A baby’s first step is a huge milestone in any baby’s life and one that every parent waits for with anticipation. But this milestone can be a long time coming.
So if your baby is ready to move about a bit more but not quite confident enough to take those first steps, walkers are a great way to help give them some freedom while still keeping them safe.
They also allow them to practice being weight bearing without the worry of falling over. There are hundreds of different walkers available on the market, but we will look at the best Baby Einstein walkers in 2024.
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Short On Time? Here Are Our Choices
| Title | Price | Prime | Buy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Top
Top | Baby Einstein Sky Explorers Walker with Wheels & Activity Center, Ages 6 Months + | PrimeEligible | Buy Now | |
Top | Caterpillar & Friends Discovery Walker | PrimeEligible | Buy Now | |
Top | Baby Einstein Neighborhood Symphony Walker | PrimeEligible | Buy Now |
Things To Consider Before Buying A Walker
There are hundreds of walkers on the market from many different brands. Each brand states that theirs is the best, safest, provides the most developmental stimuli, and a breakthrough in the design of walkers.
But no matter what they use to entice you to buy, there are a few basics that you need to keep in mind before purchasing a baby walker.
Safety Features
This will be top of your list no matter what baby item you are looking to purchase. Ensure that walkers meet all the safety requirements for their state/country.
Some baby walkers have safety features such as locking wheels, meaning that you can prevent your baby from moving in a certain direction. This comes in handy when you realize how high a baby in a walker can actually reach.
Countertops are no longer a place to put things out of reach of your baby. Many walkers come with a frame that is wider than the actual seating area.
This is designed to prevent babies from toppling over the walkers, but it also assists in keeping your little ones away from your countertops and shelves.
Accessories and Toys provided
Look carefully into what toys come with your walker. Do they require batteries, how many and what size, and are they included (most do not include batteries).
Is the toy tray removable, providing a tray space for other toys and snacks? Does the toy tray provide space and attachments to add your own toys, such as teething toys?
These toys are meant to entertain and educate your baby, so check out what features they have. Most are musical, along with lights. They tend to be colorful and teach the alphabet, numbers, and nursery rhymes.
Durability
Unfortunately, among the well-made walkers, you will find some that are not so well made. They tend to be made from cheap plastic that easily breaks under the gentlest treatment.
For walkers to be durable and for your child to get the most use out of them, the walkers need to be able to take being bumped and banged about. Check out people’s reviews of their purchases.
This is where you will find out how durable the walkers are before you purchase one.
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Longevity/Quality
You need to note the maximum weight limit on the walker and if the seats are height adjustable. This will ensure that your baby will get plenty of use out of the walker and that it is safe for their weight and height range.
You need to ask yourself: how comfortable is your baby going to be in the walker? A good quality walker comes with a padded seat for extra comfort.
Another way to increase your walker’s longevity is to purchase one that turns into something else once your child has outgrown that particular use, such as a chair or a trailer for carrying their building blocks.
Baby Einstein: The Brand
Baby Einstein is one of the most innovative brands in the baby gear market. They provide not only baby gear but CDs, videos, flashcards, and many other things.
They were founded over two decades ago by a former teacher and stay-at-home mom who wanted to share her love of classical music with her toddler.
The brand has since gone on to inspire a children’s TV series called Little Einsteins. The show incorporated the Baby Einstein mission to provide children with a unique combination of music, art, real-world events, and nature to introduce children to a vast world and help to enrich their minds.
The Baby Einstein walkers are no different and use their brands’ ethos to design and manufacture walkers to enrich the lives of many babies and toddlers.
1. Baby Einstein Sky Explorers Walker
This walker is one of the best selling Baby Einstein walkers on the market. It is a fantastic next step for those babies who need to be upright and are ready to move from crawling to walking.
It comes with three adjustable height positions making it suitable for babies as young as six months and will ensure that it will grow with your little one. It encourages gross motor skills to be developed along with the development of spatial cognition abilities.
The toy tray comes with a host of Baby Einstein toys providing lights, sounds, and songs that will certainly keep your little one entertained. It also comes with volume control so you can set it to your preferred volume.
The toy tray can also be removed and placed anywhere that your baby wants to go, it can also be handy to take on the go with you to help keep your little one busy and happy.
Once the toy tray has been removed, it leaves an ample tray space for snacks or for your baby to play with other toys.
The dimensions of this walker are 31 x 21.5 x 24 inches, and the maximum weight recommendation for its use is 26 pounds. It is an easy walker to keep clean as you would be surprised how dirty they actually get. But this one is wiped clean and also the seat insert is machine washable.
