So when Alexis started walking with support at 9 months, she walked with us holding both her hands. She was fast and excited and loved it so much that was all she wanted to do.
Soon she wanted more independence and had to ONLY hold one of our hands. At 10 months she started taking independent steps, but inconsistently, so her main form of transportation was still by holding onto our finger for balance.
Needless to say that was ROUGH on our backs. We are 5’11” and 6’4″. To get down to her level in order to hold her hand, we really have to bend. Our backs started feeling it, so we attempted to straighten out a bit which was possible by tilting our body while holding one of Lexi’s hands. (hello, one-sided back pain!)
Then the real walking started. See, Lex wasn’t like some babies who carefully take step after step, lower themselves slowly. No, she was like the other type of babies, who sort of just take off and run. NO stopping, NO walking, NO lowering herself down. If she were to fall, it’d be a face plant, no doubt.
– Lexi, say hi to tile floors!
– Tile floors, say hi to Lexi!
Clearly, that couldn’t happen. Our solution? Run right behind her with our arms stretched out in front of her in case she falls ( which at her speed was very likely). To do that we had to bend in two and run. Literally. 30 minutes later and my back was dead. Then my husband’s.
Something had to give.
I had seen a baby walker (not the one where they hold onto it and walk) online before that would solve our problem but one review I had read online that talked about how it was a waste of money. It went something along these lines: “It’s a stupid idea, because I have to put it on and take it off every time my baby wants to go play rather than walk”. That made sense to me, so I had decided a while ago that I wouldn’t be buying a walker.
Fast forward till now, with Lexi, the super racer, we had to give it a chance.
And this is why I am writing this! I just had to share! We LOVE it! I ordered it on Amazon with 1 day shipping, because our backs were YELLING at us, put her in it and didn’t skip a beat. She doesn’t even notice it. She is still sure she is walking completely unsupported. Which she is.
For us, the walker isn’t there to support Alexis. She can walk just fine on her own. It’s there to catch her in case she falls. So we walk around with the straps loose, Lexi balancing herself while walking and if, by some chance, she trips or stumbles or loses balance and starts falling, the straps catch her. Ah! Backs saved, frustration- gone! We all enjoy walking around with her exploring things. It’s our favorite pastime now. She has so much fun and we enjoy it with her.
Here’s an even better thing!
Because we are not afraid of her falling and somehow not catching her, we let her walk however she wants, stumbling, losing balance, tripping. Before we used the walker, any stumble meant we caught her and prevented her from correcting her own balance. With the walker, she is only caught when she is actually falling.
I love this thing so much and I almost didn’t buy it because of that review ( one of the reason why I take Amazon and other site reviews with a grain of salt) that I just had to tell you, guys, about it. To save your backs. It’s worth it.
You probably wouldn’t need it if your baby is more cautious or walks slowly and does a good job lowering her/himself when falling. But if you have a “bulldozer” with an iffy balance, that is anything like Lexi, you will thank me!
Now 2 weeks later she walks safely without it, having learned to slow down and properly lower herself when needed.
You’re welcome!
Note: I did not receive this product for review. It was bought by me and I loved it so much I had to share it with the readers.
First off, I have to say that Lexi is just adorable!
But to be honest, I think a device like this would be detrimental to her development. Babies are designed to fall and get up, fall and get up over & over hundreds of times while learning to walk. It’s normal, expected, and an important step for them to learn both physically. If you don’t allow her to fall naturally, she might end up with an abnormal sense of security and not know how to properly handle a fall when she falls in the future. My daughter has fallen (and will continue to fall!) dozens if not hundreds of times in the months she has been walking and running. Some of the time I’ve been able to catch her, sometimes not. Bumps and bruises are expected at this stage, and you’ll be surprised to find that they are remarkably resilient – again, it’s what they are designed to do! Unless you’re worried about a physical developmental delay or something (and from what you’re written in your past few posts, Lexi seems right on track and perfectly normal with her milestones) then I can’t see how something like this would be helpful, and I would think it would actually be harmful.
