Baby deathtrap. (Baby Walkers in General)

Member Name: harlequin1

Product:	Baby Walkers in General
Date:	07/09/01 (254 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gives baby mobility and independence

Disadvantages: Too many accidents waiting to happen

Baby walkers...you either love them or hate them.

Personally I hate them. You here so many horror stories about babies hurting themselves badly because of them tipping over.

I know that they have been improved greatly from the early basic baby walkers, but even so...

I always refused to have a babywalker for my children and my husband at the time didn't really care either way. My mother-in-law however had different ideas.

Although she knew my views she bought us a baby walker for our first child.

This promptly got thrown into the dank dark recesses of the cupboard under the stairs, never to be seen again.

She then decided to purchase one to keep at her house for when we visited or for when she had the child overnight.

Her children all had them and no harm ever came to them. (It was dropping my ex-hubby on his head that did him the damage LOL)

I arrived to pick up my son after a visit one day to see him whizzing round her kitchen in his walker while she was cooking tea.

He was so pleased to see me that he came rushing towards me at an incredible rate of knots.

As he rushed he caught my mother-in-laws feet and she scalded herself on the pan. (Good)

A sponge ball that he had been playing with got trapped under the walker, tipping the walker over. He landed in a heap on his neck after hitting his head on the doorframe on the way down.

Luckily apart from an egg sized lump on his forehead he was fine.

Now tell me they are not dangerous.

A child will learn to walk when he/she is ready.

I did actually rake out the baby walker she had bought me and find a use for it for my second child.

I used a belt to attach the walker to a table leg. This meant that my baby couldn't take off down the steps or anywhere out of my sight.

The only place he could go was in a circle around the table leg.

I found though that i
f I gave him toys on the tray of the walker, he didn't really try to move far, he would sit in it and play with his toys and bob up and down occasionally.

I think if you are trying to get your baby used to having weight on his/her legs, a far safer option is the baby bouncers that you hang from the doorways.

They use their legs bouncing up and down, they cannot go anywhere, their spines are supported more and they can turn around and keep an eye on what is going on around them.

My daughter used to scream blue murder when we took her out of hers. She would even fall asleep in it. She didn't look very comfy but she must have been or else she wouldn't have slept.

I wouldn't recommend baby walkers to any one.
There are far too many accidents waiting to happen.

If you are going to buy one, make sure you shop around and check out a few. I'm sure there are good, safe ones out there.

Check to see how easily they can tip over and check the gap from the floor to the bottom of the babywalker to see if toys can get jammed.

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