The Juppy Baby Walker
Ordinarily, we do this by bending over, virtually in half. This is great for baby, not so great for Mom or Dad, whose back tends to protest! The Juppy enables the parent to walk upright while helping baby.
The Juppy is shaped a little like a one-piece swimsuit with really, really long straps. Or one of the old Johnny Jump-Ups. You unzip the back, put baby’s legs through the holes, and zip it all back up. Then you hold the straps while baby walks. (The straps are adjustable so you can get the right length.)
Livia seems to be slightly confused by our putting her in the Juppy. She seems to think that our intention is to keep her from going anywhere, rather than to help her get around, so it has taken quite a bit of coaxing to get her to take just a few steps in it yet. (She’s kind of weird like that, though. If we hold her hands, she’ll stand up, but if we hold her under her arms, she immediately tries to sit down.) The little bit we have gotten to try, though, has been much easier on my back than the more traditional method.
I do want to add one word of warning: please don’t try to use the Juppy to hold a baby upright who isn’t ready to stand yet. I have a feeling it wouldn’t be good for the development of his hips. Just use the Juppy in instances where you would otherwise be using your hands to help him stay balanced. (In other words, he isn’t supposed to “hang” in it; it’s supposed to keep him from tipping over.)
Oh – one last thing I forgot to mention: the Juppy isn’t very big, so it’s easy to carry around with you in a diaper bag, in the car, etc. It actually takes up less space than my sling, and it comes with its own little pouch.
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Congratulations to Debbi!
Disclosure: I received a Juppy from the manufacturer to facilitate this review. As always, opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.
I learned that the Juppy is surface and machine washable. That’s super!