I slightly disagree. I know what you’re saying about the fact that kids fall.
But when a baby who doesn’t have a very good balance starts off not walking but RUNNING, on tile floors and paved driveways, bumps and bruises can quickly turn into concussions and ER trips.
The walker didnt prevent her from walking and learning to balance herself. Quite the opposite.
Now after over 2 weeks of walking she has slowed down and learned how to lower herself in a fall and how to stop and turn without wiping out and the walker isn’t necessary. But those first few weeks of breakneck speak and absolutely no balance could have been very dangerous.
She has a friend born on the same day who started walking around the same time but she was very careful and slow in how she was walking and would catch herself whenever she lost balance. In that case no support is necessary. But like any mom of a kid who went from crawling to running will tell you – that shit is dangerous until they learn to slow down.
It’s not at all uncommon for babies to start out “running” (my best friend’s son started “running” instead of walking around 8 months, and my daughter did a fair amount of “running” as she learned to walk, it’s very typical and normal) and it’s still not an issue.
I volunteer as an EMT and I work in a pediatric ER (with over a decade of experience), so I have seen my fair share of pediatric concussions. A normal fall for a baby (even on a hard surface) really is not that problematic or something to worry about. As long as you do some reasonable baby-proofing (covering sharp edges on tables, baby gates on stairs, etc.) your baby will be just fine. We have hardwood floors throughout our house and no carpets, and although a baby falling can sound scary, they really are intended to be able to handle those types of falls. At the very least the walker is superfluous.
I’m sorry I just don’t see the need to have her fall on her head on tile floors when it can be prevented early on. She has and will do her fair share of falling once she learned to slow down and figured out how to catch herself. What’s the benefit in her falling hard early on? She’s had enough falls since we stopped using it but at least they are soft ones now.
How is she falling that she would be hitting her head? I also had a runner-from-the-start and he would always fall forward and catch himself with his hands and arms and/or land on his big toddler tummy while throwing his arms out. He never hit his head when he fell from running or walking (now, tripping and falling into a table or something is a different story, but that was muc more rare). Obviously, I prevent him from falling when I can, but I have seen him fall probably a hundred times and I can’t think of one time where he hit his head like you’re describing you’re worried about.
It’s amazing that any of us made it through our toddler years without a stupid contraption like this walker. Toddlers are supposed to fall down. That’s how they learn. Lexi has more than enough padding to cushion her falls. You would be surprised how resilient our little ones are if you just give them a chance.
What is this need to prove how tough our kids are? Yes, they are resilient, so lets beat them up? I personally find this argument ridiculous.
They are kids and we are parents and it’s our duty to prevent unnecessary hurts. Do you specifically want your baby to get hurt?
If not, the the initial weeks of crazy running can be helped with a bit more care.
They will have plenty of hurts when we can’t help them.
She’s the only kid in the family, there are no other kids to look after, so damn straight ill do my best to make sure there are fewer tears and hurts. Even if it means killing my back for a few weeks till she is more comfortable walking.
I have to agree with Gracie- both about Lexi’s adorable-ness and about the falling. Our doctor actually told us not to help our son walk at all, but to let him crawl and cruise along stuff and fall until he got it by himself. He did, of course, with plenty of face planting on our hardwood floors, the sidewalk, etc. He is also a runner, and declined to go about anything slowly or cautiously.
If they crawl for long enough, they will have the arm strength to catch themselves when they fall. If Lexi isn’t catching herself when she falls, I would talk to your dr b.c that can be a developmental problem. Not that I think that Lexi is likely to have any such issues, she seems to be perfectly normal, but just that if her arms aren’t strong enough to catch her or she’s not trying to catch herself, those are things we were told to watch for.
Oh I agree that you have to let them cruise and crawl and get up and down and fall which she did at that stage. But once she started walking, there was no more crawling or cruising or even holding hands anymore. It was up – run until she falls head first.
