High Chairs & Accessories

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Breastfeeding in a car seat. How? — Studiopedia

So, we have agreed that we carry the baby only in a car seat, and under no circumstances

we take it out of it on the go. This rule must be ironclad.

But what to do if the baby is accustomed to frequent breastfeeding? Frequent

infant feeding is a normal and natural process. In addition to feeding,

it is easier for the child to cope with changes in the environment, with fear, it is easier to fall asleep, etc.

So how do you feed a baby in a car seat?

At one time, I read about such an opportunity - to feed a child right in a car seat

- from famous writers and parents of 8 children William and Martha Sears, but how exactly to do this

was not said. And I thought that if someone got used to it, then I can

. And I did it.

So, if the baby is under one year old and lies in the cradle head towards you (against the direction of travel), then

is the easiest way to feed. You just lean over him and the nursing clothes do a

the process is convenient and simple. The rest is a matter of technique and habit. If the sides of the car seat

interfere a little, rest against the stomach, then you can slightly tilt the child's seat towards

yourself.

It is inconvenient to ride in this position for a long time, but it is quite possible to feed the baby and/or allow him/her to fall asleep again

if he/she becomes restless in a dream. Then the baby either

releases the breast himself, or you carefully take it yourself. If the child does not let go - wait

a little while longer until he falls into deep sleep and is ready to let you go.

There is one more point that I would like to highlight. While the car is moving, when it

gets into pits, potholes or any other bumps in the road (which is quite common in Russia

) - make sure that on such bumps the child does not accidentally bite your chest

In my case, when we fed in the car quite often and for a long time, there were not 9 such situations0003

arose, although theoretically I understood that they could be. Firstly, I always

attracted and slightly tilted the child's chair towards me. And even if we bounced on the

bump, we did it synchronously, together with the chair and the child :). Secondly, when I needed

to feed the child in the car, my husband slowed down and tried to drive as carefully as possible

. It is also possible to feed a child from the farthest breast, although you will have to stretch

a little further. nine0003

As for feeding children after a year who are already sitting facing forward in high chairs

, this is also possible, although a little more technically difficult. In order to

feed a forward facing child, I turned my seat backwards

(facing the child) and knelt on the chair. She wrapped her arms around the child seat

, and the child could easily eat. It was no longer necessary for a grown child to feed for a long time

, such feedings were rare, but they helped a lot if we drove at night, but0003

the child woke up. The husband in this case also slowed down and drove as carefully as possible

That's probably all the "tricks" of breastfeeding in a car seat :)

total trip. You can feed your baby inconspicuously anywhere, and no one will even

pay attention to you and understand what is going on there. In Europe, by the way, absolutely

are normal for breastfeeding women, and in many museums, large stores and

malls you can find a mother and baby room where you can safely change

a diaper and feed your baby. Part 2. What to do with a child 1.5 - 5 years old in the car.

Traveling with older children is, on the one hand, a little easier. The child can already say,

, what he wants, or somehow show and explain it, if he does not yet say, or can say,

, what he does not like. On the other hand, they sleep less, and physical activity and

The need to explore the world is very high in most children during this period.

After one and a half years, it is difficult for children to be in a car seat for a long time without moving.

The most optimal thing is to go during the daytime sleep of the child, having previously taken a good walk

with him and fed him. Plus - a short time right after sleep, they usually still

go well. For a while, children can endure the path with games and entertainment. If

the road is long, then it may be easier for you to drive at night. For baby

transfer

a big move while sleeping is the easiest and most comfortable option.

Little fidget: teaching a child to ride in a car seat

The issue of the safety of a baby in a car cannot be solved by buying a high-quality car seat, because it still needs to be installed correctly, and a small passenger must be fastened according to the instructions. But how to do this if the child is not sitting in a car seat and pestering adults with whims? Let's figure out what is the cause of children's restlessness and how to overcome it. nine0003

Why does my child refuse to sit in a car seat?

There are three most common causes.

