doorway bouncers

I don't know what brand we have, but my dd LOVED this contraption. We have thick beams that run through our living room on the ceiling, so I (with minor carpentry work) found a way to hook it up in the middle of the room instead of the doorway. THis way, she could spin around and be in the center of our universe the whole time. She **** likes to be the center of attention

We have the bouncer by Graco that has a tray. I think the bouncer was the best $30 I have ever spent. I bought it for ds when he was just 3 1/2 months old because he always wanted to be standing and a mom's arms get tired
In my experience, some babies like the bouncer and some don't. It sounds like your baby is like mine... active. Ds spends a little time in it each day. Now that he is capable of sitting up and crawling (at 6 months) he equally likes being on the floor. I think ds liked it so much from the beginning because even when he was 3 1/2 months he could control where he was looking and turn around in the bouncer. Our pediatrician told us to get an exersaucer because she felt they were 'better' for the baby, but ds doesn't like the exersaucer very much and it takes up a huge amount of space.
Bottom line? We love the bouncer

Oh man, DS LOOOOOVED his Jolly Jumper, and so did we! We have an older house with solid door frames that we could hang it on, and he just went nuts bouncing. DH also rigged a hook in the ceiling of his study over his filing cabinet, and ds could bounce while daddy worked on the computer (great for the 2 months that dh was a SAHD). Evan loved being upright, and I think he enjoyed the physical motion and the sense of control.

My MIL got it for us and we were very impressed with the quality. The Jolly Jumper is one sturdy piece of equipment!

I just have to share these pictures:

Evan in JJ on Xmas

Bouncing with Daddy on the computer

More bouncing with Daddy

Short video clip of bouncing here!

We were given two johnny-jump-ups at our baby shower. I didn't plan on ever using them because I've read/heard so much about how they are not good for babies' development. I also am just kind of against putting my kids in any contraptions. We did end up hanging one of the jump-ups from our ceiling (our doorways don't have molding), but have only used it three or four times. The boys do like it, but only for a few minutes at a time. And they are really active kiddos. They've been crawling/sitting/pulling up since five months.

My opinion is that when used in moderation (ideally no more than 15 minutes a day), bouncers really aren't bad for a baby's development, though I certainly don't think they help any. I think it also depends on what you're doing while the baby is in the bouncer. Are you interacting with your bouncing babe, or just letting him hang/bounce there while you do other stuff? Not that I think you need to be interacting with your baby every waking minute, but I think it's nicer to use contraptions to enhance interaction rather than as "baby sitters." If I need to do something without a baby for a few minutes, I prefer to set my guys up on the floor with some new exciting objects (like measuring cups, cardboard boxes, empty spice containers) than to put them in a bouncer/similar contraption.

I wouldn't buy one. Before long, your baby will be able to pull himself up and bounce all on his own!



Lex

okay`i hate to be the downer here, but recently i met a woman who works in a school with kids who have had problems developmentally (in overt and subtle ways), and in her training she learned that some children are affected by these jumpers not as much because of their necks being too weak, but because some fluid in their head or ears or something is compressed. i think she said it affects their spatial awareness or something like that.

it was a brief convo over dinner w/ my 21 mo old ds, so as you can imagine, it came in bits and pieces, but was interesting nevertheless.

she was very positive that it could be remedied etc. but it made me happy that neither of my children had much interest in the jump ups, b/c i was right there w/one for both of them to try.

she also talked about how crawling was also a connection to their development later on, which i have heard, but she clarified that a developmental milestone is missed when they skip crawling and go to standing and walking.

she talked about how children who didn't crawl tend to lean forward more when you ask them to walk backwards and that there were other things they did to test their situation.

dd did not crawl, and i had one teacher who pointed out to me that she wasn't able to do a simple tumble at an age that most kids were able to, and a few other simple tasks that dd wasn't totally comfortable doing.

she didn't tie it to her not crawling, but she did point it out at a parent teacher conference when dd was about 9 yo.

anyway, food for thought.

She would jump and jump in there for usually a half hour at a time. She always wanted me to be watching her while she was in it and would cry if I left the room. I started her in it once she could hold up her head well (4 months?) I think she loved the fact that she was using her own strength to propell herself up and down and up and down. She felt almost like a big person. I always had a mat under her that is about one 1/2 inch thick, made out of foam, just in case. I think that the only way babies could get really damaged in the jj would be if they were left in it every day for long periods on a hard floor. I found the jj a lifesaver sometimes. Like this spring when I had to do some gardening, and she didn't want to sleep, and I didn't want to kill my back stooping over to plantseed etc. while carrying her... she would watch me under an umbrella, with her toes in the dirt. She doesn't like the jj any more now, as she can crawl, so I don't force it. But the jumping devices are not garunteed that every baby will like them, and for how long. HTH