Everyone has bought and used bouncers, seats, swings for their babies, and they are all fine, all virtually the same and work relatively good for most babies. Not for Alexis, who has done her best to defy everything that is written about newborns and babies out there. She feels “Meh!!” about most of them. We’ve tried 4-5 different seats and she hasn’t really liked them all that well.
One of the issues that some natural parenting books and authors have with seats and bouncers is the fact that the baby is completely limited in how they can move when place in these seats. So instead of moving around, or moving to adjust to the parent’s body while they’re carried in carriers or in arms, babies are sitting near motionless in these “baby-holders”. We’ve done a really good job spending a ton of time carrying Alexis and playing with her on the floor, facilitated by family help around the house and the fact that we both work from home.
However, sometimes a baby just needs to be put in a seat- that’s a fact of life and there’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t strap her in a carrier when you need to make a meal- that’s dangerous. You can’t walk around picking things up and bending with a baby in a carrier. You cannot eat a hot meal with a baby in a carrier. I also never appreciated the fact that these seats have to always be on the floor. What kind of brain development can you expect from a baby when all she/he can see is your legs? I know, it is frowned upon, but we got around it by putting Lexi in a bouncer on a huge center island in the kitchen as long as there’s at least one parent who is constantly watching (and not doing something else, but is there TO watch and talk to her). But I never felt ok letting anyone else watch her because I couldn’t trust them not to step away for second thinking “Oh nothing would happen” .
{ Lexi is wearing a Polarn O Pyret onesie and Jefferies Socks’ tights }
Now what I found recently is a seat that is very diffferent from anything I’ve seen out there.
It’s by The First Years and it’s called a Kicking Coaster.
First of all, it’s sturdy. As in, it has the kind of base that cannot be tipped over. It’s not a bouncer, it doesn’t move in a way a bouncer does. A baby simply can’t get enough inertia to flip it over. So I feel much much better putting it at our eye level when cooking and talking with her. Now I am sure The First Years doesn’t recommend putting it on high ground, just like some other products have to warn against some ridiculous situation that any normal person wouldn’t even think to create, like don’t stick your fingers into an outlet or something equally crazy. Yes, we all know to never leave a baby unattented in most situations. It’s a given. But I feel pretty darn good about being right next to her cooking while she plays in the seat, BECAUSE she is strapped into the kind of seat that isn’t prone to “flipage”
What also makes it very different from other seats is the fact that it’s interactive from the motor skills standpoint. Alexis would NEVER stand for sitting stationary in anything. She won’t sit in a stroller unless it is moving, in a carrier unless she is being walked, in a seat unless she’s talked to, on the floor unless she has foot support to crawl. She is the furthest from a complacent baby I have ever seen. {which paints a very hectic future for us once she is truly mobile}.
This seat is the only one that somewhat entertains her for a period of time. The seatbelt has a rattle/teether attached to it that I promptly replaced with an organic Haba clutching toy (you know me). Though I have to say that possibly that was unecessary, because The First Years products rate EXCELLENT on HealthyStuff.org
It has a kicky pad that is soft and rebounding and the seat itself glides back and forth when pushed (or can be made stationary for newborns). She’d kick off with her legs and straighten them thus sending the seat back, then relax her knees and glide back down. And every time she touches the kicky pad, she gets rewarded with lights and music. And unlike some other kicky pads (yes, it’s you, Tiny Love Gym that we love so much, except for your kicky pad sucks), it’s very touchy. So it doesn’t take a lot of effort to trigger it (sometimes our cats trigger it by brushing against it).
She really does get a kick out of it (get it? get it? ) and as she grows and gets smarter and even more aware, she’ll enjoy it even more.
So why we love it:
- touchy kick pad
- lights and music
- glides back and forth rather than bounces
- reacts to baby’s motions
- lets baby exercise his/her legs
- can be made stationary with a click of a button
The only complaint I have is the recline of the seat. It seems awkward for Alexis. It’s sort of reclined. I think it was designed that way to accommodate both newborns and older babies, but I wish it was more upright. But to be completely fair, Alexis hates anything that is half way reclined, because she wants to sit upright all the time, so I am very surprised that she’ll actually tolerate the recline of this seat for a bit.
The First Years has a lot of baby items that I like, so be sure to check their website.