She catches herself just fine now that she slowed down and started balancing herself better and we let her fall. But no way I was gonna let her run into poles and hit her head on every object imaginable in those first 2 weeks, sorry :)))))) she was unruly!!! Running so fast she was tripping over her own feet. Lol
Anyhow, I seriously doubt this thing you used for two weeks or whatever caused her any harm. Our dr was just adamant that we not interfere with the learning to walk process. Like don’t hold his hand and walk him around, don’t catch him when he falls, etc. The idea was to make crawling last as long as possible, b.c it’s apparently really important for upper body strength and lung development. I am sure that there are many different opinions on all of this, this is just what we were told. He fell a lot at first, but very rarely cried about it. He would fall, then look at us to see how he should react. We would always say, “Good falling, little ninja!” Or something similarly silly, and he would laugh and get right up. But if he fell and someone made a fuss about it, he would of course cry and need to be comforted.
Actually your pedi is very right! I’m a bit impressed that he advised that to you. I have read studies and in one book that show that it’s best for a baby to crawl as long as possible. And that you shouldn’t encourage walking until they force the issue themselves.
We did that. Never put her on her feet or tried walking her until one day when she’s had enough of cruising, she grabbed onto my fingers and started dragging me somewhere. It was so funny. It made her so happy to walk I just couldn’t resist. The rest is history 🙂
So yeah your pedi is very right. It’s not even a matter of opinion.
I will be sure to pass your compliments along to my doctor;) Maybe he read the same book? Though I am pretty sure that he bases his recommendations on what he learned in medical school and many years of medical practice, as well as keeping up with medical journals, current studies, and continuing education requirements. I mean, you were joking, right? It was pretty funny if you were!
“current studies”
THAT!
Not sure why your still being a smartass to her when she has been nothing but nice to you from what I have read and she even agreed with you!!! Why would you even comment on here or waste your time being rude if yiu dont like what she has posted or said? No-one forced you to get on this blog… every child is different and so is every parent . Im sure yiu do things ppl dont agree with everyone does .. obviously all these ppl on here posting ridiculous and rude comments have absolutely no life or anything better to do besides bash a mother who is doing her best to keep her child safe & happy I’m sure using this for a few weeks for short periods arent going to interfere with any deelopment…but u should def. Ask your doctor he will prob. Have the correct answer as all doctors have their own personal opinions and they arent always the same (which they all have a “medical education” & experience) my doctor actually gave me a really good book to read on development so how is reading studies in a book silly… ur joking right? Lay off ppl she shared something she liked as she has a right to & yes u have a right to ur opinion but there is no need to immeimmediately judge her or her usuage of this walker & question her daughters development or her parenting skills again if you dont like it leave the page and stop being so hateful & immature she has handled all of your horrible comments very well and responded back in the nicest way possible… personally I’m glad she did share this & I plan to purchase this item my self to ensure my child doesnt end with any major injuries when he starts off running & my son happens to very well advanced but most mothers fear seeing their children in pain regardless but we all handle it different as for us we choose methods like this & if used correctly it will cause no hard or “development issues” please do your own research before knocking someone elses
You*** development*** immediately*** no harm*** excuse my typing errors auto correct doesnt seem to be my friend today hopefully you can piece my above post together 🙂 Thank you Elena for sharing your blog with those who enjoy them!!!
If I had tile floors in our flat I would also be very careful. It’s a totally different story if you fall on a wooden floor or on a tiled or stone floor. I guess I would have bought this thing as well… as my boyfriend and I am also quite tall and I’m not sure my back would be able to handle that much bending!
Cute pictures!! Lexi is so adorable!
I wanted to ask if you could do a post about raising Lexi bilingual? How is it going? Who is talking to her in what language and so on. We might move from Austria to Canada this or next year and our son is 7 monts old, so I’m very curious about that kind of thing!
It’s more challenging than I thought it would be. I’m not exactly sure I’m doing a good job. She understands Russians and says more Russian words than English because I spend more time with her and we practice OPOL.
