Doctor in the House: Want your child to walk early? Avoid that baby walker | Parenting News,The Indian Express
Walkers can cause grievous injuries to your baby and delay independent walking
For first-time parents, their baby learning to roll and sit by itself, instantly leads to the next goal – to get their little one moving independently. There are many options to help your baby start walking, but the one that is most popular yet which should be avoided at all costs, is the infant walker.
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There seems to be an undeclared and subconscious competition, where parents seem to want their baby to have started walking before others, and, in this desire, to hasten the process they turn to the infant walker. Often, parents are very disappointed when their children do not start walking by one year, but the truth of the matter is that most children start walking independently only after the first birthday. In fact, your pediatrician will only be concerned if the baby is not walking by 18 months.
Certain countries like Canada have banned the walker as it is considered a dangerous piece of equipment. The American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) is also moving in the same direction.
A study published in the journal Pediatrics spanning a time frame from 1990 to 2014 showed that 2,30,000 children were treated in the emergency department for injuries directly related to the use of baby walkers. These walkers are basically baby seats on wheels, which the baby pushes around with their legs. They are not really walking and they can propel themselves really fast. The most common injuries were to the head, neck and other body parts and some were very serious. Most of these happen when the baby falls along with the walker, especially down the stairs. Oftentimes, their fingers get caught in the walker, causing injury. Most of these injuries happen despite a parent watching the baby, and since it happens so fast they don’t have time to react.
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