Hi Mums and Dads! My name's Emma,
I'm a paediatric occupational therapist and mum to two gorgeous children.
As a paediatric occupational therapist,
I often get asked by parents of new babies,
what toys they can purchase for their baby to keep them entertained during the
day.
And one of the most common toy they ask me about is a baby jumper or a jolly
jumper. Today in this video,
you're going to understand why should steer clear of baby jumpers in
general and why I would never ever recommend a baby jumper.
I'll also give you some great alternatives that you can use in the day to keep
your baby entertained, which don't have any safety risks associated with them,
or the risk of causing developmental delays,
which is associated with a baby jumper. But before we do,
I just want to let you know,
there's a free PDF document in the description box below,
which covers what your baby should be doing in their first year of life.
This will give you an invaluable piece of mind as you'll know what your baby
should be doing at each stage, and when to be concerned. Also,
if you're interested in baby development and hearing some parenting tips and
tricks to make your life as a parent easier and give you a baby the best start
to life,
make sure you subscribe to my channel and hit that bell button to be notified
when I release a new video every week. And if you've liked this video,
make sure you hit the like button.
Now the marketing for jolly jumpers and baby jumpers is really, really clever.
And when you read it, of course you want to buy it.
But today I think it's really important that we debunk a lot of these myths that
is told in the marketing.
So the first myth is that baby jumpers provide your baby with
essential aerobic exercise. Babies do not need aerobic exercise.
The only exercise that they need at this age is tummy time.
And it's through tummy time that they develop core strength, head strength,
shoulder, and arm strength,
and they learn to roll and crawl and sit and then
stand and then walk it's through tummy time,
not using a jolly jumper or a baby jumper.
The second myth is that jolly jumpers develop and strengthen your baby's
core or tummy muscles. That's really not true at all.
When your baby's in a jolly jumper,
they're provided with a lot more additional support by the seat.
Which essentially means that their tummies don't have to work really hard to
maintain that position. So they essentially switch off.
It's not developing any muscle strength in your baby's tummy when they're
sitting in the jolly jumper.
The third myth is that jolly jumpers or baby jumpers help develop basic motor
skills. Again, not true at all.
When your baby's sitting in a jolly jumper or a baby jumper,
they're leaning slightly forward to actually make the movement occur.
As any human, we know that when we are learning to stand and walk,
we need to be in an upright position. So leaning forward,
isn't a skill that we need our babies to learn.
What we need them to learn is to how to contract both their stomach muscles and
their back muscles to maintain an upright position,
which is what's required for standing and then walking. And the fourth myth,
which is one of the most concerning ones is that baby jumpers helped develop
your baby's leg muscles and strengthen them. Again, not true.
It's actually more detrimental for your baby to be in a jolly jumper or a baby
jumper because your baby learns to create that jumping movement by
pointing their toes.
This then means that their calf muscles get really,
really strong.
And they start to point their toes when they're trying to stand and when they're
trying to walk, which makes it extremely difficult.
If your baby's been in a jolly jumper a lot, and their calf muscles are really,
really tight,
we'll actually see your child in later months to actually
lengthen that calf muscle.
And that might be by casting their leg and gradually stretching that muscle back
out or by medical intervention.
So jolly jumpers do not help in developing good leg
muscles, basically because it encourages that pointing of the toes.
In addition to potentially causing delays for your baby's development,
baby jumpers,
have also been shown to have safety risks associated with the use of them.
And that could be because the door clamp breaks and actually causes
injury to your bub as they fall.
The other reason they might hurt themselves is that while they're in the jolly
jumper or a baby jumper,
another sibling or someone in the house or an animal,
so like a dog might walk past the baby and accidentally push them into the
doorframe when they're in the jolly jumper and they lose a bit of control.
So they hurt themselves that way.
So other reasons your baby might accidentally get hurt while using the jolly
jumper is that their fingers or hands get caught in the chains or the springs in
the jolly jumper.
The other reason is that your baby might accidentally placed incorrectly in the
jolly jumper.
So they might fall out of the harness or the laces might actually snap when your
baby's jumping around in the jolly jumper,
which can cause body or head injuries. Now, as a Mum,
I totally understand that we need five minutes hands-free,
where we can just have a little bit of time away from our Bub or we're
supervising our Bubs but just be hands free and have a moment.
So there's other great ways that you can entertain your baby and they can be as
simple as placing your baby on a baby gym. Again,
your baby's going to be more tolerant of a baby gym in the morning when they're
less tired. So I would use a baby gym then. It's really,
really great because initially when you're using a baby gym,
your bub at three months, we'll be reaching out and batting the toys.
Then they'll start to grab them. And then by six months,
they'll definitely be grabbing them and moving them between hands. Now,
your baby mightn't like the baby gym at the end of the day and that is simply
when I would recommend using a rocker chair.
These are really great because it places your baby in a seated position.
When they're under six months of age,
they can't actually achieve that by themselves. So you can place them in a,
baby rocker so that they can sit and then they have a different view of the
world, which is amazing.
And then they're going to be a lot more tolerant of you doing something in the
house while they can watch, because they can see you at all times.
The other thing is that when they're in that chair,
you can actually give them a toy.
So I would think about giving them an Oball or a big fluffy kind of lightweight,
squishy toy,
like the ones that are on the baby gyms to play with while they're in that
chair, because their hands are free and they're able to see what they're doing.
And it's great for fine motor development. Now, if your baby's a bit older,
so around six months, and you've got a high chair,
I would actually put them in the high chair and just put some toys on the tray
that they can play with.
You don't actually have to use the high chair all the time for mealtimes.
You can use it to work on those hand skills and it enables them to be upright
and seated so that they can see what you're doing whilst enjoying some fun
activities with the toys on the tray. Now,
if you don't have a high chair or a baby chair, like a baby rocker,
I would think about using your pram. So we all have prams.
I would just bring the pram inside and put your baby in an upright position with
those harnesses attached and give them a toy. And then they're essentially,
upright and seated so they can see what's going on in the world and be quite
entertained. So that's it Mums and Dads.
Those are the reasons I would never recommend a baby jumper and some safe
alternatives that you can use with your baby to give your arms a much needed
break from holding your baby all day.
Remember the free PDF document in the description box below,
which covers what your baby should be doing in their first year of life,
which you can print out and refer to throughout their whole first year of life
and give you some invaluable piece of mind. If you've liked this video,
make sure you hit the like button.
And if you want to hear more parenting tips and tricks to make your life as
parents easier and give your baby the best start to life,
make sure you subscribe to my channel and hit that bell to be notified when I
release a new video every week.
And hopefully I see next week where you'll learn more parenting tips and tricks.
[Inaudible].