Pros
- Lightweight and maneuverable
- Removable toy tray
- Easy to attach teething toys to tray
- Narrower than other walkers so fits through most standard doorways
- Easy to assemble
Cons
- Not great on carpet
- Only the front wheels rotate
- Some complaints about it being quite flimsy
- Some issues with seat position when raised
2. Caterpillar and Friends Discovery Walker
The Caterpillar walker is brightly colored and will encourage your baby to explore his surroundings from a new angle. Its elliptical frame provides your baby with a sturdier frame to prevent toppling and tipping over.
It comes with a toy tray with a bead chaser, a toy that squeaks, and classical melodies that are available in three different languages. The toy tray is removable and can become a stand-alone toy that you could easily take with you to entertain your baby on the move.
Once the toy tray has been removed, you have a tray that can be used for other toys or snacks. IT could also be used to introduce some messy play to your baby, such as play-dough.
The classic melodies come with volume control to set it to the volume that is right for you.
The Caterpillar comes with front wheels that swivel while the back wheels are stationary. This makes going around corners much easier for your baby to navigate.
It also so is height-adjustable to three levels ensuring that you should be able to find the perfect fit for your baby every time, and it also increases the length of time that this product can be used.
The dimensions of this walker are 34.5 x 31 x19.5 inches, and the maximum weight is 26 pounds.
Pros
- Quick and easy assembly
- Gender-neutral theme
- Durable and long-lasting
- Height adjustable
- Good padding in seat providing extra comfort for baby
- Easy to clean and the seat is machine washable.
Cons
- The wheels are very small and can make it difficult to move around
- Not designed for use on carpet
3. Baby Einstein Neighbourhood Symphony Walker
This walker comes with the same design as all the Baby Einstein walkers. It has a bright, colorful pattern, and the toys are colorful and will entertain a little one.
This walker also comes with an elliptical frame providing a sturdier platform for your baby while they learn to walk.
The toy station is fully removable and can be taken anywhere to entertain your baby on the go.
The seat is well padded for extra comfort and has a high seat back for additional support. The seat also comes with three height adjustments making it suitable for six months to around a year old depending on the height of your baby.
The walker’s dimensions are 31 x 21.5 x 24 inches. It has a maximum weight of 26.5 pounds.
Pros
- Quick and easy to assemble
- Provides great mobility to little ones
- Toys provide good entertainment
- Height adjustable seat
- Easy to clean and the seat is machine washable
Cons
- Back wheels do not swivel
- Some issues with wheels stopping working after short periods of use
- Not designed for use on carpet
- No ability for sideways movement
Safety Measures
Baby walkers have received some very bad press over the years, with many stating that baby walkers do not help babies to learn to walk. In fact, they delay their development by not allowing children to learn the art of pulling themselves up and balancing.
There are studies that show that between 1990 – 2014, more than 230,000 children under 15 months were treated for injuries related to walkers—most of these related to falls down a flight of stairs.
Personally, I have used a baby walker with all five of my children without any issues. My three older children were early walkers and were all upright and walking unaided by nine months old.
My younger two were around 15 months old before they were able to walk unaided. Yet all five used a baby walker sometimes.
There are precautions that you can take if you buy a walker for your baby, such as:
- They should never be left unattended while in a baby walker.
- Your baby should only be spending a short burst of time in the walker, around 20 minutes per session.
- Ensure that your baby does not have access to any flights of stairs or steps, as these can potentially be very dangerous to a baby in a walker.
- Remember that when your baby is in a walker, their perspective of the world and their reach increases. What was out of place went they were crawling around is no longer out of reach when they are in a walker – this means cables, countertops, cupboard doors, etc.
The Final Verdict
Baby Einstein is a brand that is associated with an innovative design for their baby gear. But, personally, I do not feel that their walkers live up to that expectation.
Don’t get me wrong. They are beautifully made and come with great toys though a little limited in their function, but they are not groundbreaking.
In fact, their walkers do not allow a baby to move in any direction as their rear wheels are stationary, therefore, taking a step back in walker design, and not being the forward-thinking design of its earlier toys.
Another area of design that I believed they would have used is that the seat is stationary, whereas many brands now allow the seat to rotate. This allows your baby to move the walker in any direction and further develop their muscles and coordination.
All in all, I think walkers are a great resource for parents that provide entertainment and a new perspective for babies, but I do not feel that the Baby Einstein walkers are as innovative as some other brands that are available on the market today.