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Elena, this post is so interesting to me because when Lucy was an infant I feel like I spent a lot of time trying to convince my husband and the grandparents to make sure that they didn’t spend too much time stimulating her. I felt that if she got used to us entertaining her all the time that she wouldn’t be able to occupy herself. This was especially true with toys and apparatus, we rarely used anything with blinking lights or too many moving parts. I actually removed the toy bar from Lucy’s bouncy seat because I wanted her to be able to enjoy the space around her on her own.
It’s a tough balance to strike – following your child’s cues but also leading them in a direction that will help them in the long run. I’m so glad you found such a great bouncy seat that works so well for Alexis! I bet Lucy would have loved that one too.
I feel that we didn’t even have a choice with Alexis. From the very beginning she only wanted attention. She couldn’t care less about toys, as long as we are there to talk to her. It’s still the case. But the first few months the baby NEEDS as much human interaction as they can get so I feel good giving it to her.
But I think Julie is talking about artificially created stimulation rather than human stimulation. I might use such a chair but I’d be taking the batteries out quick smart, that’s the sort of thing that contributes to the over stimulation that you speak of so often Elena. Singing to, describing all your actions etc are a great way to entertain (and promote speech and language development at the same time), and I know she might get restless, but that’s time to put her on the floor and let her practice some of her motor skills.
I used a play mat with toys hanging overhead and velcroed to the base of the ‘Tiny Love’ type variety when my son was old enough to need some entertainment, which was great, and when I was desperate for 5 minutes to do something delicate or intricate I used a Jolly Jumper (not sure what you call them in the US) but took advice from a physical therapist friend who said to only use them for up to 15 minutes at any one time so as to not negatively impact on his proximodistal and cephalocaudal development. I’m not sure about Lexi, but they need to have pretty good upper body control i.e. just about sitting up unassisted before you should start using one. Of course I could see him the whole time, but he didn’t seem to need much input from me when he was in it, which was certainly a rarity!
Oh, and don’t let anyone give you flack for putting the seat on the bench, as parents (and humans!) we have to take many calculated risks on a daily basis and it sounds like it’s a fairly soft risk if you’re standing there the whole time. Unfortunately my son lasted about 6 weeks in that sort of chair, he just wanted to be free to move about and explore. Oh, and I think life for busy little bubs gets easier when they learn to move, as long as you’ve adequately childproofed, rather than harder, because they’re able to explore their world a bit more independently.
I know you do lots of reading Elena, I recommend reading up on Piaget’s stages of development, I think they’ll really help you contextualize where Lexi is at with her development.
🙂
Thanks for the input!
Alexis no longer has issues with overstimulation- she is really in a good place with her level of activity vs what she can take. The lights and music on this seat aren’t really crazy to be honest- that’s why I like it. And can turn music off.
While she loves being on her tiny love gym and supermat, she’s only happy batting at toys for a minute or two , not even enough time to throw a load of laundry in and then she either needs our attention or be flipped over on her belly so that she could crawl (which she can’t do without our help yet either lol)
I have considered the jumper but I’m hesitant to buy it because I know she’ll love it and want to use it and I HAVE read about concerns with using it too much. I want to give her a good solid base of rolling, crawling, tumbling on the floor before I stick her into something upright that uses her legs. She CAN sit up unassisted now but I find that most of the time she just wiggles her way into a crawling/scooting position.
Finally, what is the name of the book you’re suggesting? I’d love to read it but couldn’t find anything by that author.
I understand your feelings about the Jolly Jumper and I can say from experience it IS tempting to leave them in it when they seem to enjoy it so much, and I proably would have if I hadn’t done my due diligence. I’d say she’ll be past it when she’s crawling though, she won’t want to be confined to one spot, it doesn’t sound like she loves it now either! 😉 Re: wiggling into a crawling position, that’s perfect!
Sorry, I should have been more specific, Jean Piaget was a child development theorist who contributed a lot to the field of child development with his motor development theories. Lev Vygotsky and his socio-cultural theories were also lauded by child development experts. If you don’t want to get too caught up in ‘stuffy’ theories, though you seem like someone who could, I highly recommend Margot Sunderland’s “What every parent needs to know” which is a fantastic resource and although it’s written in lay person’s terms, it gives links to studies etc so you can explore further if you want to. She has another one too which I haven’t read, but looks interesting, “The scince of parenting”.
