Baby Walkers – Life Saver or Life Threatening?
Baby Walkers
There is a strong bias among many baby exerts regarding baby walkers – that is the seat on wheels that your baby gets to steer about the house. Like most things baby related, the benefit of the walker and its respective safety are more closely linked to the parent of the child than the actual device. We loved the walker in my house – which was one story with plenty of hard floor surfaces.
Using a Baby Walker
A baby walker is essentially a seat on wheels. In some instances you can find the seat in the shape of a car or some other adorable design, but the premise is the same. Baby sits upright in the seat and moves her feet against the floor. The movement of her feet on the floor propels her around either forward or backward and she’s suddenly mobile. This usually makes baby rather happy to be upright and on her own, especially if she’s not a strong crawler or cruiser. But it is this very reason and ones regarding safety that give baby walkers a bad reputation.
Dangers of the Baby Walker
The more time your child spends inside a walker, the less time she’s spending trying to walk on her own. This can mean that the walker can actually delay your child’s development in regards to pulling up, cruising and then walking. The other prominent safety concern is that the walker poses a tremendous hazard where stairs are concerned, particularly basement stairs. Should the baby get too close to the top of the basement stairs while scooting around the kitchen, disaster can ensue.
Safe Use of a Baby Walker
Of course, the fear of stairs is a moot point in households that have no stairs. A one-story home with no steps that is not a split level has no threat of falls for a child in a walker. And if the baby’s parents recognize that ten to fifteen minutes is more than enough time in the walker before encouraging other forms of activity, no harm is done.
And of course, the baby who hates being on the floor, doesn’t like to be left out and insists of being as independent as possible loves to tool around in the walker for a bit. While I can’t speak for the entire population of independent babies who love being able to move “normally” in a walker, my son was walking alone at ten months, perhaps because he became so accustomed to walking upright he just had to try it himself.
Baby walkers are available at most baby retailers starting around $30.
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