Cisco has been using a Riffton miniPacer gait trainer as a walker for about three months. He took to it right away and it has opened up his world. He finally can interact with the world rather then just see it pass by. He wanders the entire house (so happy we decided to move into a single level house this summer). He opens and closes doors and drawers. He empties drawers. He goes up to people (over most the summer, he was very with those outside our immediate family). He’s a different boy. He still likes to get on the floor and belly crawl or stand at his table or other arm level surfaces but he’s happiest in his walker and will spend the day in it if he can between meals and naps.
It has been a transition. First, I had the waist support snug around his chest/waist and he took little steps with the wheels adjusted fairly tight and only able to go straight (the miniPacer is very adjustible). He also didn’t use the handles for a long time. It had lots of straps and such to mess with that he enjoyed. I slowly loosened the waist support over time. One day, I removed a lot of things and he got very upset so I realized even the things he didn’t need needed removed over time for him to transition. He always needs lots of time to adjust to new things. Even his miniPacer was placed in the house a good week before he used it. We are finding he has a lot of sensory sensitivities. Once the waist was as loose as I could make it in the front, he started using the arm rest and handles for support but never tolorated attempts at attaching his arms to the support. After about three weeks of walking around confidently with a loose waist support and even enjoying it a the park a few times (previously we only used the walker at home and he would be antsy and unhappy at the park with mommy and brothers friends), we tried with the waist open.
Today was the first day he walked with the waist support open. He took to it beautifully. We have all hardwood floors over slab, so I recently got him a “baby no bumps” helmet (not a medical helmet). So, glad I did. Great piece of mind as he uses less support for walking. He’s determined to do it on his own and pushed my hand away as I held the walker or tried to offer my help. “I’ve got it mom.”
