High Chair Review - Fisher-Price Rainforest Healthy Care High Chair

8 Sep, 2007 High Chairs, Fisher-Price, 12+ months, 0 to 12 months, Preview

The Fisher-Price Rainforest Healthy Care High Chair is one of the top selling high chairs. Rather than just provide just the basic high chair functionality, Fisher-Price have gone one step further with the Rainforest to includes a range of additional entertainment features for your baby.

Many high chairs can look quite plain and basic (some might say ugly). However, the Fisher-Price has an attractive and stylish design that is not out of place at the dining table. This is quite important if you are planning to include your baby at meal times, as the high chair can remain a permanent feature in the dining room. It also matches the other Fisher-Price products from the Rainforest range, offering similar design, colors and patterns.

The Fisher-Price Rainforest Healthy Care High Chair has been designed to allow for ease of operation by a single person. The seat can recline very easily with only one hand, and the seat can adjust for height by using the 2 handles on each side. The instruction manual is hardly required to operate the high chair. I have looked at other models of high chair, and some include complex and fiddly seat adjustments, not something you would want to do very often. We find that we adjust the seat quite frequently, as it is used as a general purpose seat rather than being permanently positioned at the dining room table.

There are 4 lockable wheels to allow you to push the high chair around. However, we did find that they had a tendancy to lock on their own, meaning we had to unlock them often when we wished to move the chair. This may have been due to a weak lock on our model, but I have read similar comments.

One of the big selling points of the Fisher-Price Rainforest is its ability to play music and sound effects with the included Rainforest toy.

The toy snaps firmly onto the high chair tray, and your baby can play with different rainforest animals in lots of different ways, including activating music, lights and sounds. It plays 5 continuous minutes of music through a switch that is operated by the parents. However, a baby mode features 2 press buttons that allows your baby to play with fun lights, music and other sound effects. The toy can be removed for playing with on the floor, and is actually a good toy to be used on its own, not only around meal times.

The seat offers both a recline and 7 height adjustments, allowing it to accommodate your growing child. The removable tray can be adjusted between 2 positions to allow it to be positioned closer or further from your baby. The tray can be removed with only one hand, a feature we found to be very convenient after feeding as your hands are typically full. The tray insert is also dishwasher safe and does not seem to stain easily (even the dreaded spaghetti seemed okay!). The seat padding is vinyl, and can be removed and wiped. However, it can be hard to clean as it can stain easily and cannot be machine washed.

One thing that seems to be missing and is available on many other high chairs is the ability to hang the tray when it is not being used. Many other high chairs allow the tray to be attached to the legs for storage. This is a small omision, but something I have found useful in the past, especially where space is at a premium.

If you have other Fisher-Price Rainforest products, this will fit in nicely, as they have maintained the same colors and design.

Note that 3 AA batteries are required (not included) for the toy. It seems that I am going to have a little winge on each review where you are expected to buy additional batteries. For more of my winging, please refer to my previous article, Batteries Not Included.

Strengths

Great price considering all of the included features
Great design - matches other Fisher-Price Rainforest products
Includes a toy that can be used on the high chair or removed for playing with on the floor
Easy to adjust - seat can recline single-handed

Weaknesses