Actually it’s not difficult. My husband and I speak Spanish and move to Canada a few years ago. My daugther was born here in Canada and has been going to the daycare since she was a year old. She started to speak a little bit late, but now that she is over three she speaks both languages, more english than spanish, and her spanish is mixed with english, but she fully understand spanish. She now even knows how to switch from one language to another.
We only speak to her in spanish at home, and she learnt the english at the daycare. But we expose her to spanish the most we can: we read her books in spanish, sing spanish songs, and even the movies we try to play them in spanish for her.
Children gets languages really fast. You will be amazed.
Lexi seriously gets cuter by the post!!!!
My son, Ryder, was just like Lexi when he started walking at ten months. It was scary to see his head all banged up and full of goose eggs. It’s too bad I didn’t know about this five years ago! 🙂 Kylie, on the other hand, was a cautious walker, which was kind of nice!
Oh yikes! I get shivers just thinking about it! I’m sure we will have our share of it though :)))
My Huubs and I both love our Juppy but our girl hasn’t really loved walking yet. She prefers speed crawling or pushing herself behind an interactive Fisher Price table. We are enjoying this while it lasts!
I’m so surprised you would use something like this that could hinder her large motor skill development, especially considering you stopped CDing for a bit because you were afraid it would cause some issues crawling. Bumps and bruises certainly aren’t pretty, but they’re important to learning to walk confidently. How else will they learn to balance an avoid falling? Lexi is so cute no one will even notice the small bruises!
Omg! Lol who cares whether anyone notices bumps and bruises! I simply wouldn’t want her to get hurt. 🙂 lol
Something like this would hinder development if it actually helped her walk or prevented her from it. If you use it properly (ie let the baby walk on their own and only catch when they are in danger) this is no different than letting them crash and burn minus the hurt and potential problems.
Well bumps and bruises are a part of falling down, and since you are trying to stop that from happening, you didn’t want to see the bumps and bruises. My four kids all learned to walk on tile, wood, and carpet, and they made it out unscathed. Lexi is adorable, but I think this contraption is unneccessary for something so natural. I’m just really surprised you would use something like this instead of going the natural route.
We had the Juppy and used it for about 2 weeks with my son, I think it helped him transition better from crawling to walking. He was up and running anyway, and did plenty of falling in the house on the carpet or even hardwoods. But outside on the cement was another story. We actually won ours free in a contest, but my back was sure thankful, I would not have known about it otherwise!
Any particular reason why she is wearing the juppy backwards?
She is too cute in her little summer outfit, it must be warm there in Florida!
Hahahaha yeah we kind of put it on wrong the first few times! Lol
I loved the juppy for the 2 weeks we used it. Well worth the money!
I’ve gotten 3 kids through the walking process on tile/hardwood floor and both boys were super racer’s when they began walking. I let them fall. Not because I wanted to see how tough they were or because I’m mean, but because it’s part of life. We’ve never had an ER visit and honestly, they never bruised or cried when they fell because of their pudge. I look at it as, eh, I have less than perfect balance. If I fell up the stairs coming into the house (yes, it has happened), then I make a mental note to be a little more careful next time, I learn from it. Now that my babies are older toddlers they still trip and fall sometimes and skin their knees on concrete. Often times it hurts us more than it hurts them.
Like I said I agree with you but I didnt and dont want to test her balance in the first few weeks. Now she walks and falls and learns. But the initial weeks she was just too wobly. She still fell but we would catch her in time not to get hurt badly.
I just have to say, I dont know why people are so hard on you. If they dont like your views they do not have to come to your blog. I just dont get it. I really am puzzled every time. I like your blog alot and some stuff I go right away to get because I know you did your research and some I dont care too its just your opinion. thats all
It’s all silliness to me! Big world Internet with as many opinions as there are people. I don’t mind respectful ones one bit. 🙂
Thanks for support!
