When babies turn 6 months, things really start to get interesting in your home. They can move around a little bit, they start eating real food, and they start being interested in supported standing. This is a fun stage with lots of learning! But it can also be very tiring to keep up with. This is one reason why the Baby Joy Walker is one of the best investments you can make for your baby who is 6 months to a year.
Instead of having to hold your baby upright while he or she bounces up and down experimenting with their knees, you can put them in a seat where they have the freedom to try out walking on their own and bending and straightening their legs. And you can get some things done around the house in the process. It’s a win-win.
So why choose the Baby Joy Walker? What are the features that are great and maybe some features that it could improve on? Read on to find out!
Toy Bar
The Baby Joy Walker comes with a simple toy bar that in my opinion is a perfect middle ground between too stimulating and not stimulating enough. Some walkers are very plain and don’t come with toys, which is fine because most people have an overabundance of toys they could give their baby to play with in the walker. However, it is nice to have an attachable option that goes with the actual walker.
Removable
The great thing about the toy bar is that unlike some toy bars, namely the one on the Baby Trend Walker (read my review about it here!), this toy bar is very easy to remove. The Baby Trend Walker has a toy bar that you have to twist to remove and it can be a little difficult to get it on and off. It’s not a huge deal if you want to keep the bar on there for a majority of the time, but if you would like to remove it and replace it regularly, then this could be a bit of a nuisance. Which makes the Baby Joy Walker with its clip on toy bar very convenient.
The reason that it is nice to have a removable option is for two main reasons. It is easier to keep clean if you segregate snack time and play time. If your baby is snacking while playing with the toy bar, you just know that graham cracker spit is going to end up on every single surface of the toy bar. And who needs an extra thing to clean?
Another reason is that sometimes toys constantly in your baby’s face can be tiring. If you wanted to sit your baby in the walker and interact with them, it is harder to do that with a toy bar in between you.
Tray Size
The tray size of the Baby Joy Walker is in the middle range of sizes as well. It is not nearly as big as the Joovy Spoon Walker (ready my review on that here!) and not as small as the Safety 1st Walker tray (read my review on that here!)
This tray is not so big that the walker seems overly bulky and it is not so small that your baby doesn’t have a lot of room for snacks or toys.
Collapsable
Like all of the walkers that I have reviewed on this blog, the Baby Joy Walker is fully collapsible. This means that you can fold it completely flat and stow it away somewhere like in a closet or under a bed. It is very convenient to be able to collapse any baby product down, and it is honestly something that I really look for when shopping for baby.
Your baby makes such a big footprint on your home, even though they are such a small person. It is surprising how fast the baby gear seems to creep into your home and make a permanent place there. But when you can collapse things down and put them away, it doesn’t seem so overwhelming. You will likely keep many of the baby products out because they are difficult to collapse, but the Baby Joy Walker is so easy to put away, that it can be collapsed after each use without being a nuisance.
Travel Size
The collapsing feature is not only good for stowing the Baby Joy Walker away when not in use. It is also great for when you are on the go. You can fold it and bring it when you go to Thanksgiving Dinner with the relatives. It can double as a toy and a high chair, which will keep your baby happy for a long time and means you don’t have to hold him or her on your lap while you eat.
Adjustable Heights
As with most walkers, the Baby Joy walker is adjustable in the same way that the Baby Trend walker and the Joovy Spoon Walker adjust. It is easy to move between the heights and ensures that your baby will be able to use the walker for as long as possible.
Your baby will be able to use the walker when his or her feet can touch the floor in a flat foot. You can put your baby in the walker a tad bit earlier than that, when your baby is able to sit independently, but he or she will not be able to use the walker as a walker. They still might enjoy sitting in it and playing with toys, but it will be most comfortable when your baby is tall enough to support him or herself in a standing position with the aid of hte walker.
The average baby will be able to use this walker from about 5 to 6 months to a year or until your baby can walk on his or her own.
Removable Seat
Another must have feature is a removable seat, and honestly, you would think that it would be a feature that every walker would have, but they don’t! The Baby Joy Walker does have an easily removable seat, but walkers like the Safety 1st walker does not have the removable option.
