Saturday 20 August 2011

E-bay,a treasure trove for disabled parents.


Today I am talking about e-bay, what a godsend this is for disabled parents and really any sensible parent! The reason it specifically is good for those with creakiness is because one has to constantly try out products and often  may have to hack bits of equipment up to adapt, e-bay offers a cheap way of getting equipment that you think might be useful.

My most recent purchase was a "Bumbo seat" in lime green. My husband and I were in Mothercare, in Gloucester, trying out every highchair in their store, the staff were excellent and just left us to get on with it, nothing worse than someone telling you the exciting features on the latest chair when you can't even get the tray off to get a child in! We didn't know where to put Christopher as we hadn't unloaded his buggy just to go into one store and he was being swapped between us both, getting ever heavier on our arms, we thought we would only be in for 10 mins max! The store had a "Bumbo" seat out of its box so we thought ok lets sit him in there for a min whilst we think if it is worth being in Mothercare whilst he is awake or if it would be better to leave him with one of my parents whilst we dismantled the shop floor display! The Bumbo was fantastic, no difficult fiddly harnesses, just a sit the child in and go situation! We almost began to wonder why we were looking at high chairs.

However Bumbos are expensive and we were not sure, if we got one home,where it could sit.Neither Mark or I can get onto the floor so every thing has to be on a surface such as a bed or our sofa. So we continued looking at high chairs, more on high chairs later.

When we got home we investigated all surfaces that may hold the Bumbo and baby. We have leather sofas and we felt by removing all the cushions we could safely put one on there but we were uncertain. We went onto e-bay to see if we could buy one. There were loads on there at half the price, an excellent method of purchasing the unknown. He now sits happily away in his seat on our bed, on our sofa. We still watch him but with no straps to do up or undo and the grip the seat has on the child, he is very safe. If all you can manage, is to lift your baby from cot to its seat I would recommend you take a look at the Bumbo! I can suggest ideas on here to try and help others through my extensive research of equipment but every ones physical difficulty comes with different issues, even though Mark and I both have arthritis his hands are very dis formed and he finds grip hard so some buckles on harnesses are tricky for him, my hands are quite unscathed and I can grip but unlike him I have poor reach and weaker muscles etc. E bay is a good solution! Think about it prior to having the baby but try out things as much as you can in shops prior to e-baying.

Bumbos are also available from Mothercare, brand spanking new, for £39.99
or Amazon.co.uk for £27.99


4 comments:

  1. Hi.... I had something similar called a bebepod by prince lionheart. It was excellent and i think i paid about £5. I also had a rainforest jumper which sell on ebay..... not sure how easy it would be to get him in and out of but Toby loved it and with my bad back I found it ok..... no straps as you just slot him in...... door bouncers were too fiddly!

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  2. Think it is made by fisherprice..... its a jumperoo too not a jumper!

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  3. Ahhhh yes I know what you mean, they are almost like a bucket seat that the child sits in aren't they where as door bouncers are almost like one is about to send the little one abseiling! Thank you cheerymummy, this is exactly advice people need, heck I can still use this type of advice, might go and check out the rainforest jumper now.

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  4. Honestly it was a godsend for me.... it also has toys all the way round with lights etc too. Toby was 10lb 11ozs at birth and I could sort of POP him in it without even having to guide his feet in. Grace do an activity table thing too that they sit in! I had that upstairs and the jumperoo downstairs! Sadly I sold mine on eBay!

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