Question Carseats on restaurant high chairs...

bpirof

New member
So I need people's opinions, I worked in restaurants for 8 years and never saw any issues with putting carseats on the flipped over high chairs, but they just dont seem safe to me? Is there any recommendation on not doing this? Is it kind of like carseats on carts(which I would never ever do btw)?
 
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tristar

New member
I don't know if there's any official recommendation, but I would never do it. I was out to lunch with my best friend and her 8 week old was in his carseat on an upside down high chair. No one bumped it and he wasn't moving but it tipped over backwards. Luckily he was buckled in and small enough to be fully contained in the seat so he wasn't hurt.
 

CrunchyMaineMama

Senior Community Member
I've never seen anything specific against it, but I agree it's not something that I feel is safe. Car seats are designed to be used in the car. People need to stop thinking of them as all-purpose baby holders.
 

AtownMom

New member
Yes, they are very tippy and top-heavy. I have a friend that worked at a restaurant for years and said that she saw babies fall from that exact position multiple times. It's just not safe at all.
 

amyd

New member
I'm having a hard time picturing this:confused: Like in the typical wooden restaurant high chairs? I don't think I've ever seen that. Aren't those high chairs narrower at the top than the bottom?
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
I'm having a hard time picturing this:confused: Like in the typical wooden restaurant high chairs? I don't think I've ever seen that. Aren't those high chairs narrower at the top than the bottom?

Yes, exactly. I've only seen it a few times myself, but it strikes me as a horrendous idea. They don't seem that stable even in their normal position. Turn them upside-down, so they're narrower at the bottom, then balance a car seat and baby on top? No.
 

momtoo3

Well-known member
When ds3 was a baby we went into a restaurant with him sleeping in his carrier. I requested a "sling" and the hostess said she would just get me a high chair. I told her I was not putting his seat on an upside down high chair and I would just go get his stroller. Then she pulled out one of these http://www.centralrestaurant.com/Pl...t-KidSitter-with-Rotating-Seat-c126p3617.html and I was so confused. She flipped the seat back and showed me how to rest his seat on it. It did not click on but was very sturdy. I wish more restaurants would get those or the sling style holders. I still see lots of upside down high chairs and it makes me cringe.
 

whiteyacht

Active member
I'm not even comfortable with the sling. I worry about them being bumped into and tipped over. If we don't get a booth or a table in the corner, I just tuck the seat under the table. Baby sleeps better that way anyway.

Sent from my phone. Please excuse typos.
 

thtr4me

New member
I am just not comfortable leaving babies in carseats outside a car period. I don't like the risks of positional asphyxia in young infants. And I am also a passionate babywearer, so biased that way too.
 

MorgieBear'sMama

New member
I see them used all the time, but have never done it myself. Many waitresses/hostesses have looked at me like I was from another planet when I refused them. I have always preferred to hold and interact with my kids while eating. There have been times I had to take seats in when I had all the kids by myself, I always put the car seats in a booth or would use one of the sling thingys.

One of my pet peeves is to see a couple eating with an infant and have the car seat perched up on top of an upside down highchair. Two adults and one kid somebody pay attention to the baby!
 

jeminijad

New member
When ds3 was a baby we went into a restaurant with him sleeping in his carrier. I requested a "sling" and the hostess said she would just get me a high chair. I told her I was not putting his seat on an upside down high chair and I would just go get his stroller. Then she pulled out one of these http://www.centralrestaurant.com/Pl...t-KidSitter-with-Rotating-Seat-c126p3617.html and I was so confused. She flipped the seat back and showed me how to rest his seat on it. It did not click on but was very sturdy. I wish more restaurants would get those or the sling style holders. I still see lots of upside down high chairs and it makes me cringe.

I would use this particular one. I am not ideological about the whole thing; I look at each scenario. So, tucked out of the way of the path of traffic, for the length of a single dinner? Yep.

Not the regular flipped over high chairs, though. There does need to be some design there.
 

Harmony96

New member
I've seen some restaurants have a net-type thing that folds/unfolds that they use for babies in car seats.

:yeahthat:

The upside-down high chair configuration is even more top-heavy and dangerous IMO than sticking the seat on top of a grocery cart.

The last time we went out to eat a couple of weeks ago, the hostess offered me a sling holder (for my in-arms, rides-in-a-convertible baby, with no infant seat in sight). I told her I'd just hold him. :p
 

msg221

Well-known member
There were plenty of times when DH and I had either Nour & Zain or Katelyn & Owen in their seats and went out to eat. We would hopefully be able to get a huge booth and put them on the seat, but more often than not, we each ended up holding a baby if they weren't asleep. We never used the upside down high chair.
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
Upside-down high chair, no. But that chair that momtoo3 posted is great, very secure and it has a strap to secure the car seat to it. It's also on wheels so if it gets bumped it will roll instead of tipping. They have them at Jason's Deli and I :love: them.
 

bella_1818

New member
The first time we ate out with DS we saw a waitress carrying a tray trip over a highchair that was pulled up to a booth. The tray of food spilled on the child and we never had DS sit pulled up to a table again.

We held him as an infant, and as soon as he could sit up, we started using this:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001GQ2RWQ/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1363831450&sr=8-1&pi=SL75"]Fisher-Price Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat, Red/White:Amazon:Baby[/ame]
 

agave

New member
I use a carseat holding contraption once and was nervous the whole time. After that we got a booth whenever possible and put the seat next to me or on the table by the wall. As soon as my kids could sit we left the seat in the car. My kids liked to stand in restaurant high chairs so they sat in our laps or next to us.
 

Kobain's Mommy

Well-known member
When ds3 was a baby we went into a restaurant with him sleeping in his carrier. I requested a "sling" and the hostess said she would just get me a high chair. I told her I was not putting his seat on an upside down high chair and I would just go get his stroller. Then she pulled out one of these http://www.centralrestaurant.com/Pl...t-KidSitter-with-Rotating-Seat-c126p3617.html and I was so confused. She flipped the seat back and showed me how to rest his seat on it. It did not click on but was very sturdy. I wish more restaurants would get those or the sling style holders. I still see lots of upside down high chairs and it makes me cringe.

Most non fast food places have these here now. The slings aren't my first choice but I have used one. But the one place when DS was a baby that offered us the upside down wooden chair we declined and just flipped the handle to stabilize the seat and put it on the table.
 

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