Which baby walkers are safe to encourage baby to walk?
1 | VTech 2 in 1 First Steps Baby Walker Best Budget Walker | Price: £ | Check it out | |
2 | Tidlo Wooden Activity Walker | Price: ££ | Check it out | |
3 | Tidlo Wooden Babywalker with ABC Blocks | Price: ££ | Check it out | |
4 | Fisher-Price Learn With Me Zebra Walker Top choice for younger babies | Price: £ | Check it out | |
5 | Push Along Wooden Walker | Price: ££ | Check it out | |
6 | HABA Discovery Wagon | Price: £££ | Check it out | |
7 | Labebe Baby Walker | Price: ££ | Check it out |
Your baby is starting to stand up and you want to help them make their first steps? It’s normal to want to encourage your child development, however it’s not always easy to know how. Should you use a walker? Is it safe? Does that really help your baby?
We’ve looked into it and we’re bringing you the good, the bad and the ugly from the baby walkers:
- Why some baby walkers are dangerous?
- How to choose the right baby walker?
- Our top baby walkers on the UK market
The best baby walkers to encourage your baby to walk
The best activity walkers for toddlers
VTech 2 in 1 First Steps Baby Walker
Best budget walker. If you’re looking for an inexpensive baby walker look no more, this is the one.
Very interactive with tons of colours, noises, lights… It has everything to captivate your baby’s attention for hours.
Two major advantages: it’s foldable and the activity board can be taken off the walker.
Not as elegant as our other choices but this walker is really stable and entertaining. It’s a steal at this price!
Alternative colour:
If you’re not kin on the colours, you can also get it in pink here.
Tidlo Wooden Activity Walker
Montessori-inspired. Great quality wooden walker that will help steady your toddler while they are learning to walk.
Tildo is a reference in the wooden toy market and they know what they are doing. They are providing great entertainment a board at the front of the walker full of colours, shapes to touch and move…
Plus it’s a great price for such a quality wooden walker.
Tidlo Wooden Babywalker with ABC Blocks
The Royal Choice. Cute trolley made of wood with bright colours that stimulate your child. This walker is perfect as a little helper to encourage your baby to walk.
It has 24 wooden blocks to help stimulate the child’s intelligence. The wheels are wrapped in rubber to reduce noise and it won’t make scratches on hard floors.
The Tildo walker was the choice of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for their little Princess Charlotte (Source: Kensington Royal – Twitter).
The best walker for babies
Fisher-Price Learn With Me Zebra Walker
Particularly helpful to encourage baby to stand up the Fisher-Price push along walker is one of our top choices.
Its size and activities makes it perfect for younger babies. Plus it comes at a great price
Features
Thee handles are easy to grasp, and the design is sturdy, bottom heavy and with four large widely spaced wheels. No worries about baby tripping over the wheels or tipping over with this walker.
The fisher-price walker is good for babies to use even if they are only just sitting up, as the front panel has many fun activities right at baby sitting height.
The happy smiling face of the zebra is high contrast and sure to capture your baby’s attention. Fun gadgets on the front panel include a flicker switch, a rolling ball, light-up buttons, a rotary dial, and a turning page, all of which include actions that will help develop important fine motor skills for baby. Sounds include ABCs and counting, as well as encouraging phrases.
Honorable mention for the cute wooden walkers
Push Along Wooden Walker
It doesn’t have as many activities as other choices presented above, however if I had to give a price for the cutest design, this baby wagon would definitely be the winner.
This cute fire truck is an excellent quality wooden walker for toddlers from 1 year old onwards.
Very sturdy, with a solid wide base, it won’t tip over, making it extra safe for your baby. Plus its rubber ring on the wheel will ensure to not leave any marks on your floor.
HABA Discovery Wagon
Great quality wooden walker with development activities on each side of the wall. It helps your baby to learn to stand without your help, to move or walk independently.
The walker is beautifully finished with an elegant Montessori-inspired design that offer just the right amount of stimulation for your little one.
Labebe Baby Walker
If you are looking for a baby walker toy that will last for years, this shopping cart style wooden baby walker by Labebe is a must have!
Older babies and toddlers love to put toys inside of containers and carry them around the house or yard.
Features
This toy will certainly get a lot of use, well into the preschool years. This wooden walker features a sturdy frame, a broad and deep storage chest, and large rubber ringed wheels that manoeuvre easily on carpet, hardwood, or even outdoors.
This toy follows all of the UK safety standards, uses high-quality hardwood material, and is easy to put together. Though the owl themed storage walker is the customer favourite, this company also offers 5 other walkers with different activities and themes, including a woodland themed activity wagon block sorter walker, a fire engine or police cruiser walker, as well as an activity lion or elephant walker.
Labebe also gives excellent customer service, and guarantees a free replacement or your money back if you are not satisfied with your purchase. When you want minimal toys in your home, you look for items that are aesthetically pleasing and can be used for many years in multiple ways. With the wooden baby walker toys by Labebe, all of the boxes are checked.
Avoid the sit-in walkers
Many studies and experts have questioned the safety of sit-in walkers. In fact, these toys have been banned in Canada for years and the EU recommendation is to not use a sit-in walker to avoid accidents
Between 1990 and 2014 in Ohio, a study recording the cause of trauma of babies under 15 months old admitted to the ER highlighted the risks of injuries related to sit-in walker. During that period, 230,676 children were treated for trotter related injuries
According to the study, the walker place the babies in potentially dangerous situation giving them more freedom of movement and speed than the babies can safely manage. Toddlers smash their fingers between the toy and walls, twist their ankles underneath themselves and most of them fall down the stairs…
Furthermore, according to a British study, babies that use sit-in walkers would make their first steps later than other babies. According to psycho-motor experts, these walkers might have a negative impact on the development of the baby’s hips and prevent the baby to learn to coordinate his legs and arms.
Can a push along baby walker help your baby to learn to walk?
While sit-in walkers are widely not recommended due to the large amount of accidents that are associated to them, it doesn’t mean you have to completely renounce to encourage your kid walking with toys.
A baby walking trolley is very effective to stimulate the mental and motor development of your baby. Your baby will do their first step holding on to it, giving them a feel of what they need to do to walk
Today there are countless models of walkers. Between all of the different functions and price points, it can be really difficult to narrow your choice down. So we’ve written a little guide for you
What to look for in a baby walker
There are several criteria to consider when buying this kind of baby walking aids.
The material: The first thing to consider is the materials used. There are plenty of plastic walkers but my favorite are the wooden ones. They are indeed more expensive but also more solid. It is an ecological material, resistant and which ensures a good life with the trolley. However, make sure that other products used for assembly and treatment are safe for your child’s health.
The colour: Regarding the shape and colour, it is better to choose a colorful model that will help awaken the curiosity of your baby.
The weight: The weight of the device is an important characteristic. To ensure good stability, prefer models that are not too light. On the other hand, it is also recommended to avoid too heavy walkers, that would be too difficult for your little one to handle properly. This parameter usually depends on the materials of manufacture, the wooden articles are heavier than the plastic ones.
The look & accessories: Accessories coming with the walker are also an important thing to consider when making your purchase decision. There are baby trolleys that look like a kitchen or pram to help the baby mimic what their parent does every day.
A great bonus if the model can store your baby’s toys in it. Furthermore the ability to adjust the height of this equipment is also very practical so you adapt it according to the size of your child.
To help you buy the stand up walker that will fit your little one’s needs, we’ve selected our favourite five baby walkers.
Hope this made your search for the right walker for your baby a little easier. If you found this article helpful, please be sure to check out some of our other baby equipment articles! We have compiled right here the best sensory toys for baby on the market today.