Sure, it is pretty easy to spot clean your walker’s seat of your walker, but not if your baby is eating in it.
Anyway, the Baby Joy Walker does have a removable option and you can machine wash the seat insert. If your baby is anything like mine were, you will need to machine wash it quite often because of all the blowouts that inevitably happen in the worst places.
When Is Your Baby Ready?
One of the most common questions that people ask is when is my baby ready to use a walker?
As I mentioned in the Adjustable heading, your baby can sit in the walker when they are able to hold their trunk upright in a sitting position. You don’t want to put your baby in the walker if they cannot hold themselves up, simply because if they cannot reach the ground with their feet yet, they could really just tip forward and smack their heads on the tray.
However, if your baby has the trunk muscles that he or she needs to hold himself up and can touch the ground, then your baby is ready to try the walker out. Remember that there are three different height settings! So make sure your walker is on the lowest height before you give up and assume your baby is still too short for it.
Babies can use the walker from about 6 months to a year, roughly. So this is a really great baby product to invest in and you will get a lot of use out of it.
Are Walkers Safe For Babies?
There is a lot of mixed reviews online about walkers. Many people say that they aren’t safe and yet, they are continuing to be sold and vetted by the FDA, so can they really be that bad?
Here’s the thing, there are a lot of safety hazards for babies. Babies do not have that grasp on cause and effect that they need to be able to make safe decisions. So the world really is a dangerous place for babies. Even your baby’s own crib can pose some serious health risks. It is almost impossible to find any kind of baby product that doesn’t come with a warning about using it without supervision or to use it in the correct manner and only the correct manner.
So are walkers dangerous?
Walkers Themselves
Walkers standing alone are not dangerous. Your baby is in a seat that has a tray attached to it. It is not a dangerous baby product just to look at it. Your baby is not going to asphyxiate and they are not in danger of getting hip dysplasia.
However, on the move is a different story.
Mobility
It isn’t the walker itself that is the issue. It is the walker when it is in motion. Your baby is much more likely to come across some dangers when he or she is mobile. But the thing is, as long as you are vigilant and your house is baby proofed, you should be fine.
According to Kids Health “Walkers are a leading cause of injuries in babies, so health and safety experts strongly discourage their use. While in walkers, babies can roll into hot stoves, heaters, and pools.”
Now, I’m not exactly sure how a baby could roll into a hot stove, but I’ll address some of the concerns and how to deal with them.
Pools
These seem to be major things that people talk about online. But I’m a bit confused by it because a pool is a huge health risk even if your baby isn’t in a walker. Why would you not be super vigilant and watching your baby while around a pool? I’m a bit surprised by the amount of times people mention a walker being the health risk when referencing that they fell into a pool.
So easy answer for this one: Don’t have your baby around a pool if your are not supervising. In fact, having a walker outside at all isn’t a great idea.
Low Objects
Another thing people have issues with is that it makes babies higher than usual and they might pull things down on themselves, like cords attached to toasters etc. Another easy answer for this one: baby proof early!
Let’s face it, your baby is going to be walking on their own at this height very soon, so why not baby proof a few months early and move all the things you would have now?
Hot Objects
Referencing the quote I inserted earlier, if your baby is rolling into heaters, then that is a risk that they have now. When babies go into walkers, they are usually about crawling age. If they are able to access a heater while in the walker, then they are definitely able to access it when they are crawling.
The answer to this issue is again to baby proof. If you have a wood burning stove or radiator, then invest in some of those extendable baby gates to close that off until your baby learns about consequences in a safe way.
So again, are walkers dangerous? They are just as dangerous as about any other risk that your baby has. There are lots of risks out there, but if you stay vigilant as a parent, you can safely use a walker and have fun with your baby in the process.
Conclusion
Overall, the Baby Joy Walker is a great baby product that you will get a lot of use out of. This particular walker is about the middle of the road as far as features go. It has simple features, but all the basic ones that I prefer are there; a good sized tray, a toy, a removable seat, and a collapsable base. It is not the most expensive on the market and it isn’t made cheaply like some of the less expensive options. It really is a good walker that you can use for about 6 months of your child’s life.