Should we use baby walkers? Are they safe for our babies?
According to Harvard Health and many other sources (physiotherapy centers, pediatricians etc)- No! From 1990 to 2014 in the US alone there is a record of over 230,000 cases of babies ending in the ICU with major damages to their head, neck, and spine due to stair accidents while on their walkers. In the UK, there are about 4000 cases on a yearly basis, of children getting hurt severely due to their walkers. The risk of an accident while using baby walkers is not in the stairs only. There have been babies who have gotten hurt because of their hand and/or foot getting stuck, because of the toys on top of the walker, reaching sharp objects or hot pans because they could reach them from the walker and so on.
Why do parents buy walkers?
Generally baby walkers were believed to help a child learn how to walk. But the truth is quite the opposite. Baby walkers actually delay a child’s process to learn how to walk. How so? Walking is not merely a process of learning how to move one’s legs back and forth. Learning to walk entails learning balancing, standing, siting, keeping the weight on your legs etc, all processes which the walkers actually impedes from happening. Baby walkers can also cause problems with bones, and muscle and ligaments malfunction. Canada has banned them since 2007; the American Academy of Pediatricians is trying to push the same law in the US.
Baby walkers offer a false sense of security which lowers their guard and supervision, thus leading to more accidents and injuries among babies.
Are there better, safe options, that could help a baby in their journey of learning to walk?
Yes, toys (push like standing walkers) as in the picture, which encourages baby’s self balance, standing, pushing themselves up, keeping balance while upright; are a much better and healthier option, which also motivate the baby and helps in their learning process.
If you still chose to allow your baby to use the walker, please limit its use to max 10 minutes per day, keep your baby close by at all times and at constant supervision.
Also keep in mind that every child is different, and will reach the development stage of being able to walk when they are ready to do so! So please mama don’t stress, and don’t allow others with their comments stress you either.
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