Happy reading! 🙂
Oh I thought maybe you were referring to a specific book. I’ll check out the titles you recommended. I’m currently reading a book that puts a huge emphasis on gross motor development and away from visual stimulation. I’m loving it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
You can find a brief summary of his developmental stages on the wikipedia page.
I’m sure that you could find a book that summarizes his research for laypersons, but I can’t recommend one personally. It’s the kind of thing you learn about in Psych 101 in high school. Most books that I’ve read on child development have referenced his work, though not particularly explored it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
You can find a brief summary of his developmental stages on the wikipedia page.
I’m sure that you could find a book that summarizes his research for laypersons, but I can’t recommend one personally. It’s the kind of thing you learn about in Psych 101 in high school. Most books that I’ve read on child development have referenced his work, though not particularly explored it.
I would also highly recommend the doorway jumper. I think that there would be concerns if you left her in there for hours or something, but not for like, 20 minutes while you cook dinner or put in laundry or something.
Piaget is a developmental psychologist just google any articles you’re interested in reading or many library databases have his research online. He breaks the first few years of life into basic stages and its the basic foundation for most developmental psych. However, he’s not going to be very helpful explaining Lexi’s strong personality, pretty much just that she’s doing things on purpose now not just by reflex. Even though with my little guy it seems like every move he has made in his 3 months have been calculated I’m sure Lexi’s have too. It hard to see it differently when they rule the world! Lol
Piaget was a child psychologist.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5063458_piagets-child-development-stages.html
Piaget was one of the pioneers of developmental psychology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
I don’t know if you ever took child psych in college, but I found going back to my old college textbooks has been a great help with raising our daughter so far!
We LOVE our jumper around here. We have a free-standing one with a wide base instead of a door-hanging one, which seems a little more stable. We started using it around 5 months, and at that point my daughter could roll both ways easily and sit unassisted (for maybe 10 minutes at a time before falling over). It’s hands-down her favorite thing to play in.
And Pretty_Petunia, I thought we were the only ones who took the batteries out of all of the big plastic toys, ha!
I went to college in Russia but I’m pretty sure we had child psych. I just didn’t pay any attention to anything that wasn’t foreign languages related lol
Just google “piaget’s stages of cognitive development”. It’s a psychological theory. Good stuff!
Love the baby, but bells and whistles so early in life is surely setting up a pattern. We know you want the best for Alexis but a lot of us have a lot more experience with mothering. Placing her in a baby seat where she can see and hear you on the floor is not cruel. Most babies love their hands and feet at this stage of the game and play with them. By you interacting with her she will feel safe but also promotes a tiny bit of autonomy as she seeks “entertainment” on her own. i.e. hands in mouth, feet kicking etc,. This is nothing less than sticking her in front of a t.v. instant gratification.
Just REREAD your comment, I’m not sure you caught (read carefully?) what the discussion is about.
The seat is just for times when I need to cook so that she could kick around while I talk to her and cook.
The commenters are suggesting that I leave her alone even when she needs/wants my attention which is what I disagree with. Independence is built on sense of security which is promoted by always being there when baby needs/wants you.
I agree. You are doing your daughter a great disservice by not teaching her to entertain herself. I know you think that catering to her is what she wants/requires, but she only desires this because it’s all you’ve ever given her. Almost all babies, given the opportunity, will choose constant maternal interaction, but that doesn’t make it the best for them. I am not a cry it out advocate, nor do I think you should allow an infant to get to the point of hysterics, but letting a baby cry for a few minutes and slowly stretching that time out is not damaging to them-in fact, it is beneficial. It killed me to watch my children cry but I also knew this was an important part of their development.
I’m sure you’ll say that you know your baby best and what works for her and, while this is true for all mothers, no baby is so special that they don’t need to know how to entertain themselves.
I agree with letting her play on her own , though at this age babies are only capable of doing it for an average of 15 minutes. But I strongly disagree with the common misconception that crying is good for babies. What a ridiculous selfish concept! Babies cry when they need something, be it company or comfort- to deny them a basic need under the pretense of “crying is good for them” is ignorant and cruel.
lights and bells are not basic needs.
We are not talking about lights or bells. Those aren’t the point. We are arguing “let her cry to learn to entertain herself” versus “make sure she is comfortable and has her emotional needs met, I.e. when she cries for your attention, she gets it”.
