First our babies roll over, then they crawl, they start pulling themselves up, and then we watch as they figure out learning to walk.

It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time. We want them to build their independence, but we don’t want them to hit the corner of the coffee table. So how do we keep them safe and help them with learning to walk?

That’s the question Milena Perrine asked herself. Lucky for us, she didn’t wait until her son was born, she started thinking about it while she was pregnant.

Learning to Walk – Milena’s Inspiration

MCA: Welcome, Milena. Learning to walk is a huge milestone of toddlerhood, and we know this served as your inspiration behind My Early Steps™ – would you tell us more about that?
Milena: I created My Early Steps™ because there wasn’t a better alternative on the market. As an expecting mother, I read the book What is Going on In There? by pediatric neurologist Lise Eliot. It is an amazing account of children’s brain development from gestation through the fifth year of life. One thing the author explains in detail is why traditional baby walkers delay learning to walk and why their use can be detrimental to overall motor skills development, while also posing safety issues (walkers on casters and wheels are banned in Canada and strongly recommended against by the American Academy of Pediatrics). Lise Eliot advises parents to use a different method of supporting their infant while learning to walk.

This message stuck with me and when my son started standing with assistance and cruising, I was determined to simply hold his hands to help him practice learning to walk. This was painful for my lower back and I also felt like I was pulling on his arms too hard and feared that he will end up with a dislocated shoulder. Next, I tried to support only his upper torso with my hands which is where support is needed the most because babies are top heavy. This method was even more inconvenient!

I looked for a harness, like the ones used to teach kids to ski or something similar, to buy. At that time there were only a few products available and most of the consumer reviews identified major flaws in their designs and were not exactly supportive. So I decided to make some sort of harness myself and after about a week of tweaking had a perfectly functional soft structured baby walker to use with my son! After parents at the local playgrounds offered to buy it from me, I felt encouraged to look into perfecting the design with doctor’s advice, securing a patent for it, and having it made commercially.

MCA: Excellent job on the initiative! It’s really inspiring to see parents take the creation of products into their own hands. What was the biggest challenge with bringing My Early Steps™ into full production?
Milena: This is a very accurate statement! My biggest challenge was finding a quality manufacturer. It took a lot of patience, travel, persistence, and personal sacrifice to get the product manufactured with the necessary workmanship and quality. I am sure that maintaining a consistent high quality will continue to be a challenge and will draw on my experience and everything I have learned so far to make sure My Early Steps™ is always made well and can be enjoyed by parents and babies.

MCA: We really love that extra push for good quality that we see in our award winner’s products. How has the response been to My Early Steps™?
Milena: My Early Steps™ has received an amazing amount of positive response by both consumers and the trade – including being recognized by Mom’s Choice Awards® with a Gold award! I am truly grateful.

MCA: It is well deserved! What would you consider My Early Steps™ most important contribution to families in your aim to help toddlers learning to walk?
Milena: People commonly state that not having to bend while assisting their baby in learning to walk is the biggest blessing of My Early Steps™. But it really isn’t just about saving the parent’s back! Let’s face it – babies learn to walk in a few short months so the life of this product is not as long as that of a baby carrier for example. However, My Early Steps™ brings a multitude of benefits to baby such as unobstructed view of the feet, which allows for integration of visual feedback, free use of arms for balancing, upper leg muscle strength development and it is a real confidence builder for little ones. In addition, the parent is an active user of the product at the same time as baby, so the risks posed by traditional walkers are neutralized. I would like to help more parents realize what kind of physical and neural maturation is necessary for a baby to start walking independently and that My Early Steps™ aids in the hours of practice needed to achieve balance while independently transitioning from one foot to the other, aka walking.

The concept of parent assisted, soft structured baby walkers has been around for centuries! The first US patent was awarded to Catherine Tardy in 1874, people used similar devices in Russia back in the 17th century, and they are very well known to the Asian world. That being said, I feel that My Early Steps™ has an excellent contemporary design that brings all the benefits for baby identified above. Educating parents on the importance of these and providing a product that supports them is really important to me. 

MCA:Wonderful. Now, how has developing your product has changed your life for the future?
Milena: Bringing My Early Steps™ to life has definitely been a life changing and extremely challenging experience. I learned to make peace with constantly making mistakes, falling hard, and getting back up. This process has taught me that persistence is the single most important quality for anyone who dreams of achieving his or her goals.

MCA: Perseverance is key. Looking ahead to this ongoing year, what’s up next for you?
Milena: In the near future I am going to focus on promoting My Early Steps™ within the USA and also work on developing sales channels abroad. We are excited to have had consumers from Australia, Canada, and many European and Latin American countries purchase My Early Steps™ through the export retail services of Amazon.com. This has been most encouraging and I look forward to establishing distribution systems outside of the country.

Mom’s Choice Awards® Honors

My Early Steps™
by Little Dundi
Gear & Accessories
Gold – Walkers & Jumpers

Contact, Connect, and Network with Milena

The Alumni Spotlight is a periodic feature on the official Mom’s Choice Awards® blog. It is part of our ongoing effort to “shine the spotlight” on you and your award-winning, family-friendly products, services, and media.