It's not often that I've felt the need to recommend a product, but after spending two weeks touring in the northwest USA and Canada, we can wholeheartedly recommend this product - available here on Amazon.
The Me Too is a high chair substitute. It uses two heavy-duty g-cramps to attach to most tables. The seat is made of fabric with an aluminium rail that runs around the child. It has a four point harness system that goes over the child's shoulders and round their waist snapping together at the front. When collapsed, the seat is about the size, thickness and weight of a 15" laptop - we carried ours around wrapped in a plastic GAP bag and stored in the laptop compartment of a backpack. It also fits flat in the base of our travel stroller storage net, so it really is the most portable high chair we could find.
We can only vouch for a child our son's age using the seat. He was 7 and a half months when we left and is still using it now at 8 and a half months, weighing in at 8-9kg. We are using baby-led weaning (BLW) with him so it was really important for us to be able to place the food on a surface right in front of him and let him eat, something you cannot guarantee with restaurant high chairs. It's worth nothing that there is a gap between the table and the seat even when attached, so it is still not equivalent to a high chair with a built-in tray, but our son drops food down himself in any chair so this was not a deal-breaker.
We also use Tommee Tippee Closer To Nature Soother, Teat & Teether Anti-Bacterial Wipes to clean the table surface before he feeds when out and about, as shown in the picture above.
In our experience this seat will fit almost all restaurant tables. We only had three occasions where we could not fit the seat out of maybe twenty different scenarios. The biggest benefit for us was having him sat in booths with us, something you simply cannot do with restaurant high chairs where he would be out on a limb at the end of the table. The times we couldn't use the seat were where the table was either too thick for the clamps, or had a slanted bevelled edge (like you get on train and ferry tables), but even on the latter it would be possible to wind up the clamps to get enough friction to hold the seat on. We used it on lots of wooden cafe and restaurant tables, a marble coffee table, a pine dining table and several plastic ferry tables but it is worth noting that the clamps have a hard metal disc that 'cuts' into the underside of the table a little, so we wouldn't choose to use it in someone's home without additional padding. The top of the clamps have rubber boots so there shouldn't be any impression left on the top of a table but you may leave rubber marks after a while.
At one restaurant where the tables were too thick, the waiter came out with the next model up in the Phil & Ted's range, which has larger clamps and a larger seat, so I can see us using these seats when he outgrows his red one!
Pros
- Incredibly portable, taking up the space of a medium sized laptop
- Well designed and built, will fit almost all café and restaurant tables, uniquely can be used in a booth
- Knowing you always have a seat with you when you go out and about
Cons
- There is a gap of about an inch between the table edge and the seat front rail, and food will get pulled into the gap by the child
- Doesn't come with a carry case, but a shopping bag is a suitable substitute
- There's a risk of attaching it too loosely, you have to decide for yourself before putting a child in it
- It is expensive compared to using chairs provided by the establishments (free!)
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