Also I don’t really think most people even know how it works or just look through pictures and base their opinion on that. If they did, they wouldn’t say “hinders development” lol
The only thing it hinders is falling on her ass. The rest was all her walking with us trailing along holding loose straps.
I think that is the point of the commenters saying it “hinders development.”
“Falling on her ass” or falling in general is an important part of the learning process. As the one commenter stated babies are designed fall and get up and fall again hundreds of times. It is an important step both physically and mentally developmentally. Taking that step away from them therefore hinders that development. Nobody is saying let your baby fall flat on their head on the pavement obviously. Being an attentive parent should prevent major injury and also let your child learn and progress without an unnecessary contraption.
Falling in general can be an important part of the process AFTER she has learned to balance herself a bit better and catch herself. Preventing a baby from falling for two weeks while she learns to walk does not hinder development. Even though she walks without Juppy now, I still watch her very closely and try to catch her if I can. She still falls many times and many times hard enough to cry, but I STILL prevent the bad ones, like any normal mother would.
And like you said Juppy isn’t necessary at all ( by far), but it definitely saved all of our backs from having to walking bent in two in two as we watched her stumble all over the place in the first few weeks of walking.
You wil find that as Lexi slims down she will obtain better balance. Chubby babies are not as agile on their feet and they do fall with a thump.
All babies need to develop balance, just some pick it up quicker than others.
I don’t even think that’s the issue. Looking at her friends learning to walk it’s just different babies learn differently. Some first figure out balance and when they feel safe start walking/running, others start walking and figure out their balance in the process. But I’m sure chubby babies have worse balance to start of than tiny ones.
I’m sure that everyone commenting also isn’t super tall. My back also killed me when V was in this stage, and if she had started so early like Lexi did, I would have bought one too, I’m sure.
But, I’m 6’2 and I “get it”
I don’t see anyone being super hard on Elena. Just because they have a differing opinion doesn’t bean they are being hard on her. All the comments I have read have been respectful. I tend to agree with most of the commenters and do not think the Juppy is necessary and may also hinder development. I am not trying to bash Elena if she finds/found it useful great for her. It just isn’t for me.
Why is it on backwards?
Brainfart on our part the first few times we put it on 🙂 lol
Hi Elena,
This is off-topic, but I was wondering if you ever did a review of the foonf carseat vs the pria. I seem to recall that you were given the opportunity to try the foonf out and I’m not sure if I missed your review or if you decided not to do one. I am in Canada and the foonf is available here currently whereas the maxi cosi won’t be for a few months. I’d love to hear your opinion on which you and Lexi preferred. Thanks!
Jessica
I’m getting the foonf any day now! Email me in a week or so, I’ll let you know what I think.
I was wondering why you were all around her when she was running in your video. I’m sure the videos didn’t catch everything but it didn’t look like she was running so fast that she’d completely face plant or smack her head on the floor. Seems like she could have caught herself with her hands (with the occasional bump), and if she had been allowed may have learned to slow down and balance herself sooner.
My daughter has had plenty of bumps and bruises (and lip bites) while walking and I don’t think it makes me a careless or neglectful mother for allowing her to fall. Obviously I hate seeing her cry and I don’t like her being hurt, but she learns from it. She learns to step more cautiously. She learns to grab onto something nearby. She learns.
I’m glad Lexi has slowed down and is more cautious now.
It’s not clear in the video where she first ran bc the clip is so short (the one in the mall), but it was like a bulldozer, running into racks of clothes, tables, etc
It would be funny to see if it wasn’t so dangerous ( i did laugh the whole time, though, while my mom exclaimed from fear lol). Then once I took her out on the grass, I stood back and watched her run since it’s soft ground, but my mom who’s a bigger helicopter than Andrew and I are was hovering over her.
