5 Reasons Not to Use a Baby Walker

Baby walkers are incredibly popular toys, and at least half of parents use baby walkers at one time or another with their children. However, a toy’s popularity is not indicative of its safety, and baby walkers pose several risks to babies, both in terms of injury and intellectual and motor development. Baby walkers have been banned in Canada, and the American Academy of Pediatrics wants them banned in the United States. Here are five reasons your baby should not use a walker:

It Interferes With Normal Development
Many parents get their baby a walker hoping that it will help their baby gain better muscle control and keep their baby’s mind occupied. The truth is that a walker can actually delay walking because it does not encourage improved strength and muscle control. Walkers, though fun, make it too easy for a baby to move around, which can cripple a baby’s natural curiosity and desire to develop his walking skills. Further, a walker prevents your child from crawling and reaching for things, and exploring his environment in the way that comes naturally to him, which can impede intellectual and psychological development.

They Weaken the Legs
Walkers don’t help babies learn to walk because they strengthen the wrong muscles. Walking requires strong upper legs and a strong back, but walkers strengthen the lower legs and actually weaken the back and lower legs. This means that when your child finally does start walking, she may not be as coordinated and may not have very strong muscles, which of course can lead to injury. Further, there is strong evidence that muscle conditioning very early in life can determine a person’s strength for the rest of their life, so allowing a baby to engage in an activity that weakens a group of muscles may have long lasting consequences.

Problems With Head Control
Many parents will consider placing a child as young as 4 or 5 months old in a walker. Though these children have gained relatively strong head control, they cannot hold themselves in an upright position reliably, which means a walker can lead to head and neck injuries.

Head Injuries
Even if your child is old enough to have the strong muscle control required by a walker, walkers provide your child with access to areas she would not otherwise have access to. Many children have backed up into bookshelves or sharp tables in their walkers. Walkers also have a tendency to get stuck in things and tip over, and your baby’s walker can even pull something like a bookshelf over on top of your baby. Estimates are that about 20,000 children each year go to the emergency room due to head injuries caused by walkers. Even if you think you’re watching your baby carefully, it only takes a split second for a blow to the head to be catastrophic, and the risk is simply not worth it.

The Risk of Falling
Pediatricians began to become concerned about walkers when children started falling down stairs and stoops in them. This is the most obvious and glaring risk of walkers, but even parents who don’t have stairs are still subjecting their babies to risks of falls when they put them in a walker. Babies can fall out of the walker when reaching for something. Though a walker may not seem very high, falling out of one or tipping over can be catastrophic.

Though babies may love walkers, the risk to babies of being in a walker is simply too great. Safer alternatives include exersaucers and jumpers, though these still require close supervision. Alternatives to walkers can be just as fun; don’t risk your baby’s safety and well-being for a few moments to yourself!

Sources:
http://www.babyzone.com/shopping/gear_furniture/article/baby-walkers-pg2
http://www.drgreene.com/qa/baby-walkers
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/baby-toddler/play-and-activity/walkers/baby-walkers-1105/overview/