# To Jumperoo or not to Jumperoo!



## PrincessPea

Hey Ladies

I know Jessica is still a bit small but just out of interest - when we were in the hospital the other week I noticed they had a poster up that said babies, especially prem babies, shouldn't use jumperoos, or you know the ones that hang on the door frames, or baby walkers as it encourages babies to put their weight on their toes and this therefore can work against them when they are learning to walk.

However I know that they NHS arent always right dohh:) so just wondered if any of you ladies had used any of these for your LO's?

Thanks in advance.


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## katy1310

We were told this about the walkers, but Sophie has a door bouncer and a jumperoo...the health visitor (for what she's worth!) told us they were fine and that it was just the walkers that were not a good idea. I get really paranoid putting Sophie in her door bouncer though because she keeps aiming for the door frame in it! I'm only really happy with her in her actual jumperoo. She got the door bouncer for christmas from her grandad and has only used it a couple of times. She is ok in the jumperoo though - her feet do go properly onto the floor! xx


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## PrincessPea

Fab, thank you dear. x


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## 25weeker

I was a boring mummy and followed the guidelines and didn't use anything.


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## bob2331

We have the door bouncers which harry loves and i really wanted to get a jumperoo and a walker but was convinced by my mum and the doctor not 2 :(


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## ILoveShoes

I've never heard that guidance before. My LO has a jumperoo - he was only 5 weeks early though.
xx


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## PrincessPea

Thanks Ladies. xx


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## Scottiemum

Personally I havent used them from recommendation from my DD's physio. i think its because they promote such things like tip toe walking and movement patterns that potentially slow natural development. I am totally sure most kids are fine with them (my nephew had a walker and walked at 9 months) but for babies like my DD, who may have difficulty with walking anyway (she had an IVH), I think they discourage using them. Tummy time is key...if I can get her to stay!!!!


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## pink.crazy

Wow I'm kind of miffed I've not been given that advice :o

Leo has a door bouncer and an activity centre.. no jumperoo but we were considering getting a walker as he likes to be on his feet... maybe not then!


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## PrincessPea

Its not something I had ever heard before until we saw that poster, thats why I thought I would ask and see if anyone else had heard this etc. We would have gone ahead and got these things otherwise, maybe not now. xx


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## AP

I was told it was just the walkers to watch out for, its to do with muscle tone i believe. 

Alex had a jumperoo, total godsend. She had an IVH too, and has spent all day today on her feet :)


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## PrincessPea

Thanks dear, a jumperoo might be the way to go then. Its so hard to know what to do for the best!


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## pink.crazy

I totally almost bought one today lol


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## AP

I secretly believe a jumperoo benefited her. 

And my rainforest collection :rofl:

She only just stopped using it when i found out i was pregnant again, so for a preemie they are well used!! She loved trying to reach the toys, and play with bits, and turned herself around and around. All they advise is not to use them too long, just short bursts

Im so anti walker though


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## Wantabean

so is it just prem babies that shouldnt use them? or all babies that were in nnicu? sorry im confused lol would someone explain please? lol i got Cam a bounce bounce baby (near enough the same as jumperoo) and realy dont want to damage him. he doesnt bounce in it though just sits in it lol hope everyone is well :) xxx


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## AP

I would imagine the earlier the baby the more to be cautious aboot, but im no doc hun ;) im just guessing :shrug: its to do with muscle tone and development. If cameron has/needs physio i'd ask the physio, otherwise just decide yourself ;) to be honest imo 20 mins slots should be fine , i think ppl tend to take the pee and leave kids in them for donkeys and thats the concern


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## Wantabean

yeah Cam wont really stay in longer than that anyway lol ok :) thank you :) huge congrats on tori!!! xxxx


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## Scottiemum

sb22 said:


> I would imagine the earlier the baby the more to be cautious aboot, but im no doc hun ;) im just guessing :shrug: its to do with muscle tone and development. If cameron has/needs physio i'd ask the physio, otherwise just decide yourself ;) to be honest imo 20 mins slots should be fine , i think ppl tend to take the pee and leave kids in them for donkeys and thats the concern

Yeah totally agree, I dont think short times in them will do any harm, just if put in them all day long! I secretly wonder myself if the jumperoo would help my DD learn to stand and sometimes the experts can follow everything to the book, hard to know. :shrug:


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## toothfairyx

We are at the stage where he wants to be standing up all the time which is a bit of a pain for us to hold him all the time so we have a walker and he can sit up in that and see whats going on.Toes not able to touch the floor yet though. I'm not particularly worried and would have a door bouncer if we had suitable doors too.


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## Marleysgirl

Couldn't afford a jumperoo (not even second hand) and Andrew isn't very fond of his door bouncer. Didn't get a walker on the advice of his physio, who said she is against them for all babies (not just premmies) due to the toe-walking issue.