We mostly bought the juppy because the way she was stumbling all over the place at home, she could easily faceplant into a piece of furniture or wall ( not sure about the floor, though; she has definitely fallen onto the carpet floor face down a few times since) and our backs were just dying ( she wanted to walk/run 24/7 at first, still does). I would have probably been too lazy to even order the Juppy and just watched her closely while being right next to her, but my mom’s back is bad and she could have easily hurt it had she been doing the bends to keep lexi from running into the side of the wall or hitting her head on furniture.
It was funny to watch her those first two weeks, because she was NOT interested in anything but how fast she could run. Now that the novelty wore off, she slowed down, she learned to walk slower and be cautious when going over steps and corners and when losing balance. She didn’t have to fall to learn that, she did just fine on her own. It’s like anything- everyone has a different approach. I don’t believe that she has to fall hard to learn how to fall, some people do; I don’t believe in sleep training- some people do.
I am definitely keeping this thing for the next baby if we have one, in case he/she starts off running too. I absolutely loved it!
Oh yeah, I can see being more cautious while around sharp furniture or dangerous areas. I don’t think falling hard is what teaches them to be careful. Just falling in general. Sometimes it’s hard, most of the time it’s not.
You’re right. Difference of opinion and parenting. I don’t agree with certain things you do, and that’s why I don’t do them! But to each their own.
She is super cute though.
I have twins so both of my kids learned to walk without anyone holding their hands at any point, and they did just fine. Both were walking at a year.
One is more the slow and cautious type, the other a run all over.
Kids are short and low to the ground, I’ve never heard of a single child getting a concussion from falling while walking. And actually falling while walking is the kind of thing that helps teach them, hey, falling hurts, I should be careful when I climb on taller things where real injury could occur. So really it’s important for their safety to have those kind of experiences.
Its good that ur daughter is ok with the harness. My son freaks out if we hover or try to limit his speed in anyway.. he is too strong-willed and independant so we just gave in and let him bump away. Is Lexi stubborn or easygoing?
it does not restrict her movement at all. She walked as if there was nothing on her. She was not even aware that something would catch her because she was starting to get cautious in certain situations like around a step or a corner. It’s the same as wearing a pair pants with suspenders except for the suspenders are magically hanging in the air and catch you if you fall.
She’s definitely a very strong willed fun baby. She doesn’t tolerate anything that restricts her movement esp. Now that she is walking. Having her in a stroller, carrier, car seat has always been a major struggle because she doesn’t like the feeling of bring restrained.
I’m a lurker on your blog and I just had to comment because I’m appalled at the comments on here. You are Lexie’s mom and you do what’s best for her and your family. If people think it’s overboard, or overprotective, well that’s just their opionion and why do they feel the need to tell you that what you are doing is wrong. Lexie is not being abused or put in any dangerous situations and that is the only time poeple should speak out against parents. Someone please tell me what harm she is doing to Lexie by loving her and protecting her to the best of her ability, in the way she feels is best for her? Anyone!? I didn’t think so. Elena, you keep on loving that little girl and doing what you and your husband feel is best. You are teaching her healthy boundaries and showing her that you are always there for her…that is really what every child needs.
Thaaaaank you!!! I wondered the same thing when I first got into blogging, but like any semi popular blogger who doesn’t do everything exactly the way everyone else does will tell you: it’s a strange phenomena that occurs especially on parenting/mommy blogs. Some parents get upset/feel the need to get defensive/ justify/ criticize anything that differs from their way of parenting.
And because I actually approve comments with differing opinions as long as they are respectful unlike some other blogs, that emboldens others to speak up.
Anyways a few of the commenters here I respect and they don’t bother me, since they are simply sharing their opinion. Others are meh! I am confident enough of our parenting style that nobody would ever say anything that would make me second guess myself unless it’s something I hadn’t thought of in the first place. 🙂
I do appreciate you delurking to comment though. I laugh at the same thing myself.
Just wanted to say Lexi is super cute and I really never read the comments because it makes me want to punch these people that just have to disagree with everything you say, for crying out loud it’s your baby and you raise her however your want I too would want to avoid unnecessary accidents and it’s not like your asking there opinion so butt people she’s just sharing HER view on this product not asking you what you think about.
