jeavinl's Full Review: Learning Curve Toys Lamaze Spin and Explore Garden...
When my son was about two months old, a friend gave this Lamaze Spin and Explore Garden Gym to me. She wasn’t sure if I’d like it from the things she’d heard and read about it, but I was anxious to try it out anyway. My daughter hated tummy time and I was sure I’d have the same experience with my son. I hoped that this newfangled baby “gym” would make it easier to give him some pre-crawling exploration time while on his stomach.
The basics
The Lamaze Spin and Explore Garden Gym is a relatively new product (I believe it debuted in 2007) made by Learning Curve for newborns up to 6-month-olds that combines a cloth flower-shaped play mat with an elevated, spinnable plastic body support to allow a non-mobile infant to turn his/her body toward the various playthings attached to the mat. There are crinkly butterfly wings, a squeaking baby bird that can hide inside a flap decorated like a nest, a rattling bumble bee that stretches, a Velcro-attached mirror, and crinkly leaves. The whole “gym” has a very brightly colored garden motif to it that is unisex. The spinnable apparatus has a ladybug-decorated cover on it and sits in the middle of the flower mat to allow the child to access all of the toys. The ladybug cover and play mat are both machine washable. The Lamaze Spin and Explore Garden Gym is available in many baby sections of stores and baby specialty shops and retails for about $40.
The tummy time test
I had the hardest time getting my daughter to do tummy time when she was an infant. I even remember complaining to her pediatrician about it. So I was sure I’d have a similar experience with my son. But as most moms will tell you, “every kid is different.”
“Tummy time,” for those unfamiliar with the term, is a sort of exercise pediatricians advise for infants. Basically, you lay them on their stomach (aka tummy) and try to engage them for several minutes at a time, several times a day. Tummy time allows a newborn/infant to see the world from a different perspective (a precursor of crawling) and strengthens head and neck control. It also allows the child to stretch their limbs and feel the ground in a somewhat crawling position. By getting down on their level and/or using toys, you can stretch how long a child is willing to stay in that strained position (it’s hard for a little one to hold their heads up!). I’ve also found that using a Boppy pillow to prop the child up on the floor works well.
So the big question in my mind was how well would this mat and spinning apparatus help my son enjoy tummy time? Straight out of the box (there’s no assembly required other than unfolding the mat and placing the spinning part in the middle of the mat), this gym looked very inviting. It’s colorful and decorated with lots of cute critters and there are a bunch of cool baby toys attached to the mat. My other play mat looks pretty boring in comparison. My three-year-old daughter was immediately taken by it since she has a butterfly and ladybug fetish and was sure it was meant for her to play with.
I tried this gym a good 5-6 times when my son was two or three months old. He looked uncomfortable on it and, though he is a pretty big boy, he looked like he was flying on it because he’d arch his legs and his feet wouldn’t touch the ground. He didn’t “get” any of the toys then and in that position, he actually had a harder time lifting his head to look at me. Perhaps that was because his chest and shoulders were pressed down against the ladybug spinner but his arms weren’t really pushing against the mat. If I simply laid him on my bed, for instance, he wasn’t in that pinned position and could more easily use his hands for support.
Spit up, spit up, everywhere, on the gym and in my hair
The other annoying thing I noticed then, and pretty much every time I used this gym, was that it made my son spit up. Yes, babies spit up and, thank goodness, this mat is machine washable. And, although he was never diagnosed with anything like GERD, my son definitely has had a harder time holding his milk down than my daughter ever did. But no matter how long I waited after feeding him, he’d still spew on this mat. I swear I never spun him violently. In fact, I rarely got the chance to move him at all on the spinner because he’d almost immediately start whimpering, then whining, and then outright crying until, splat! Sometimes I’d pick him up first and burp him (for the umpteenth time) and then, splat!, on my shoulder. I really think the position the ladybug spinner held him in made his fussy stomach even gassier. He didn’t have this problem on the Boppy pillow so I don’t think it was just a matter of being on his stomach. I think the incline of the spinner made him uncomfortable. I definitely do not recommend this gym to any child who actually does suffer with a reflux problem.
All grown up and ready to spin?
Since then, I’ve tried to use this gym on occasion. At four months, my son was a little more interested in the toys but was still very uncomfortable on the spinner, wouldn’t tolerate more than a few minutes on it, and spit up. The last time I used it, my son was five months old and seemed more intrigued by the toys and was, finally, able to purposely move himself around the mat without my assistance. I believe he was 27 inches and about 18 lbs. at that time and fit fine on the spinner. His feet dangled quite a bit but that allowed him more leverage to push himself around. Before that, his feet sort of flew behind him while his tugging action was the only thing moving him around. For a gym claiming to provide the proper tummy time exercise to prepare a child for crawling, I found that position counterintuitive. You really want the child to kick their legs around while lifting their upper body. Still, at this age, he whined and complained until I sat him in my lap next to the mat and allowed him to play separately with the mat toys. Even that way, it didn’t hold his attention long and he ended up tugging on the corners/petals of the mat and wrinkling the whole thing up.
Had I been able to use the mat on its own, I would’ve still been happy with this gym. But the small size of the mat (it's about 2 feet from the edge of one petal to the opposite edge) and awkward fold of it make it a poor choice. I tried laying my son in the middle of it a couple of times. He would roll once and pretty much be off the mat. Plus, the material, though soft, is a cheap-feeling polyester. The underside of the mat is black and has a sort of texture to it that grips a little better to carpet… but also picks up every strand of hair and piece of lint that touches it. Ick.
Caution: Preschooler crossing
Although there’s no seatbelt or harness to hold the child on the ladybug spinner, it does have a somewhat concave shape to the sides and the front is sloped higher. Naturally, a parent or caregiver should be present at all times when using this gym. Still, even when my daughter caught me off guard and started pulling the mat out from under the ladybug because she insisted her brother was done with this toy, the spinner apparatus didn’t slide around and my son didn’t budge.
Do use caution if you have an older child nearby. My daughter thought this gym was her brother’s attempt at being a roulette table and I had to stop her on a couple of occasions from playing Spin the Matt on the Mat. Fortunately, I always caught her before she let go. The spinner does move freely very easily so it's great for babies trying to move themselves but has a little too much "give" for a toddler or preschooler.
Overall impression
My son is now 7 months old and too big and too mobile to use this gym. It got very little use and I honestly don’t think it helped extend his tummy time at all. The Boppy pillow is much better at allowing a child to lift and strengthen their neck muscles. And an older sister is much more intriguing than this mat.
I think I would’ve had a slightly better impression of this gym had I used it with my daughter. But with my second child, who only recently stopped spitting up after every meal and two times in between and who loves doing what his big sister is doing, I had no need for this gym. The mat is too small to use on its own and my son never got used to the position on top of the ladybug spinner. Although the toys intrigued me and my daughter, he wasn’t too impressed.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): gift Type of Toy: Baby Toy
Age Range of Child: 0 to 12 Months
Birth - 6 months. This garden provides an innovative, fun platform for encouraging exploration. It develops upper body strength and lower leg developm...More at Kaplan Toys
Fantastic prices with ease & c...(Stock status: N/A)
The Spin & Explore Garden Gym introduces a new format for one of the key developmental phases of a newborn. Spin & Explore Garden Gym provides an inno...More at Amazon Marketplace
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.