When your baby makes the transition from crawling to ‘cruising’ around using furniture and walls to help them totter about, it can be fun to give them a taste of freedom with a baby walker. There are plenty to choose from, whether you’re looking for a tasteful retro wooden push-along or a bells-and-whistles musical play station.
If you’ve been put off buying one due to safety concerns – it’s worth mentioning that in European countries, baby walkers are linked to more injuries than any other type of nursery equipment - then you can reduce these risks by taking some simple precautions starting with the guidelines we’ve listed below.
Read on for our guide to the different types available, how to use them safely and for our pick of the five best baby walkers available right now.
How to buy the best baby walker
There are three types of baby walker: the seated kind, the walking frame and the push-along trailer.
- The seated walker - If you’re one of the 30 million people who watched the children of North Korea correspondent Professor Robert Kelly video-bomb his BBC interview this March, you’ll be very familiar with the seated walker. These take up the most space and often double up as play stations, with buttons, lights and noises for the baby to play with when she’s not busy ruining her parent’s career.
- The walking frame - This resembles a colourful little Zimmer frame and, like the seated kind, often doubles up as a play station with plenty of multi-sensory distractions. It can be useful before the walking stage from around six months, when babies start to sit up independently and can play with the buttons and spinners.
- The trailer - This simple, classic design is useful beyond the transition into walking, because it can double up as a toy carrier for when your two-year-old becomes obsessed with transportation.
How to use a baby walker safely
- Never leave your baby unattended - It may sound as obvious as Donald Trump’s toupee, but it’s amazing how tempting it is to leave your baby happily occupied with his walker for just one minute while you nip to the loo or answer the door. But babies can move at one metre per second in a walker – so before you know it, they could be in trouble without you there to rescue them.
- Baby-proof the room - You may have already put cushions against all the sharp corners and picked all the dangerous objects up from ground level, but your baby will gain height in her walker. Look out for household cleaning stuff, perfumes and alcohol that might now be within reach, and bear in mind that if your little one’s in a seated walker, she’ll have new freedom to grasp objects, such as trailing cables, with both hands.
- Don’t let them travel around the house - Walkers add some serious speed, especially when babies learn how to push themselves down a shiny corridor, as Mr Kelly’s wife Kim Jung-a learnt to her peril. Stairs are particularly dangerous, so keep walker time supervised in the living room and keep the stairgate in the hall firmly locked at all times, just in case.
- Don’t leave them in it too long - It’s a fun way to encourage your baby to walk, but it won’t actually help the process. She’ll have to do that by herself, using furniture to help her up. So make sure she spends most of her time on the floor in a hazard-free zone – preferably barefoot – and keep walker time as an occasional 20-minute treat.
- Check it’s got the safety standard - All baby walkers must comply with the safety standard BSEN 1273:2005. Older walkers can topple over easily.
The five best baby walkers to buy
1. VTech First Steps: Best baby walker from sitting up to toddling
Price when reviewed:£30
Probably the most-fought-over toy at your local playgroup (the first being those red and yellow Little Tikes cars), you’ll recognise this baby walker – although you may not have realised its full potential until you see it loaded with batteries and with telephone handset attached. When powered, this gizmo offers an array of cheerful farmyard noises, songs and counting options, along with lights, shapes, buttons, spinning wheels and a yes, a little plastic phone for them to talk into. For babies who can sit independently, it’s an interactive mini-playground at which they can spend time exploring either on the frame or on the floor; for toddlers starting to walk, it’s a little Zimmer frame that can take them across the room at exciting new speeds. It may be plastic fantastic, but you can always fold it up and put it in a cupboard when you want to clear your living space again. And kids love it.
Key features – Age range: 6–30months; Dimensions: 44.5 x 56 x 42.1cm; Wipe clean
2. Percy Pup push-along: Best seated push-along baby walker
Price when reviewed:£89
Perhaps the exact opposite of the VTech first steps, Little Bird Told Me’s Percy Pup push-along is a vintage-styled dog that functions as a seat and a baby walker. Suitable from 12 months, children will love taking him for a walk and then taking the load off and pushing themselves along on his back. Aside from its obvious cuddle factor and aesthetic advantages, it has rubber strips on the wheels to avoid slippage, a little doggy coat they can dress him with when it’s ‘walkies’ time, and it can hold up to 20kg, so your baby’s jealous older brother can have a go when he feels left out.
Key features – Age range: 12 months and up; Dimensions: 64 x 35 x 50cm; Sponge clean only.
3. Jojo Maman Bebe Baby walker: Best push-along cart
Price when reviewed:£39
This charming push-along trailer is an excellent update of the classic type you see on vintage Christmas cards. Sturdy and stable, it has rounded corners and a little tray of 30 blocks and shapes for toddlers to pull out, spread all over the floor, stack up and transport. It was previously just available in a neutral, low-impact pastel and natural beech scheme (hello, Montessori) but as of this spring, it is also available in a bright and colourful set of blocks and shapes, with swirly orange and blue wheels (hello, playgroup). The wheels are lined with rubber to ensure a good grip on the floor, and it’s pleasant enough to look at that it can be left in the corner without offending anyone’s taste.
Buy the Baby Walker with Bright Wooden Blocks from JoJo Maman Bébé
Key features – Age range: 12months and up; Dimensions: 43 x 27 x 41cm; Wipe clean
4. Red Kite Baby Go Round Twist: Best convertible baby rocker-walker
Price when reviewed:£45
A happy splash of gender-neutral colours, the Baby Go Round Twist is Red Kite’s flagship baby walker. It’s thus called because of its platter of twisty, fiddly toys on the detachable electronic play tray, designed to entertain little ones who are learning how to use their hands. But its real USP is the fact it converts between a static rocker to a walker via a sliding mechanism at the base. So if your baby is happily wheeling herself around the room and your shopping delivery turns up, you can flick it to static mode and answer the door without worrying she’ll find her way out of the room and into harm’s way. It’s height adjustable so can grow with the baby, has a comfy foot pad for little legs to rub against, and has safety pads either side of each wheel for extra stability.
Key features – Age range: 6 months and up; Dimensions: 51 x 74 x 65cm; Sponge clean
5. Joovy Spoon: Best luxury baby walker-high chair
Price when reviewed:£359
Money no object? Trying to keep the garish clutter to a minimum? You’ll like this. Clean white plastic with ‘just a splash of colour’, Joovy’s Spoon is achingly trendy, with none of those pesky buttons or flashing lights to pollute your living space. It consists of a seat within a wide frame that has a massive tray upon which to plonk your baby’s own toys at playtime, and her food at snack time. It has three different heights and a removable chair that can be chucked in the washing machine, while the detachable tray can be placed in the dishwasher. Like many new ‘exersaucers’ (exercise saucers, where your child sits in the middle) it has ‘non-slip stair pads’ at its base, which are basically rubber strips that run along the bottom and grip the ground, helping stop the movement. And it folds up flat, for when you want to stick it in the cupboard or the boot of the car on camping trips. (Just kidding. Who would take a £359 baby walker camping?)
Key features – Age range: 6 months and up, Dimensions: 46 x 65 x 71cm; Seat is machine washable, tray goes in dishwasher