Three Reasons to Avoid Baby Door Jumpers

As a parent, you want the best for your baby, and with so many products on the market, it's hard to know what to steer clear of. On the surface baby door jumpers may seem like a great solution to keeping your little one occupied while giving you some hands-free time, however, I do not recommend them.

Today I'm sharing three main reasons to avoid baby door jumpers. 

What are Baby Door Jumpers?

Door jumpers are hanging contraptions that you put on your door jams that have a sling-type seat your baby sits in. They hang from the door and your baby jumps up and down.

They are incredibly unsafe. In fact, they are actually banned in Canada. 

Other than the safety factor, there are several other reasons we shouldn’t be using these baby door jumpers when it comes to our baby’s development.

Babies are Not Developmentally Ready

A baby is not developmentally and skeletally ready to stand and jump until they are closer to age 2. When babies are born they have very shallow hip sockets. The head of the femur develops over the first 5 years of life. 

When you put a baby that does not have a skeletally mature hip socket into a door jumper, the constant impact is not good for their hip socket.

Encourages Tippy Toe Walking

When babies are in these overhanging door jumpers they tend to jump and stand on their tippy toes. This teaches them that the correct way to stand and walk is on their toes which sets your baby up for many problems in the future. 

Many babies will struggle with this skill without the use of a door jumper so using this type of device will only encourage these habits and motor patterns.

Keeps Baby From Bearing Weight on Legs

Another issue that comes from using door jumpers is babies not being able to take great weight through their legs.

We want our babies to learn how to stand and engage their core and leg muscles to learn to stand properly to support future milestones. Most door jumpers do not teach our baby how to do this properly. 

When it comes to your baby's development, safety should be a top priority and door jumpers may not be the best bet when it comes to aiding in their physical and cognitive development. To stay safe, I recommend skipping out on the baby door jumper and exploring other options that will help your little one reach milestones successfully.