It is okay for people to disagree with others. I think that this walking device is completely silly and pointless but it doesn’t make me dislike Elena. I’ve been reading her blog for quite sometime and some things I agree with and comment and some things I don’t and I comment (respectfully) since I am a seasoned mother of multiple children. It doesn’t mean I know everything but I’ve been around the block in parenting a few times. I think most people were respectfully saying that, although she wants to avoid her child getting a mild injury, they were concerned that she may be in fact restricting her babies ability to gain adequate balance. Part of being a mom (and a well known blogger for crying out loud) is going to be getting others opinions. Whether or not one chooses to use those opinions or toss them is their business. I have found some wonderful products through this blog (Green Toys, B Toys, Baby Care products) but some are completely unnecessary. My opinion.
And I definitely didn’t mind your opinion. While I love juppy and disagree that it’s silly or that it hindered her in any way, you’re entitled to your opinion, just like I am to mine.
That thing saved my back and for that I’d buy and use it again and again.
What do you think about hard bottom walking shoes for new walkers? I can’t really tell what kind of shoes Lexi is wearing but I am wondering if that would help her balance. I’m a FTM and not at the walking stage yet so I don’t have any advice. My family members swear by them though.
Her balance is fine now. She just needed to practice. It will continue to improve as she learns.
The shoes we wear are mostly pedipeds designed specifically for early walkers.
From what I’ve read it’s best to let them walk barefoot. 🙂
I can’t believe how many people find the need to criticize or question her parenting decisions-she isn’t strapping Lexie to a dog run and leaving her! I personally would not buy one of these because it seems like it would be more of a hassle than a benefit but I am only 5’2″ and I happen to have a tall 1 year old! My daughter is older than Lexie but I always appreciate when people share the products they find helpful even if I choose not to use them. We all parent differently and have different needs. Geez people, just be nice!
ha-ha-ha… baby harness 🙂 it is honestly the funniest product you have written about. I would not use it, but I think it is a personal decision, just like everything else in parenting. Lexi is very cute, wait till she starts climbing on furniture, walk on it and jump off, that is when fun really starts. I did not think chasing the toddle was that bad at the beginning, but it is on a totally new level now. Fun times 🙂
Not harness!!!!! LOL! It looks like one but it doesn’t hold her, or hold her back. It’s not like that parenting leash! Sheesh! hahaha!
I can’t wait till she can climb. I’ll be right there spotting her! 🙂
Don’t knock the child harness until you have a full blown running toddler!
I’ll go with the superfluous comment, but then again, aren’t most baby gear items superfluous to an extent? No, they don’t need baby gyms, swings, etc. but we buy them! Many of us probably were babies when walkers were around, and I doubt that we have confidence issues with our walking ability! Lighten up!
ok i didnt read all the comments but i would have loved to have this when my daughter was learning to walk. not ALL babies catch themselves when they fall my daughter always hit her head! yes she would try and stop herself with her arms but she couldn’t stop her head from the “forward motion” so even if she did catch herself she would still hit her head!! you people need to lighten up. so what is she wants to help her baby not crack her head on a hard tile floor? she only used ot for 2 weeks AFTER lexi already learned to walk she was helping her fin her balance. and preventing a concussion. i for one would rather help my child then let her hit her head so hard that she winds up in the er.
I definitely see both points your making in your review. I am also tall 5’8 and my husband is 6’5. Our backs would kill having to bend over all the time. It’s just the way it is when your tall. Heck ‘normal’ height counters and sinks drive me nuts in homes, they should all be taller in my opinion, but alas that’s is because of our heights.
Something like this would be very helpful in a new walking baby.
While I agree with not wanting ER visits for any child and not wanting to kill my back at the same time, I have to wonder whether something like this ‘would’ hurt kids learning skills from getting hurt.
