Best Plant-Based Cleaner: Babyganics Toy & Highchair Cleaner Spray

Babyganics topped our tests for the best high chair and cleaner: we liked the plant-based ingredients with no fragrances or dyes. It has a nice smell, cleans well and is affordable.

What’s not to like? Well, this cleaner does NOT disinfect.

So even though this cleaner ticks all the right boxes (no ammonia, bleach, phosphates, parabens, phthalates, etc.), it isn’t the best choice if you need to disinfect a truly grimy high chair.

Best Disinfectant Cleaner: CleanSmart Nursery and High Chair Disinfectant

When we started the research on this topic, we were somewhat surprised at how difficult it was to find a cleaner that disinfects without any harsh chemicals. After testing several different cleaners, we thought CleanSmart’s Nursery and High Chair Disinfectant cleaner was a best bet.

This cleaner knocks out 99.9% of bacteria and viruses yet leaves no chemical residue, as we confirmed in our testing. It breaks down the nasties into a saline solution, using hypochlorous as the disinfectant.

The result is a cleaner with no harsh odors or fumes that doesn’t require rinsing (for toys for example). There are no bleach, dyes, ammonia or fragrances. That’s right: no smell. 

What’s not to like? Well, this cleaner does not contain bleach. Therefore, if you use it on mold, it will kill it . . . but it will still look like mold. So that will require a bit more scrubbing to eliminate.

Also: don’t leave this bottle laying on its side, as it can leak.

Best Scented Cleaner: Puracy Natural All Purpose Cleaner

This non-toxic cleaner is great for high chairs, toys and other surfaces in your home. (If it is used for toys, you should rinse the toys after cleaning).

The scent (green tea and lime) is pleasant without being overwhelming.

We tested Puracy against a variety of old school chemical cleaners like Formula 405 as well as some new school “natural” cleaners like Method.

Puracy Natural Multi-Surface Cleaner, while not perfect at cleaning every surface or stain, scored remarkably well leaving little residue and a decent scent that doesn’t linger too long. It’s great at attacking grease and managed surprisingly well when we tried to remove older stains from high chairs.

Parents score Puracy high too, according to a dozen interviews with readers of our Baby Bargains book. Most appreciated the lack of harsh chemicals like ammonia—Puracy contains various plant extracts and no SLS or petroleum-based ingredients. Overall, they thought it cleaned well.

Some readers complained it does leave streaks on mirrors and windows and it requires a bit more elbow grease to get tough stains out. On the plus side, very few readers reported skin, eye or throat irritation and some said they could even clean without protective gloves!

Bottom line: Puracy Natural Multi-Surface Cleaner scored well with our readers as well as in reviews online. Puracy also gets good grades from eco-testing groups for its less harsh chemical ingredients.

Why Trust Us

We’ve been rating and reviewing gear and supplies for baby since 1994. We do hands-on testing—we buy the products with our own money and evaluate with an eye toward safety, ease of use and affordability.

Here’s another key point: we don’t take money from the brands we review. No free samples, no sponsors, no “partnerships.” Baby Bargains is your independent and unbiased source for expert baby gear reviews.