The Juppy Baby Walker

On my way into the gym last week, I saw a young mother demonstrating her recently purchased baby walking assistant. As I have l grand-babies around 12 months old, I went over to see what the excitement was about, and was really impressed with this ingenious little aid. After all, aren’t grandparents supposed to keep up with this stuff?

The young lady introduced herself as Anne, and her little one was Sammy. She informed everyone that the device was called “The Juppy” (why, I don’t know), and it’s a little adjustable jump seat-like training walker. I’ll try to explain what it looks like and how it works. The baby’s seat is gender neutral, the fabric is machine washable, and it looked like the baby was just dropped into a well fitting pair of overalls. The straps of the overalls would be the adjustable harness for her mother. Anne had placed her little boy in it, zipped up the padded front, and had adjusted the harness portion to comfortably fit her and was walking slightly behind him.

Sammy is almost a year old, and has been threatening to walk for about three weeks. Anne tried to find a traditional walker that she used for her daughter, but they’re out of vogue largely because the pediatricians (I’m told) no longer think walkers with wheels are such a good idea. So, Anne was killing her back bending over to try to help Sammy learn to walk, and by the end of the day, she was always in agony. She saw an As Seen On TV commercial advertising the Juppy, and called her pediatrician to see if it was alright to try. As long as she started out slowly so Sammy could get his balance, he said to go right ahead, and so she ordered. Anne said the Juppy is the best $28 she’s ever spent! When she got it, she adjusted the straps so she was upright, put Sammy in the Juppy, and off they went!

Anne said that it took just a few minutes for them both to get acquainted with how it was supposed to work. For Anne, not bending over holding on to Sammy’s hands or arms instantly relieved the stress on her back. And, it allowed Sammy to hold his arms in a normal walking position without feeling any upward pulling from her. She said he’s comfortable walking between objects at home, but when she pulls out the Juppy, he gets really excited because he knows he’s in for a walking adventure. My back and I wish the Juppy was around when my kids were learning to walk, that’s for sure! I think I’ll order it for my daughter...couldn’t hurt to try!!