which is better investment: bouncer or gym mat?

[nabz]

hi everyone, my little girl will be a month old on tuesday and i was thinking she might like a gym or bouncer to entertain her. at the moment she is extremely alert but does get bored very easily. which is the better product out of the two? they are both quite expensive and if i were to get a bouncer id deffinitly want to invest in one that rocks by its self. which did you buy and use most? is she too young for these? any help advice would be great :D

thanks

nabz

[Gooders79]

Our son never really sat in his bouncer... Loved other peoples playmats though. We had a lotty the ladybird from m and p and I think it was the worst item we bought

[Pickle]

The Tiny Love playmat seems to be the one most people have, and we've had one for two of our kids - definitely worth the money and as they're machine washable they're fine to buy 2nd hand. You can hang all sorts of additional toys to them once baby gets more alert.

We have a borrowed bouncy chair which we use a lot, however only because baby Pickle (6.5 weeks) is my 3rd child and often needs to be put somewhere while I tend to the older kids!

Congrats on the arrival of your baby by the way!

P x

[ClareC]

Baby Bjorn bouncers are fantastic! Expensive but you can pick one up second hand at a reasonable price. Gyms I would rate second, again, good to buy second hand. You can add your own toys to keep interest levels up.

I think ive still got a gym if your interested, definitely rate the bouncer above the gym though!

[crystal7]

Both have been useful for us. Agree with pickle bouncy chair really came into its own with 2nd chilf who needs to be put down more. We have a cheap 1 which.OS fine ad found with my older child.once she could sit up alone she was happiest on her blanket with a basket of toys. Same with the baby gym, great for a while but once sitting not really used. Maybe other babies are different though. So I would recommend buying both but cheaply/2nd hand as they are only used for a short time.

[jennyh]

We really liked the fisher Price rainforest gym and it was great to stimulate our girl when she got a bit bigger (she was hitting out at the toys around 2 months). It also lasted a long time and she would happily lie under it and roll around on it when getting close to 6 months. I felt that it was good for her to have all the bright colours and textures etc and I felt it taught her things as well rather than a chair where she didnt have quite the same stimulation.

We had a vibrating bouncy chair which was also a life saver as it was another useful place to put the baby when needing to have a shower or something, they can sit in it wherever you are rather than having to move around a playmat which isn't always practical. My gripe with that is she grew out of it quicker because she wanted to be able to sit upright and by the age of about 5 months she would get frustrated at being slumped backwards and being confined so it became redundant.

We have the bouncy chair going spare at the moment so if you would like to try it out then you are more than welcome and if you find it useful then you can either go onto buy one or we can work something out price wise if you want to take it off our hands. Let me know! It is currently taking up space we dont have!

[lucyA1308]

both are good. My little one is happy with the stimulation of the play mat in the morning, but later on in the day, doesn't like it so much, and prefers a bouncer. Both we were given second hand, and I would suggest that you do the same. They do grow out of them around 6 - 7 months, and then need different things, so try not to buy brand new if you can avoid it.

[Curly]

I think bouncers are very restrictive in terms of a babies' movement and gross motor skill development and would only use them for short periods of time, if at all. In contrast, a gym mat allows babies to move more freely and exercise their muscles. Babies spend so much time strapped in car seats and prams so any opportunity to allow them free movement to roll over and to strengthen those neck muscles is good.