I love the Kickin’ Coaster! Unfortunately my baby didn’t so much, lol. Which I thought was odd because he always would kick when laid down. Anyway, I think if we had started using it earlier we might have been able to use it at least for naps, to see if the vibration might stretch them out longer (his naps were super short like Alexis’ until he was about 3-4 months old.) Anyway, he’s 9 months old now and would probably love it, but since he is so strong and mobile now I’d be afraid to put him in it. I think he’d end up hanging out of it. lol. We ended up packing it away when he was about 5 months old. We have very little space and just did not use it enough to justify having it in the living room.
That being said, I love it more than any bouncy seat or swing I’ve ever seen, for all the reasons you mentioned, and am definitely keeping it for our next baby.
While its an interesting product, $70 for a chair that a baby will only use for a few months is crazy. Some of these products are just plain ridiculous. While I don’t want to deprive my baby of anything, I can’t fathom spending thousands of dollars of equipment that is only useful for a few weeks to months.
Thousands of dollars on equipment? Are you buying 30 of these chairs?
I think she’s referring to the fact that a majority of what Elena posts about (products she’s received for free – she even says it in the post that First Years provided her with the chair) are expensive, so if we were to buy everything she’s getting free, it’d add up to a ridiculous amount of money for most parents.
That’s why you’re not supposed to buy everything, only what you think will work for your family. I have a great opportunity to try them out to decide if it works or whether it’s worth it. But those are just my opinions in the end.
Not sure where you learned how to count, but pretty sure 70 isn’t equal to 1000s…
At any rate, we probably won’t go for it, either, but it looks like it’s a nifty little contraption for a baby. And, as always, Alexis is so stinkin’ cute in her pictures! 🙂
I had borrowed a bouncy seat with my first one, and it was a wonderful thing to have. My son was a kicker from in the womb, and the bouncy seat gave him a response when he kicked. I felt it encouraged his physical development in the way he needed. I also loved being able to take it anywhere in the house, up on a kitchen island, or in the bathroom. Then I would get things I needed done while visiting about it with him. These little ones learn so much by watching, as well as by being held! I would love to have this seat for my next baby, who feels like she will be very interested in everything she can see. I know she is only in the womb, but I think a lot of personality starts there.
We have been looking for something similar to this for our baby, who is currently 10 weeks. I appreciate your comments about the reclined seating position – good to know in case we are looking to purchase in the future. I still think she would love it though!!
One thing that really helped us while cooking/eating was starting solid food – I can pop my baby into the highchair and give her some banana or something in the mesh feeder and she’s happy for at least 20-30 minutes. And if I pull the highchair right next to the countertop I can talk to her while I prep dinner; she loves watching all the action. That’s another great thing about the highchair as well – she’s up high and can see everything! We still usually end up holding her while we’re eating, although now we’ve got to give her a toy or something to keep her hands occupied so she doesn’t grab all our food, ha!
I also know a lot of people that put their baby in a carrier on their back while they cook.
I was lucky to get all my baby-containment devices from my sister-in-law – I can’t imagine the amount of money needed to buy all of them brand-new! Plus, you never know what your baby will like or for how long, so it’s nice to borrow them from family/friends to see what your baby is into at the moment.
I always heard “some babies are swing babies, some babies are bouncy seat babies, and some babies just hate everything.” So it’s good to be able to borrow this stuff and try it out before committing to it– there is a kids consignment store around here that lets you rent stuff to test it out before buying it. I think that is a brilliant idea and more places should do that. My son’s bouncy seat has a great warning advising you to “exercise caution around open flame and burning cigarettes.” Seriously? I’m glad they told me, because I was just about to hand my baby a pack of smokes and a lighter. But my favorite ridiculous warning is the one that comes on hair dryers, warning you not to use it in the shower.
Have you tried a doorway jumper w/ Alexis? She might really like that b/c she can be essentially standing. I get the natural parenting objection to this kind of stuff, but it’s not like you put the baby in there all day, right? It’s just a few minutes here and there while you do stuff that might be dangerous to accomplish whilst holding a baby.
All the seats we tried pretty much stopped working when we hit 4-5 months – now he *has* to be able to move or he’ll scream his head off (unless he’s tired; then he’ll sit with us and sigh every so often). He’s already cruising on the couch and coffee table at less than 7 months (he pulls himself up), so he’s going to be an early walker. Our challenge now is to find hardware-mounted gates with little pet doors for our non-jumping cats so he can roam free around the living room; everything with a cat door is pressure-mounted, which is a no-go for me.
