When we decided our little man was ready for a walker my father in law insisted on buying one for us.

I am guessing he chose the Chicco DJ Baby Walker because 1. It looked very safe 2. It was reasonably priced and 3. Because it was just what my baby would have loved (colourful/musical)

What a brilliant choice my father in law made...


I think he paid around £40 for this at Mothercare and I do believe it was on special offer at the time.

Around summer 2010 my son was 6 months old, I personally thought he was too young to use the walker at this age - I wanted him to become a bit steadier in his sitting as this walker does require the child to be able to hold themselves up even if not walking.

We would often sit him inside the walker and he would play with the lovely musical buttons (play tray) that can be attached / detached from the top of the walker - however at 6 months he clearly was not ready to move around yet although his feet did touch the ground when we adjusted the walker to its lowest height setting.

At around 7 or 8 months he was on the move! He loved this walker even though it took him a short while to realise that he can actually move around in it and then another short while to learn how to go forward rather than backwards! We quickly realised this walker was not great moving on carpets or in small spaces; luckily we only have carpet in the living room with the rest of the house being open plan and laminate floored.

Before we knew it he was whizzing around happily and stopping as and when he needed to, he thoroughly enjoyed this walker and loved the play tray feature too which had 2 volumes setting and I think 2 or 3 music/games settings (batteries were not included for this feature)

I played no role whatsoever in assembling this walker once out of the box but I didn't hear anything negative about that aspect so I'm guessing it was fairly simple to put together...


Price
At £40 I think this was a great buy for the amount of entertainment it gave my son. I often see it on special offer but I think it retails at around £60.


Safety
For a long time my little boy was extremely safe in the walker - I thought there was just no way he could have jumped out (or jumped in for that matter) however there does come a time when they will surprise us....... I was in the kitchen finishing up on the dishes when I heard him at my feet with no walker in sight!!! He had somehow gotten out of the walker, landed on the floor and crawled to me without making much sound at all. I have no idea how he climbed out or whether he fell out reaching for something. He was in the middle of the room so I don't think he had any added help from other objects. Luckily he was fine and I made sure to keep an eye on him in the walker as from then onwards.

However it wasn't long after this that he would easily get in and out of the walker without any assistance so we decided it was time to put it away up into the attic as he had grown out of it.

Of course every child is different and although I cannot remember exactly what age he first climbed out of it, I would say from experience that as soon as they get to that 'climbing in and out of things stage' and when the cot needs to go down to the lowest level stage - it's time to keep a close eye on them in the walker.


Comfort
The only times I would put my little one in the walker was if I needed to quickly pop upstairs or if I was in the kitchen cooking or cleaning, and he would never be in the walker longer than 10/15 minutes at a time - or less if he wanted to come out. I do feel the seat was comfortable enough for that sort of length of time any longer and I feel they may get restless and agitated not because of the seat being uncomfortable but simply because of lack of freedom to get into smaller spaces and corners - my one loved to hide in the tiniest of spaces so as soon as I'd take him out of the walker he would freely speed off to small and cosy space.


Storage
We would keep the walker in my son's playroom and never folded it until it was time to put it away permanently. This walker folds flat, the seat area simply drops down to be level with and surrounded by the bumper guard - you just pull the little lever under the upper section of the walker, and I think as far as I am aware this same lever would be used to adjust the 3 levels of height too. Once folded flat the walker could easily be stored under spaces like the stairs.


I think this is a must have for little ones!



(this review is also on ciao under same user name)