"Static exercisers"; good, bad or ugly..?

[Mingles]

I was at a friends place with my now 5 month old dd. My friends sone had one of those 'static exercises' (in the mothercare catalogue) where the baby is supported in a little sling and they can swivel around and play with all sorts of interesting gizmo's. When I put dd in it she went mad, thinking it was jolly good fun and why on earth had I not been stimulating her more and throw away that boring old bouncy chair... Anyway, what's the thinking on babies 'standing up' in these things for short periods of time, before they may stand up on their own as it were? She enjoyed it so much I feel mean giving her those wooden toys now!

DS had one (the one we had actually let ds "walk" it round through 360 degrees - but not actually "go" anywhere - as well as rotate the seat unit inside it) and loved it. As the main objections to baby walkers seem to be that they make it too easy to be mobile and get to places which might be undesirable a static exerciser then one whic stays in position seems ok from that perspective.

I guess it's like anything - you wouldn't want to use it to excess, but within reason it's a great idea.

My ds had one of these as well and he really enjoyed using it. I chose it over a baby walker as I was worried about the safety aspect. Obviously you don't have the same problems with one that doesn't go anywhere. It's also a really handy place to put the baby when you need them out of the way for a few minutes.