Ok Dopers, help me out again. While all research shows that walkers are bad for babies, what about exersaucers? Our son, Tinkleberry, loves to stand, but isn’t quite old enough to do so on his own. Part of me thinks that exersaucers are great since they allow him to not spend all his play time on his back or tummy, and part of me worries that they are just like walkers, and not good for development. What’s the consensus here? Thanks.
The problem with walkers is not that “they are not good for development” – it’s that they have killed infants using them. Saucers do not have that problem. My son outgrew his by the time he was ready to stand on his own, and as long as the Tinkler is not spending all of his time in it, he should be fine.
We use an exersaucer for our child (he is now 8 months) and we started when he was about 5 months. He loves being upright for a while and it gives him a new view of things. They are safer than walkers since baby cannot fall down stairs and such. I also read all the articles that said walkers are bad for babies but I have not found research that says the same thing about the saucers. I did read something that said walkers prohibit proper leg muscle development but I have not seen the same thing about the saucers, I am not sure what is different about them. (Personal anecdote: A friend and I have sons 4 days apart, she uses a regular walker for her child, I use an exersaucer. Her child is practically walking on his own, mine is not even close. Babies differ and I think use of either in moderation and supervised is fine.)
Research that I have done on them suggests that they are not bad for baby as long as you don’t stick him in there all day. Recommended times I have seen range from 20 minutes to a few hours a day. Floor play is best for kids’ muscle development but I don’t know of anyone who will tell you baby should never be in an exersaucer. Just make sure he gets plenty of ‘free range’ time, as I like to call it.
Worth the investment, I think it’s handy to have a little spot to keep them in for a while and babies really seem to like them.
I would like to add a AOL/Me too, here.
Fang loved his saucer. It was a good, safe place to put him while I would cook dinner or anything like that. It was also a non-tiring (for me) way for him to bounce.
I used one for my older son, now 3 ½ years old, and he loved it. I plan to get a new one for my three-month-old soon.
My older kid’s pediatrician told me that the biggest problem with walkers is that when a kid falls down the stairs on his own, he falls about 12 little 1-foot falls, but in a walker, he falls one giant, 12-foot fall. He also told me he treated about three skull fractures a week due to walkers. Um, no thanks.
My mother suggested that walkers enable kids to get around on their own so easily that they don’t have much incentive to walk on their own. Makes sense, I suppose.
It looked to me as if the exersaucer helped my first son learn to balance on his own, and it gave his little legs more of a workout than floor play did. In addition, it gave me a much-needed break to get the dishes washed or the carpet vacuumed. He was confined, and entertained with toys that he couldn’t drop. And he quickly learned to spin around in it really fast, to make himself dizzy.