bouncers/jumperoos/walkers - heeellllppppp!

George is almost 5 months now, very strong, trying to sit up and very very nosy!!  I love the idea of the jumperoo or learn and groove activity station for him but we can't justify the cost of that, so I tried him in a door bouncer yesterday and he loved it, but H thinks they seem really unsafe.  I was thinking about our options and wondered:

Are there 'safe' door bouncers out there?

Are there cheaper versions of the jumperoo or learn and groove?

Could we get a walker?  I know he's still a bit young for the actual walking bit, but I can't see how the theory is any different to something like the learn and groove?  It would have a longer life as once big enough he could walk in it, but in the meantime could sit up and play in it.  (In fact this seems like the best option?).

Do you have any recommendations for walkers?

Is there anything else I should be thinking about or considering?

My main consideration is George's safety and development - I don't want to push him into something he's not ready for, so if a walker isn't the right thing to have then we won't get that.  The point is that he loves being upright and nosing about, and I just want to get value for (limited) money!

I would have a look on Gumtree for a Jumperoo, there's normally quite a few for sale (in my area anyway) when i'm having a browse at baby things. Most of my firends have them for their LO's and all got them 2nd hand for around £35-£40. Don't know if that's still over your budget but might be worth a look?

Ethan has a Learn & Groove & a door bouncer.  I find the door bouncer really safe, provided you have frames on the door in really does clamp tight - to test it, I hold onto the clamp and lift my feet of the floor, if I can withstand my weight it can withstand any!!!

IL's have one of the walkers with a few activity toys on it, and we use that when we visit them.  Ethan still prefers the L&G for the noise, but the walker does the trick too.

Aliya had a learn and groove when she was little and I got it mega cheap from Ebay.  She absolutely loved it, so my recommendation would be for that!

Thanks AllyD will have a look at gumtree.

Sni-itchit, I think perhaps we need to look at new bouncers - the one we tried yesterday was second hand (someone had given it to my Mum)... not sure how old it is but lots of the parts were heavy metal and the clamp for the door didn't seem too secure.  H is worried that it will fall down and do some serious damage to G!

I think Asda normally sell the door bouncers cheap...

Do you have any friends with older babies that might have a jumperoo or similar you can borrow?  We've borrowed ours because I was struggling with justifying the cost.

Just wanted to say that the HV was at pains to stress that walkers are considered really unsafe and they've had a lot of accidents involving them, they're also not ideal because they get encouraged to walk on tip toes.  One of the main selling points of the jumperoo, for me, is that he's contained in it-I know he'll be in the same place when I come back to him

Could try netmums too?

Our jumperoo has been indespensible - I flogged a load of stuff on ebay and then used the money in my paypal account to buy one from kiddicare.

We found the door bouncer great from 4 or 5-8 months, both mine loved it, good exercuise tired them out. Then when she starteed leaning head back & hitting head on door frame we got a learn & groove activity station. She loves it && it was half price from boots.com so only £42.50. Just look out for a bargain!   

Gah, I don't know what to do!  If I had a bottomless pit of pennies I'd go for the jumperoo, no question.  Unfortunately we don't know anybody with one, and I can't use ebay because paypal have screwed up my account and I haven't sorted it out.  Might pop to the baby shop today and have a look at stuff in real life rather than pictures on kiddicare, that might help a bit?

Mostly I want something that will be value for money.  I could buy the jumperoo, it's just that we have a pot of money to cover my maternity leave and the more money I spend from that, the less time I get off IYSWIM?  If something is really worth the money I don't mnind buying it, but I hate the thought of spending £80 on something he'll use for a really short amount of time and then it's redundant (especially as I have no doubt that there are expensive toys I could be buying at every stage!).

What a ramble, sorry!  H is getting bored of me having this conversation with him on repeat to fade so now I'm passing it onto you lot

We have a door bouncer and it's fab.  So cheap, easy to move around and zoe loved it.  She still goes in it now at 13.5 months.

We did buy a VTech activity table that sometimes we put in front of the bouncer but now she just uses it as a table without being in the bouncer.

Thank you everyone for your help.  We went to a big baby shop today and had a look at various options.  H is really against the door bouncer and the walker was a bit too big really for G.  However, having seen him sitting in the walker he really seemed to love it.  We popped in to see Mil with her present and we were chatting about it, and love her, she's offered to pay half for the jumperoo!!!  So chuffed!  The precious planets one is £74.99 delivered on kiddicare at the moment so ordered that tonight.  Can't wait to get it!!

I'm glad you've gone for the jumperoo Dinx. My reply was going to be you'll get half the cost back by ebaying iit once you've finished. That's how H and I justofy the cost of it. He nipped out to Toys R Us and bought one a few weeks back and Louie loves it already!

Ahhhh good point KB3, hadn't thought about the fact that I can sell it on again.  I hope he likes it, I'm so excited I'll be gutted if he hates it