My baby is 10 months and she is starting to try and pull her self up on the furniture! I don’t think it will be long until she is walking. I was thinking about getting her a baby walker from Mothercare, is this the right time to get her a walker? When did you give your baby a walker?
I think baby walkers are banned now? At least in [name_u]America[/name_u]? I am not sure, though. I guess babies can fall down stairs in them or something. I am referring to the kind of thing that the baby sort of stands in the middle of, not the thing that the baby pushes around. I think that the type they push around are still okay. We didn’t have either type, though, so I am unsure on brands, etc.
[name_u]America[/name_u] doesn’t really do baby walkers anymore. I had one of those exersaucers for my daughter & once she started trying to walk I put up gates & let her pull herself up. I did have to repurpose an especially spindly end table!
I figure you could still find walkers second hand. I think they were only banned cause of falls down stairs.
My [name_f]MIL[/name_f] gave us one of the same type by Vtech and I left it out for a couple months, but it saw absolutely zero use. Honestly, I think they’re a waste of space 
The baby learns better motor control, balance, etc, just cruising the furniture! These things constantly roll out from under them while they’re trying to pull up, so either it’s no use until they can just stand unassisted and walk without it, or you have to actually stand them up each time to use it. If you do the latter, it’s preventing them from developing their own balance and muscle.
My parents bought a walker for [name_m]Ivan[/name_m] when we were staying with them, at about 6/6.5 months. They have a pretty old, hard to properly baby proof house, so he couldn’t just be down in the common areas. He immediately found many ways to hurt himself (pulling a foot up onto the seat and trying to stand, grabbing things about him and trying to pull himself out, standing on only one leg, that’s when we decided to make it a little taller) so he could never really use it without someone sitting right in front of him keeping him seated. He loved it, he just didn’t understand that he needed to stay in it.
The are illegal in certain parts of the US and [name_f]Canada[/name_f] because babies were falling down stairs in them. Like any other toy, supervision is key. Once a child is adequately supervised (specifically, nowhere near a stairs) there will be few problems. I think the reason they are more dangerous in [name_u]North[/name_u] [name_u]America[/name_u] is because houses there have basements, whereas in the UK etc. basements would be highly unusual.
Anyway, we have used a walker with our older daughter and will do so with [name_f]Daisy[/name_f] in the near future. They aren’t recommended for babies who can’t seem to hold their own weight under their legs which is something to consider - I certainly wouldn’t put a baby under six months into one.
They are perfectly safe so long as baby is kept away from stairs and supervised. My elder daughter definitely found hers useful so I’m confident I’ll be using one again.
We had one for our twins and they liked it a lot. We live in a house without stairs so we didn’t have that concern. We also had 2 jumpers However, when my aunt who is a professor in the physical therapy department at a university in florida visited she gently but firmly told us that walkers and jumpers were not good for babies muscle development and a lot of other things (I have forgotten now and honestly I was in such shock at being told I was potentially hurting my kids that I don’t remember much about what she said). After that we only used them when we really had to (ie home alone and need to confine both kids safely in the bathroom while I shower type of situation.) The boys loved them though, particularly the jumpers. 
We don’t use walkers since in addition to the risk of falling down steps they don’t actually help them to learn to walk correctly.