It’s kind of like the vibram five finger shoes (toe shoes), people are not meant to wear shoes. While it protects our feet from getting hurt from rocks, tripping and cuts, shoes also train our minds to become more clumsy. We don’t ‘have’ to look down to see where we are walking, therefore making us more clumsy and prone to getting hurt.
Does this make sense? Just like babies are not meant to wear shoes when learning how to walk, because bare feet make them aware of where/what they are stepping on, wouldn’t a harness work against that as well?
Personally, I think your doing a great job on raising Lexi and your decisions are based on what you and your husband think is best for her. I respect your decision with the harness and definitely understand it’s purpose. Just had to make a point on that because I do own Vibram Five Finger shoes and have actually benefited greatly from using them, especially after knee surgery. It’s funny, the less cushion on my feet the less my knee hurts.
Yeah I totally know what you’re saying. But my opinion is that for a short period of time while she was the most vulnerable from the falls standpoint having a basically vest on her (it did not do anything to her movement , since you don’t hold her up, you keep the straps a bit loose) this is a life saver for backs.
You know, cuz otherwise if I didn’t buy the Juppy we would have all just had to bend and hold our arms close to her in case she starts falling into a piece if furniture or a wall lol (which is what we did for a few days before I decided to buy this). So either way she would have been caught during dangerous falls but this way it was better for our backs and kept us from catching her too often. I actually got it for my mom initially but it worked so well we used it too.
I’d recommend it to anyone.
I mean people let their babies use walkers which are dangerous if unsupervised and keep the baby walking supported. At least Juppy meant she walked on her own when she wanted but didnt get hurt.
So cute! Isn’t it fun when they start walking? I remember this stage with my daughter where she’d fall and hit her head on furniture. Her knees were all bruised even though I was trying to follow her and catch her all the time. it is nerve-wracking but it’s luckily it’s pretty short and they get better balance soon!
As for this product, if it works for you, great. I’m also amused by the ignorance displayed by some of the commentators who are trying to display how intelligent they are, but in fact revealing how little they know…. Devices like this were more commonly called “leading strings” and they were very common even 50 years ago, but also for hundreds of years before that. In many cases, that’s how our very own great-great-great-grandparents would have learned to walk. And all these people talking about how you’ll ruin Lexi’s development…shake my head… Just silly. Let those harpies go back into their hole and don’t let them bother you.
First of all the comments on here are ridiculous. Lexi is your daughter, whatever you choose for her is your choice. Why are all these people so worried about your choices?
Secondly, and sort of off topic, did you use a walker with Lexi? My son is 8 months old and pulls himself up. I would love to know which walker you recommend.
As far as walkers are concerned I’m quite against them. They do exactly what people on here are worried Juppy does (which it doesn’t). Plus there’s a big chance that a baby can fall and hurt himself.
I just let Lexi cruise around the furniture and by grabbing our thumbs until she was able to walk on her own.
Now lots of people use them successfully and babies love them (Lexi kept trying to push our stroller in the same way she would a walker), so it’s a completely personal decision.
I know most doctors advise against them.
Really? I had no idea people were against them lol.
There’s been a bunch of injuries due to them. I’d just let him cruise around furniture until he refuses to crawl and wants to walk. But like I said only you know what’s best for your baby.
Elena, walkers are fully banned in Canada. The ones children sit in. Also, I am as far from a helicopter parent as one can get but my son fell so hard once on our tile floor (on his ass might I add) and ended up with an internal bruise and nerve pinch that caused his leg to lock quite often. It was horrific. My husband honestly thought it was neurological. We ended up in emerge after a few episodes of him not being able to relax his leg and put weight on it.. So yes, a baby can very very much cause serious damage by simply falling down. He was 1.5 years and had was walking steadily unassisted at 11 months. It wasn’t from lack of practise. I would likely get this for my second.
That’s interesting! Yeah, it definitely scares me how fragile babies can be and how reckless they are at that age without a sense of danger or perfect control over their body. I still watch Lexi very closely, even though she walks pretty well. I let her walk far at home but as long as I see her. You just never know…