Lexi will sit as long as you talk or sing to her. Otherwise it’s fuss central until you let her squirm/crawl on the floor.
I’ve been looking at gates too. If I see anything I’ll post on here. Check out first years. And there was some Australian company I was looking at the other day that had good gates.
This looks EXACTLY like what my husband and I have been looking for. Our 4 month old is constantly kicking, all day long. He never stops. His pedi said he is lean because he burns off so much energy. I have convinced my hubby that we need many things you feature on your blog… This is one we will definitely be purchasing, unless of course, we win the raffle! (fingers crossed!)
Aaaawww fingers crossed for you too!
“we need many things you feature on your blog…” that’s because I only feature things that I really find cool and that tend to be less mainstream. I found less popular things to be much much better.
I know i’m not adding much to the conversation, but Lexi is just SO CUTE and beautiful! Also, I really appreciate the fact that you take the time to review products and discuss why you like/don’t like them from a developmental standpoint. It’s really wonderful and gives me a lot to think about for when I have my own children!
I wonder, how long is it (or how long can the baby be)? Is the foot-thing removable (to extend the life of it)? It’s a neat idea, I would just worry it wouldn’t be able to get lots of use out of it. Then again, I plan on having multiple kids, so everything will get reused anyway.
We have a nearly 7 month old and the Fisher Price Infant-to-Toddler rocker, and love it. The first many months we spent holding him, wearing him, carrying him, trading off on him… We pretty much still do, but for the odd occasion, the rocker has been great. Now that he’s bigger, I put it into the “rock” position and let him rock himself while I shower. He loves the cause-and-effect of kicking, or trying to sit up, and the whole chair rocking (and the removable toys swinging).
Using it in moderation has helped it keep his interest when it comes out.
You have to look on their website re length but since it’s supposed to moved back and forth there’s a ton of room and Lexi is 27 in
Oooh..you’ve got me intrigued with this Kicking Coaster seat!
For my Baby Loquacious, I have been putting her on the BabyBjorn Babysitter Balance Bouncer. My girl’s like yours: active and curious and particular about what she likes/doesn’t like. Baby L loves to be held and isn’t fond of “docking stations” like the Bumbo (or in our case, the Mamas and Papas Snug). The Balance Bouncer is soft and not super-padded so she can wriggle around (and even arch her back a bit), and also allows her to kick her feet and move the seat with her actions. I love that it folds flat (a bonus in our small place!) and that it’s eco-friendly. Have you checked it out? It’s not really a “countertop seat” either but if you have a sufficiently large island, I’ll bet you could dock Lexi there and it wouldn’t be an issue because, as with this Kicking Coaster, the Balance does not tip easily.
Oh I saw it in your blog- it looks way cool! I doubt it’d be safe on an island though. Cuz it rocks right?
Great review! And what a cutie! I’m just curious though, is there any product that you’ve received for free (which counts as being “compensated” in my opinion) that you haven’t loved? We see all the ones you do love and think are the bet things ever, but are there others?
Yes there are VERY few products that I have gotten that didn’t work for us. In that case I just don’t write a review. The reason for that is that rather than accepting every review offer thrown my way, I research what I think is a cool innovative product and what will work for Lexi and only do reviews of those.
That looks like such a neat toy! We had a bouncer chair and I was always paranoid about putting my daughter in it for fear of flipping, and on top of that the movement sensor that was supposed to set of the sounds was really fickle and you had to move it a certain way to get it to go off. This looks like a great (and fun) alternative. Thanks for the recommendation!
My daughter was the same way but she grew out of it… She is still easily bored at 3 but I think it’s just because she’s smart. Her mind is always going! Sometimes I have to wonder if more kids would be the same way if their parents always responded to them instead of all the independence they try to teach the starting from birth.
A toddler is supposed to get easily bored with things and move on. They don’t have the mental capacity to focus on one thing yet.
Hi,
Do you have any idea where I can buy this bouncer. I’ve been looking for this, but it seems like it’s been discontinue.
Unfortunately no. It can’t be found anywhere. Maybe try Craigslist or eBay?
Pleeeeeeease!! Can someone instruct me how to remove the machine washable seat fabric? Thanks in advance.