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## Foogirl

According to Abby's physio, Jumperoo is fine (for short periods of time) baby walkers are a big no no because it doesn't actually teach them how to walk, they have to re-learn after they get out of them. For most children that does no real harm, but if your child is having problems getting to grips with it, it can be damaging. The most common myth is "my wee one had a baby walker and was walking at one so they must really work" Chances are that baby would have walked at one anyway!

I'm getting mine back from mum's loft to lend to Dawn, you can try jessica in that when she is big enough!


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## PrincessPea

Kirstie - The poster said all babies but especially prems, but what does a poster know when we have all this experience at our finger tips! Fab. 

Foo - great, i think we may have a while to go tho!! lol, I was just interested - put her in a highchair in mothercare the other day as I was thinking of getting one to encourage her to bring her hands together when eating and all we could see were her wee eyes over the tray!!! lol - change of plan, got a bumbo instead!!! 

Thanks ladies, you really are all fab! xxx


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## Foogirl

PrincessPea said:


> Foo - great, i think we may have a while to go tho!! lol, I was just interested - put her in a highchair in mothercare the other day as I was thinking of getting one to encourage her to bring her hands together when eating and all we could see were her wee eyes over the tray!!! lol - change of plan, got a bumbo instead!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

That's hilarious!


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## Dasy25

Hey well i looked at all the info i could and i've decided to try it out. Not gonna allow her to be in it for too long. We are grateful for getting to try it out first from Foo. :thumbup: Thanks Foo. :flower:

LMAO at the highchair scenario :haha:


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## toothfairyx

lol @ Jessica. We got a bumbo - he hates it! It makes him barf all the time. Ikea do an excellent high chair with an insert that keeps them upright even when they are small but can hold up their head. They are dead cheap too - worth a look


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## PrincessPea

My daughter is HUGE, I dont understand why she doesnt fit in one of the highchairs!!! lol

@ toothfairy - thank you, I will definitely have a look at those.

Jessica doesnt mind her bumbo, depends what mood she is in but think she is starting to associate it with food. Its like a big armchair for her!!! lol. On an aside my Gran walked in the other day, took one look at the bumbo and blurted out 'what on earth are you doing with that huge potty'!!!!!:haha:


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## divadexie

My son (now almost 6) had a door bouncer and a walker. He walked no problem. He was walking by the time he was one and a half. Me and all my sisters had these things and never had any problems.

I have a door boucer for Anna and she loves it! I make sure she is low enough that her whole feet reach the ground properly. She is still too wee for her jumperoo though and we don't have enough space for a walker here.


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## vermeil

our son`s physio said absolutely nothing that encourages him to extend his legs - jumpers, exercise saucers, walkers (illegal in Canada anyway) etc. Here all preemies 29 weeks and under are followed by a physiotherapist and an ergotherapist. Of course our little guy has particularly stiff legs (from lying prone for 4 months in the hospital...) so we spend our time doing flexing exercises to encourage him to bend them. We don`t even let him stand on his tippitoes - despite the thought that he LOVES to, if we ever want him to crawl he needs to learn to bend those knees haha

She said she doesn`t recommend them for any baby, but especially preemies should avoid them.

He loved his saucer too - the one I bought (second hand) before the physio told me. In the basement it stays gathering dust - oh well


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## toothfairyx

Can I just be a bit thick and ask why are what seems to be everyone but us seeing physios? Are there motor issues I should be seeing? It's never been mentioned to us although at his last check the consultant did mention his head rotation was good with no neck stiffness. His legs seem (in my limited knowledge) fine. He does lock them out a bit but seems to be when I'm getting him to do something that he doesn't want to do. I know the bliss leaflets on premature baby development says to not use theses things but I would think that they do aid in developing upper arm strength in some way.


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## SugarKisses

katie was 13 weeks early & ive just bought her a jumperoo.....i think it will help promote the usage of her leggs & my community nurse hasnt had an objection xx

katie loves hers btw xx


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## Scottiemum

toothfairyx said:


> Can I just be a bit thick and ask why are what seems to be everyone but us seeing physios? Are there motor issues I should be seeing? It's never been mentioned to us although at his last check the consultant did mention his head rotation was good with no neck stiffness. His legs seem (in my limited knowledge) fine. He does lock them out a bit but seems to be when I'm getting him to do something that he doesn't want to do. I know the bliss leaflets on premature baby development says to not use theses things but I would think that they do aid in developing upper arm strength in some way.

