Baby Walkers Are Still Bad
Baby walkers, those wheeled devices that give children who cannot yet walk the sudden ability to walk , are bad. This has long been established . But parents continue to use them, and pediatricians renew their call for a ban .
What could be so bad about the seemingly ubiquitous baby products, you ask? Shouldn’t we help our charming motionless blobs maneuver the world? BBC Dad put his toddler in a baby walker. Your parents may have shoved you in one too. (I’ve seen old photos of my baby wearing this classic 80s yellow model .) They make the kids seem happy! And mums and dads appreciate how they hold back and distract their little wigglers by giving them a couple of extra minutes to brush their teeth or toss the paste in the pot.
There are at least a couple of major problems. First, a walker can cause severe acute injury. According to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics and published by NPR , “More than 230,000 children under 15 months of age have been treated in emergency departments of US hospitals for skull fractures, concussions, bone fractures and other injuries associated with infant walkers with 1990 to 2014. “According to one investigation, eight babies died between 2004 and 2008 due to injuries sustained while using a baby walker. While companies have made walkers safer over the years, adding features like wheel locks, doctors still say they give parents a false sense of security – when manipulating multiple children and other responsibilities, they may not notice a child wandering in unsafe places, such as in the kitchens. with hot stoves, pools and stairs.
There’s also the fact that walkers don’t actually help kids learn to walk – and, according to some pediatric therapists, they may even delay this stage. You see, the point is, babies do something when they do it. Their bodies need space to explore freely for gross motor development to develop properly. Placing them in an unnatural position , especially for prolonged periods, can lead to improper posture, prevent them from developing a sense of balance control, and uneven distribution of their weight. This applies not only to walkers, but also exercise equipment, Bumbo chairs and jumpers.
What seems like a decent alternative? Training tables . Or simply place some interesting non-electronic toys on the floor, create protective barriers, and allow babies to try to support themselves if they are ready to. They will learn to walk in due course. And if you have any concerns, contact a pediatrician, not a mechanic.