Review: Bumbo BabySitter

The Bumbo BabySitter is an innovative product to help baby sit up and enjoy life around him before he is able to physically bring himself into a seated position. It's appeal is that parents can read, play and interact with baby face-to-face without having baby lay on the floor or in parent's arms.

However, it is extremely unsafe. We purchased one for our youngest child, so he could easily interact with his older brother and really feel like a part of the action throughout the day. At first, I thought the product was genius! How convenient to place baby in a supposedly safe upright position! How wonderful that he can participate in both indoor and outdoor activities!

The colors are fun and bright and the Bumbo BabySitter also has a play tray accessory available for purchase. I thought the play tray was a wonderful idea, I could set my son up with various toys of texture and sounds and he could happily play while listening to stories, songs and social games.

Yet, even with constant, vigilant parental supervision, this product can turn hazardous quite quickly. If baby arches his back, reaches forward or simply gets wiggly, the risk of falling out or toppling the seat over is eminent. I witnessed this first hand it is absolutely terrifying.

Shortly after the we purchased our Bumbo, the company issued a recall on the product for the very reason I found it to be unsafe, many babies were flipping out of the seat, sometimes when parents foolishly placed the child on top of a table or high surfaces, such as a counter or bed. Honestly, it was obvious to me that the seat should remain on the ground, but many parents appear to have thought it would be safe on a higher surface. The recall measures taken were a simple sticker that warns that the product should only be used on the ground. I truly do not feel that this measure was good enough, safe enough or worry-free enough to warrant further use.

If you place your child in this seat, please keep your hands available to catch your child when he or she topples out. It's inevitable. Babies and children are squirmy creatures with short attention spans; they get bored quickly in one place. If you do use this product, be sure to place the back of the seat against a sofa or chair to ensure some sort of additional safety, but still, you must be in the room, by the child's side at all times.

Before the Bumbo, babies learned to sit on their own and enjoyed tummy or floor time before they reached that milestone. As a parent of two, I feel that it's far better to wait for your child to reach the point of sitting on their own instead of using a seat designed to assist a child to sit.