Doctors Warn Parents To Stop Using Baby Walkers

A new study finds that babies in the US are being injured in infant walkers at a rate of more than five per day.

While the number of injuries has dropped significantly over the last three decades, there are still far too many, according to researchers.

Between 1990 and 2014, there were 230,676 infant-walker related injuries in children younger than 15 months, researchers estimate based on data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.

Only children seen in hospital emergency departments were included, so the numbers might be an underestimate, explained study co-author Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

“Baby walkers give quick mobility — up to four feet per second — to young children before they are developmentally ready,” said Smith.

He further said baby walkers remain a serious and preventable source of injury to young children and should not be used.

“There are safer alternatives, such as stationary activity centers that spin, rock and bounce, but do not have wheels, and good old-fashioned belly time, where a child is placed on their belly on the floor and allowed to learn to gradually push themselves up, then crawl and eventually walk,” added Smith.

Based on the study published in Pediatrics, the majority of the injuries occurred when a child in a walker fell downstairs, often wounding the head or neck.

Injuries declined by 84.5 percent from 1990 to 2003, most likely due to a voluntary safety standard that was adopted by manufacturers.

During the same period, injuries related to falling down stairs decreased by 91 percent.

In 2010 a mandatory federal safety standard was established and the annual number of walker-related injuries decreased again, this time by 22.7 percent.

Even with those declines, 2,000 children were injured in 2014, but why do parents still purchase infant walkers?

“Many parents believe baby walkers offer their children entertainment, promote walking and providing a baby with an activity while the parents are busy doing something else,” said Smith.

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Smith revealed that baby walkers do not promote walking skills because other studies have demonstrated that baby walkers can transiently delay mental and motor development.

Smith further said that baby walkers provide no substantial benefit to children and pose significant injury risk because of the lack of benefits and the serious injuries that can result from the use of baby walkers.

In fact, a previous study Smith conducted on baby walker-related injuries treated in the emergency department of Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that about one out of every ten injuries was a skull fracture.

In addition, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that there were eight child deaths associated with baby walkers from 2004 to 2008.

Meanwhile, Dr. Claire McCarthy, Faculty Editor of Harvard Health Publishing said that some parents still buy baby walkers because they think that walkers help babies learn to walk faster, however, the opposite is true.

“Using a walker can delay independent walking. That’s because learning to walk isn’t so much about learning to use your leg,” she said.

Dr. McCarthy explained that starting at around 6 months babies love to be upright — and love to be mobile so that they can explore and be in the thick of things.

“However, there are other and safer ways to get babies upright, such as in stationary standers. As for mobility, the inconvenient truth is that not only do babies need to learn mobility by themselves, they need constant supervision as they do,” she added.

Source: Harvard Health