Hi there, my DD had an IVH (brain bleed) so is automatically given physio, OT and speech and language therapy here in Ireland (great really). Because of the bleed it is expected she will have some motor difficulties but its all waiting to see how she develops so its all seen as early intervention. A lot of babies on here have had bleeds and are grand and others without bleeds can have problems so really hard to tell. Not sure how physio etc works in other countries but hope that helps a bit. I wouldnt worry what so ever about your son, he is well monitored by the docs.


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## 25weeker

I am guessing it is nhs postcode lottery as in Edinburgh the physio sees all babies born below 32 weeks.


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## PrincessPea

toothfairyx said:


> Can I just be a bit thick and ask why are what seems to be everyone but us seeing physios? Are there motor issues I should be seeing? It's never been mentioned to us although at his last check the consultant did mention his head rotation was good with no neck stiffness. His legs seem (in my limited knowledge) fine. He does lock them out a bit but seems to be when I'm getting him to do something that he doesn't want to do. I know the bliss leaflets on premature baby development says to not use theses things but I would think that they do aid in developing upper arm strength in some way.

We arent seeing a physio either, although we havent yet had an 'official' deelopment check at the hospital.


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## Marleysgirl

Andrew seemed to be referred automatically due to his prematurity, they wanted to check that his muscle tone was developing properly. It was meant to continue until he was 2yo but we haven't been sent another appointment since before he turned 1yo.

Andrew loves his bumbo, we use it even now for breakfast feeds.


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## toothfairyx

Ah well thats interesting. We are at the hospital next week for the next review so will see what the consultant says, although I think at our hospital the guidelines for things are based on clinical obs and case-by-case rather than age-defined. We didn't get the RVS jabs automatically just because he was a 28 weeker as he didn't need much ventilation whereas I know some hospitals do that automatically. I guess his consultant is checking at his appointment as he tested his neck rotation last time and that seemed to be important to him at that stage. We didn't have a brain bleed either although my friend who is a SCBU nurse did say the scans weren't always indicative of potential future problems.


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## AP

25weeker said:


> I am guessing it is nhs postcode lottery as in Edinburgh the physio sees all babies born below 32 weeks.

Is this like, physio appointments seperate from neonatal check ups?? We only see Hilary at the 6 monthly check ups for like, 5 mins?

:shock:


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## 25weeker

sb22 said:


> 25weeker said:
> 
> 
> I am guessing it is nhs postcode lottery as in Edinburgh the physio sees all babies born below 32 weeks.
> 
> Is this like, physio appointments seperate from neonatal check ups?? We only see Hilary at the 6 monthly check ups for like, 5 mins?
> 
> :shock:Click to expand...

Yes the ones at the neonatal checks and like you say they aren't very extensive. Guessing she would provide extra if needed? Although as I have said before so far I haven't been particularly impressed by her checks so don't fill me with much confidence!


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## pink.crazy

I've always wondered that too, Toothfairy! I use an American forum as well as this one and ALL of the prems on there seem to get physio.. I got worried at one point and felt a bit like I can't be doing enough to help Leo as they did specific exercises with their babies. I'm glad to have little contact with the hospital but at the same time I want Leo to have all of the support available?


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## AP

25weeker said:


> sb22 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 25weeker said:
> 
> 
> I am guessing it is nhs postcode lottery as in Edinburgh the physio sees all babies born below 32 weeks.
> 
> Is this like, physio appointments seperate from neonatal check ups?? We only see Hilary at the 6 monthly check ups for like, 5 mins?
> 
> :shock:Click to expand...
> 
> Yes the ones at the neonatal checks and like you say they aren't very extensive. Guessing she would provide extra if needed? Although as I have said before so far I haven't been particularly impressed by her checks so don't fill me with much confidence!Click to expand...

Phew i thought we were getting bumped there!! Mind you dont even go there.... Ive lost faith in them!!!


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## Foogirl

Abby saw a physio at each of her 4 month check ups. I insisted on a referral at 14 months when it was clear she was having some problems sitting and they physio wasn't at the check up. The consultant was loathe to do it but I forced her hand. If she hadn't have done it My HV was going to get a referral anyway. Knowing what we do now - (she's been diagnosed with cerebral palsy) I'm glad I put my foot down. Although to be fair, she would have got it eventually.


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## Dona

Hey girls - long time no speak!

I was a bad Mummy as Archie had a walker and a jumperoo, both I feel helped him loads. Had to hide this from Hillary of course! 

We see Hillary on the 18th May for Archie's 2 yr corrected assesment. Totally nervous and excited at the same time. Actually just felt sick typing this..! 

Can't believe he's 26 months now. Time flies by and time is also a great healer too. :cloud9:

D xx


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## Mrs Doddy

I've got a jumperoo and it's making her really active for tummy time and is bringing her legs up like she is trying to crawl - she goes in it once a day for 15mins


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