Joie Multiply 6-in-1 High Chair Petite City Review

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Why I chose it

My main reason for choosing the Joie Multiply high chair was space. Babies take up a lot of space, and space is a serious premium in my tiny Sydney apartment. There are many fantastic high chairs at the moment, so it’s hard to know where to start. I had recommendations for the small and simple Ikea/Kmart type of high chair, but not being collapsible is a serious issue and a tripping hazard in my living room. I’ve also worked with young kids with special needs, and often found that high chairs aren’t supportive enough and trays aren’t as large as I’d like.

When I was looking at this high chair in the shop, to my amazement, the sales clerk easily swung it open and snapped the tray in with one hand, removed it and folded it away, all in one fluid motion! This was ultimately what sold me on the chair, as I suspected the “6-in-1” modes might be a false gimmick that worked better in theory than practice. (I was wrong, but more on that later!)

Ease of use

The Joie Multiply 6-in-1 gets its versatility, longevity, and ease of use from brilliant innovative design. Before opening, I spent a while looking at the box trying to work out how a high chair could possibly convert two legs and two integrated wheels into six legs and two wheels.

The answer is a low chair that slots into extenders, with an attachable tray table, and a chair that can plug into the booster base. This is extremely clever, resolving my storage problem and maintaining a sturdy safe chair shape for wiggly bottoms.

Within days I had tried out many different modes, taken it to the grandparents as a portable booster, and was easily able to slot it in the broom closet when not in use. I found I rarely jiggled parts, repositioned my pushing angle, or used force on anything. The actual mechanics of swapping modes or lifting parts are very smooth, making this high chair a joy to use.

While the store clerk deftly swung the chair out and collapsed it easily, it took a couple of weeks of practice for me to replicate this feat with the same flair. The two wheels are quite free, so it took me a while to learn to pull them towards my body rather than try to push against them, which rolls the chair further away.

Once I got the knack, the chair spent life between mealtimes folded in the laundry cupboard, stealing no space from my living room. The bar on the back to hold the tray table is smart and intuitive, and reduces the footprint of this high chair even further.

Chair design

The design of the chair is equally clever. Although tricky to assemble, you should rarely need to dismantle it, as the chair clicks in and out of the base unit as a whole item.

The back of the seat can be locked to 3 different inclines with a lever at the back. To use as a booster, the entire chair unit pulls out with two easy levers on each side. The straps to attach it to an adult chair are concealed in the base to avoid losing them, which I wish was standard on all boosters.

As a booster seat, I found it to be up there with the best booster seats for eating. The straps to attach it to an adult chair are concealed in the base to avoid losing them, which I wish was standard on all boosters. When you want to put the chair back into high chair mode, they slide away concealed and are never in the way.

Now it’s not my top priority, but the look of the high chair is also a feature for me. Many high chairs are not the prettiest with either bold block colours or coloured abstract shapes, or else gorgeous plush seats that need to be washed daily. The Petite City design is very cute but removable if it doesn’t suit, and grey goes with everything and is also harder to stain than white.

Unfortunately, to remove the cover for washing, the chair needs to be partly dismantled, which is quite fiddly and unintuitive. The straps also need the chair dismantled, plus strong and dexterous fingers to push them through their slots. I found the cover was a lot easier to wipe down than remove for washing, which I now put off until it’s heavily soiled.

Tray design

The true hero of this high chair is the generous and sturdy tray table. Although heavy and hard to knock, the tray is still light enough to easily lift with one hand, and more than ample enough for little ones who drop utensils, or toddlers who love to paint. When not in use, the tray can hang neatly from the back legs, taking up no extra storage space.

The tray easily clicks in and out of the seat by pushing the button at the front with your palm as you lift. I have used other high chairs that use a similar button to catch and release the table, but this is the first time I’ve been able to easily do this with one hand. This has come in handy dozens of times when the toddler is getting cranky and I can remove all throwable objects in one swift movement!

The tray insert separates a space for plate, bowl, cup, and utensils, but comes out for cleaning or when a wider space is needed.

This is very easy to lift out for adults by lifting the front, but impossible for the toddler to remove from where she sits. (Believe me, she tried.) The insert is dishwasher safe, but the aforementioned generous size doesn’t make that an attractive option. We usually prefer to wipe it down like a table.

Versatility

Here's what 6 in 1 mean:

• Reclined high chair
• High chair with table
• Strap on feeding chair
• Strap on booster seat
• High booster
• Chair and play table set 

The second key feature is the gimmick all over the box, the “6-in-1” versatility to accompany your child through their early years. The pictures show 6 modes to accommodate a baby who can’t yet lift their head, through to toddlers at the table, through to a young child with a play table. The versatility of adding and removing elements to adapt to your current needs is a luxury, and makes this chair and tray versatile to take to grandparents or use with visiting cousins and niblings.

At first glance it seems a bit rich to include “reclined high chair” and “unreclined high chair” as separate modes, or boosters with and without the seat back or tray. However, I now see these as suggestions for how to adapt a very useful piece of equipment to your circumstances. I have used most of these combinations, plus others not listed. For instance, I currently use it in “low infant seat with temporarily attached table” mode for my son’s new solids every day.

As the table and base unit function perfectly without the chair, this has the side effect of this chair's strongest feature of all: it is actually two chairs! While the toddler sits at her table, the baby sits on the removable booster seat next to me for spoon feeding. When he eventually needs the tray, I can expect my toddler may need to move to a high booster at the table while the baby gets the booster-tray combo. This effectively doubles the options for use and makes the Joie high chair a very attractive option for siblings.

Durability and longevity

After two years, I’m very impressed with how well the quality of the parts has held up. The tray still clicks in and out securely and the front button mechanism shows no sign of wear. There’s no evidence of my daughter's famous stabby-fork phase, or the many times she spilt berries and bolognese and paint. The tray insert looks a little scuffed but is still transparent, and the seat cover looks great after years of wipe downs and washes.

While durability is a strong feature, versatility is the real reason this high chair has lasted so long. These days, my Joie Multiply mostly stays in chair-and-play-table mode. We don’t have space for a four seat dining table and this large tray is perfect for my girl to be able to slurp spaghetti without dropping sauce everywhere, plus plenty of room for her paints and craft paper between meals.

My baby has only just started trying his first solids, and when I discovered the table still clicks into the seat as it did in highchair mode, I became a lot more proactive about giving him different foods to try in this easy, contained way. These first weeks of banana chunks and Baby Mum Mums are a messy exercise, but the baby, chair insert and tray insert can be removed simultaneously to leave my toddler with her drawing space clean and ready to go immediately.

Conclusions

I usually recommend the safest and least expensive option to other parents, because babies use these products for such a short time. I often think feature-heavy products are a way for companies to justify costs in the highly oversaturated baby product market. In this case however, the features significantly lengthen the life of this hair chair from 1 year of use to at least 6 years of use, making it well worth the investment.

In addition to being usable for at least 6 years, the mechanics of the chair are smooth and very easy to use. The table and seat are sturdy and safe, highly durable, but also light enough for portability. A baby and small child can use two parts of the converted chair simultaneously, and removing the insert and wiping down are easy and stain-free.

The family that would get the most out of this would have to be one in my situation, either with both a baby and toddler, or else planning to accommodate young siblings. That said, the Joie Multiply 6 in 1 has been excellent value for our toddler alone, for being able to grow with her through her developmental stages, and for being versatile to use in multiple ways.