DownSyn Forum

[Momof6]

What's you opinion with the use of these? Austin's PT has told me NOT to use ours. She said it will hurt his hips. He's now at the point he wants to stand. When we try to sit him down on our laps he gets mad and won't bend until we hold his hands and let him stand. I know that their joints are much more flexable and it's not like I would stick him in the thing for the whole day. I'm not even sure if his feet will touch the botton now at the lowest level. What do you all think? Thanks for your input.

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~Christine~
Mom of 6
Brandon ADD/ADHD 19, Chelsea 16, Connor 14, Logan 9, Cody 6 & Austin 4 ( DS & Hirschsprungs pull through 12/8/08 ) diagnosis 10/28/10 Colonic Neuropathy, 12/16/11 dx with seizure disorder, neurogentic bladder...Monti Cath 11/9/12
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I think I can, I think I can.
Climb the highest hills in all the land.
(If you think you can, you can.)
He could and he did !

I say CHEESE !

[~Ben'smum~]

if he wants to stand rather than sit i'd go with what he wants, although if you think his feet might not touch the bottom then you could teach him a bad habit of standing on his tip toes and it could affect his walking later so maybe the pt is right.

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Karen- Mum to the world's cutest baby!! Ben

[Courtney]

The PT who did Lucy's EI evaluation told me to throw ours away for the same reason yours said. (We didn't.) Our actual PT, the one who comes to the house, was much more flexible about it. When we decided that we wanted Lucy to be able to play in it, we sat with Mary (the PT) and used it together. She made sure the seat was positioned in a way that supportive to Lucy and made a few other recommendations for its use. One thing she had us do was to put a rolled up blanket in front of Lucy so that she wouldn't lean up against the exersaucer, but would extend her arms to play with the toys. She also asked that we not use it for more than 10-15 minutes at a time and only a couple of times a day. Mary told us that the main reason PTs don't like exersaucers is because some parents will put their children in for long periods of time and that that type of use is not good for any baby. Lucy's entire EI team acknowledged that they are beneficial in many ways, especially for fine motor development.

Lucy loved it, as did Brodie!

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~Courtney
{Lucy, 5, Ds, AVSD repaired 1/08; Brodie, 3}

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one!" -CS Lewis

[burnsun]

former mom.....no issue with using ours.....limited time in them.....but we needed the vantage point to teach them to play and hold their heads and trunks up!

I used to have it on the no rock mode and duct tapped phone books under it so they could not be on tip toes!

I need to post a photo od my 7 yo in it last week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She will not get out of it now.....she loves it more now......it is way to funny!

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Jane
mom to
Colin Miguel (11/19/00) DS & type 1 diabetes, ASD
Devon Richard(4/13/01) DS & Autism & Partial Complex, Seizures terology of Fallot
& Retinal detachment w partial blindness at this time
Melea Isabelle(2/13/02) DS
Adrian Elliott (7/04/03) ADD
Eliza Marisol (5/15/04) DS , ASD, pulmonary hypertension, ADHD, ODD, Autism Spectrum Disorder,
Miranda Olivia (2/1/05) DS & Partial Complex Seisure Disorder & iratractable epilepsy & Stero Typical Movement Disorder & AV Canal
Jordan Alexander(3/17/2007)ADHD
Emerson James (1/08/2009) 33 week preemie
Sarah Emmaline "Emma" Grace (2/15/2011) 35week little one with a variety of issues inc: cp & fragile x & Seizures & severe birth trauma & G-J tube, Severe reflux, and recurent pnumonia and tracheosomy and vent chugging princess since 8/24/2012!




wife to the best & greatest guy Eric



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read about the daily adventures of Princess grumpy and her special siblings and their daily adventures

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[Me-Shell]

Our PT didn't have a problem with us using one for Cameron. We had the rain forest bouncer and Cameron loved it. We also had an excersaucer that we used when we were outside.

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Michelle, Fiance to Wyatt, Mom to Shane (22), Aubrey (19) and Baby Cameron DS (02/06/08 )

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

[EliasMom]

our PT encourage the use of it, but for limited time

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Ali (2 , wife to Felipe since nov 2004 & mom to Elias (Feb 21 2005) & Eva (July 2 2007)

YouTube

Blog http://aliciallanas.blogspot.com

[julesinottawa]

Our PT says for short amounts of time (too much is not good for the hips) and Leo likes his a lot. One spinny thing on there really captivates his attention. We just started putting him in it in the last few months (he's almost 13months now).

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Julie, wife to Jason, mama to Olivia (Sept 00), Ethan, (Sept 02) and Leo (July 08)Ds

[kzmom]

Pretty much ditto to what Courtney said. We put rolled up blankets between Katelyn and the saucer to stabilize her and we also put some under her feet before she was tall enough. It was a lifesaver for me when I was pumping. (just used it for about 15-20 minutes a day)

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Kristen
Mom to Zach (Jan 2005) and Katelyn (Feb 2008 DS)

[Kasey]

We were also told that exersaucers weren't good. Not just for hips, but also because they are made for babies who aren't sitting yet, when they should be able to have that kind of trunk support... also that it goes against mother nature's development of head to trunk to toe development by developing the legs before the trunk is ready.. something like that anyhow! I took it with a grain of salt though, I don't think that having them in it everyonce in a while causes long term damage.
I actually stuck a couple pillows underneath and turned it in to an activity seat, so then she was working on her sitting skills before her standing skills. I did take it out to the shed though when we started using the mermaid stocking, it seemed pointless to be putting on this goofy stocking to keep her hips in line when we would turn around and put her in the exersaucer and have them in a bad position again. For a while I also put a lycra tube around her legs, once she was in the exesaucer to bring her hips back in..just don't forget it's on.. I picked up an exesaucer with my baby a few times

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Kasey, mom to Paige (4), Leigha (0!)

[~Ben'smum~]

whats the minimum age/weight restrictions for using these? My sister has offered me her's for Ben if I want it but I don't want to use it if it'll delay his development.

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Karen- Mum to the world's cutest baby!! Ben

[violettesmom]

I agree with everything that Couteny said. tHat's basically what our EI team suggested. She wasn't in there a lot, but she liked it. I've seen some other kids with DS who are very "loose" when it comes to their ligaments and joints and I could see why extended periods of time in those sorts of chairs would be bad for them. But for short periods, it worked for Violette.

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[earlyam]

~Ben'smum~ wrote:

whats the minimum age/weight restrictions for using these? My sister has offered me her's for Ben if I want it but I don't want to use it if it'll delay his development.

Ethan was using his exersaucer until quite recently, I don't know the official weight limit but Ethan weighs around 22lbs. As others have said I only put him in the exeresaucer for no longer than 10-15 minutes at a time but I found it really helped Ethan to put his feet flat and he would stand for a few seconds without holding or leaning onto the sides. I mentioned it to the physio at his developmental assessment and she didn't feel it was an issue that Ethan used the exersaucer.

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Jo, Mum to Georgia 11/11/03 ( BIG High School Musical fan) and Ethan 16/12/07 (DS)