They come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. However, they all have one big thing in common: they are all bad for your child’s development. I mean the bad baby walkers, the ones with a support system that suspends the baby’s bottom in the air. They are marketed to make parents believe they are promoting children to walk, when, in fact, they are only promoting trouble.
Not only must developmental milestones be achieved, but they must also be achieved on time and in the given sequence. Babies need to roll before sitting, sit before crawling, and crawl before walking. What baby walkers do is encourage skipping one of the most crucial milestones in our lives: crawling. Most of the time, parents unknowingly place their young babies in walkers before they can crawl, which removes the desire to crawl away from babies and thus slows down the development of hand-eye coordination. -hand.
However, even if babies are placed in walkers after they have learned to crawl, they are still at great risk from developmental delays. Let’s name a few:
- The walker visually divides the baby’s body into two parts: the upper part and the lower part. That confuses the developing brain by not understanding how to operate the invisible bottom, and that leads to proprioceptive problems like the inability to determine the position of joints in space without looking at them.
- The walker, especially with an ill-adjusted height, promotes toes reaching the floor and walking on tiptoes. That often leads to toe walking, which can become permanent. (In my practice, since 2005, out of hundreds of children with toe walking problems, I only saw two patients who had underlying causes other than walker use, and the rest were light to moderate walker users. My first question For all parents of children who walk on their toes, it is always about the use of the walker in the past and unfortunately, the answer is always “yes”).
- When babies are placed in a bumper device, where they can bump into things around them without learning how to avoid obstacles and balance their bodies, their brains aren’t forced to learn how to balance, and we all know how important that is. balance in our lives. . Later on, kids may have trouble excelling in sports or just catching up with their peers.
- Believe it or not, walkers can play a role in diminishing children’s mental abilities. As the research shows, “on a standard test of mental development, non-walking babies had the highest average score, followed by babies using “see-foot” walkers and those using newer walkers.”
- Walkers are especially bad for babies who are already developmentally delayed for a variety of reasons. They are most likely to cause bone misalignment and balance problems.
- “An estimated 197,200 baby walker-related injuries occurred among children younger than 15 months and treated in US emergency departments from 1990 to 2001.” These are very scary statistics that speak for themselves.
With all these facts known to science, walkers are still made and sold everywhere in the US. Interestingly, in 2004, Canada banned the production, import, sale, advertising, trade, or gifting of walkers. Those who break the law face fines of up to $100,000 or 6 months in prison. The hope is that one day all countries will follow Canada’s example.
For now, all we can do is educate parents on the use of good devices for our children. The best thing a parent can do for their child is to allow them to explore the environment by sliding on the furniture and walking while an adult holds their hands. The next best thing is the use of good baby walkers that resemble adult walkers. They do not restrict vision, do not promote imbalance and allow proper development.
If you ever suspect that your child may have developmental delays or other problems, talk to your pediatric physical therapist right away. We are experts in child development.
We assess and treat children in the comfort of their homes.
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