The first reason: the child is uncomfortable

The baby will definitely refuse to ride in a car seat if he is uncomfortable in it. He rubs the belt, the legs go numb, the frame presses - all this will provoke the child to whims and discontent. This situation may arise due to an incorrectly selected chair for age or carelessly adjusted elements. Check the head restraint level, inclination, position and tension of the belts. Two fingers should fit easily between them and the baby's body. nine0003

If you have bought a chair "for growth", special liners for newborns, shock-absorbing pads, belt pads and other useful accessories will help increase comfort. When the child is hot in the car seat, use a summer natural cover. In winter, take off your outer clothing, after taking care of heating the cabin. So you can fix the child better, and he will not sweat in a warm jacket.

Important!

Do not leave your child alone in the car during summer trips! Even if you leave for a few minutes and open the windows. In the heat, a car can become so hot that the air inside reaches +50 degrees, and this will not take long. Heatstroke is the most common cause of death in children outside of car accidents. nine0003

Second reason: protest or resentment

The child may be jealous or offended, and this will affect his behavior. Moreover, he will subconsciously choose the car as a place for whims, realizing that they are inappropriate in it. In this situation, there is no better way out than to calmly talk with the baby and discuss all the critical points. Find out what exactly upsets him, and promise not to let it happen again.

Children also get offended when adults do not pay attention to them. Talk to your baby, don't ignore him or get carried away with your own conversations. The child is a member of your family and also craves communication. nine0003

Third reason: Feeling unwell

If your baby is tired or not feeling well, they are unlikely to sit peacefully in a car seat. Create comfortable conditions so that he can sleep on the road: cover the window with a curtain, put a pillow under his head and organize silence in the cabin.

Offer cool water, lollipops or slices of lemon to the child when motion sickness, and encourage them to look out the window at the horizon or straight ahead. Babies get sick in the car very rarely, more often it happens with children older than two years. nine0003

Many parents, unable to endure children's whims, give up and take the child in their arms. Such an alternative to a child seat can lead to fatal consequences. With sudden braking, even the smallest child gains weight over 300 kilograms. No adult can keep him in such a situation, not to mention the effect of surprise. Therefore, responsible parents cannot have any other option but to carry a child in a car seat.

Car seat training: expert advice

The reasons may be individual, but none of them can justify not using the car seat. Ideally, the child should be accustomed from the age of 0 months, laying him in the infant carrier. To pick up a mother with a baby from the hospital, you will definitely need it. Traveling in a car seat from birth, the child will not mind doing so afterwards.

But it is quite possible to accustom a child to a group 1 car seat, just choose the way that is convenient for your family.

Lead by example. Children repeat everything adults do, so if you get into the car and buckle up first, the child in the car seat will most likely copy your behavior. Set a rule: until at least one passenger is not fastened, the car will not go.
Give it time to get used to it. Put the car seat in your baby's room and let him explore the purchase. Perhaps he even voluntarily wants to sit in it. Secure the car seat in the passenger compartment and gradually increase the duration of the trips. nine0176
Use gadgets. Fix the tablet in front of the child and turn on his favorite cartoon. Even better, this method will work if you reduce the viewing at home by transferring it to the car.
Buy a children's steering wheel. Playing the role of a driver is much more exciting than being a passenger. Give your baby a toy steering wheel with buttons and announce the co-pilot who is responsible for safety. For more realism, you can print the "rights" to his name and paste a photo there. nine0176
An example of a toy. Sit your baby's favorite soft toy in the seat next to you and fasten it with a seat belt. Tell him what it is for.
Communicate with your child. The advice applies only if you are a passenger and not a driver. Show your child interesting objects outside the window, comment on what is happening. Very quickly, the baby will be distracted and stop thinking about the car seat.
Promotion. Upon arrival, praise the child if he behaved well, and come up with a small reward: something tasty, watching a cartoon, a toy, etc. nine0176
Guess the time of sleep. Transporting a baby in a car will be easier if he is sleeping at this time. Having a rough schedule of sleep and wakefulness, you can adjust the departure time for it.