Baby Walkers - What are your honest opinions/experiences

[LittleMan]

Ds is now 9 months old and climbing out of his inflatable ring, is out of his bouncer chair and can't be left anywhere alone as rolls all over the place (not yet crawling) and gets his little fingers in places they shouldn't be!! Lots of friends, my mum and MIL as well as SIL have all suggested baby walkers, said they were great and the kids loved them. Mentioned them to the HV today at ds' 9 month check up and she poo-pooed them and said she would get them banned if she could. She had lots of reasons for this but the main one was the fact that it keeps the child in an unnatural position where the hips are splayed, and the child walks or pushes by leaning forward and using tiptoes, which in the professionals opinion has led to many cases of the shortening of the achilles tendon preventing the child from walking properly. Along with the safety factor she was really against them.
Just wondering what others out there think or have found.
Ta!

Mine both hated the one my aunt bought me - it has literally had about an hour's use I reckon. DD in particular really loved the door bouncer though before she was walking.

I think they are great for babies at that stage where they want to be up on their feet more but don't have teh strength to do it. I feel that the WARNINGS about them are really for IDIOTS who leave their babies in them at the top of escalators etc. I cannot see how a baby who is two foot away from you pootling about with some bricks on his baby walker tray while you wash up is going to flip himself on his head and do himself an injury.

DD had one, She loved it and she was walking at 11 months. I feel my daughter thrived in it, She could get around herself. Now when DD was in it i made sure it was safe for her to be in it. You hear all these storys about babys falling down stairs/steps What in gods name were they near them in the first place for!! If you child is in a walker you watch them.
Also giving them a break from it, dont leave them in it all day cause you have jobs to do.
Everything in moderation i think.

LittleMan we also live in a three storey town house. My DS and DD both used one and we never had a problem. We would occassionally use it upstairs (had gates on the stairs so no risk) but mostly downstairs in the hallway/kitchen while doing the washing etc. I didn't put them in it for long periods of time and both were early walkers.

The instruction on their box always states that they should not be used for more than 20 minutes.

As for babies falling down stairs, you surely can't blame that on the walkers, where were the responsible adults?...