Jumpers for babes

[mommariffic]

We just got this from CL for our DS http://www.amazon.com/Merry-Muscles-...8629972&sr=8-7

He's in love - he's constantly trying to stand/cries when he's not able to so for 10-15 minutes a few times a day he hangs in this and COOS the entire time.

What are your thoughts on this? I won't leave him it it for long, but I can't see how this could affect his spine/anything else because essentially he gets carried the same way in our Moby/Bjorn carrier.

[Knitting Mama]

I feel like anything that puts a baby into a position that they can't independently maintain should be used sparingly, like no more than 10-15 minutes a day. The fact that you highlight that you have a Bjorn leads me to the next point: "crotch dangle" style carriers (and jumpers) are not good for a baby's development! Think about it-- all of their weight is being put on one small area. Baby carriers should hold the baby in a seated position and offer support all the way out to the back of the knees. The bum should be slightly lower than the knees. Think of a widened letter M -- the baby's crotch should be the point in the middle, their upper legs the diagonals, and the lower legs the vertical legs.

edit: You can still do an outward facing carry with proper support if you have a carrier designed for it. I believe that you should do an inward carry as often as possible, rather than outward, but my own daughter went through a phase of flipping her lid every time she was inward facing. During that time, we invested in a Pikkolo carrier, because it offers inward facing carry, outward facing with proper support, hip carry and back carry.

[sssheri]

I think as long as he isn't in it all day, that you should be fine. According to the description, this bouncer looks like it was designed to offer proper support to the spine like the above poster described. I just may get one of these!