Bbay Walkers - safe or not?

[Yummybrummymummy]

Hi, my 8 mth old ds2 had a great time today playing in his baby friends babywalker. He is our third and I always stayed away from baby walkers in the past believing them to be unsafe. Apart from the risk of his falling downstairs in one (and we have no steps downstairs) am i right in thinking that they are also meant to be bad for baby's developing hips? If so, are they not the same as door bouncers which all of my kids have spent hours in and loved? Wondering whether to get on to ebay and buy one second hand but a bit scared of doing the wrong thing. Any advice out there?

not recommended because the action used to propel is a tippy-toe movement, which can hinder the acquisition of walking

IIRC banned in countries like Canada

why not get a static one? activity centre, I think they are called

but, you know it's your baby

I am a parent of 3 and everyone of my DC have used walkers and none walk on tippy toes, infact me and my siblings, and cousins and all the children (quick maths) 14 in total have used walkers AND countless friends... and their children and honestly not one has tippy toed....

The phrase CAN hinder the acquisition of walking just means its a possiblity not a certainty.... I found mine a huge help when the baby needs a bit of independance and wants to be up but I am cooking or cleaning gives them a different perspective.... also comes in handy in the garden before they were walking unaided gave them freedom to explore...

Mine is a vote to buy one :)

recent article here

but as I said, it's your baby

If you google "Baby walkers evidence" you'll get lots of articles about various bits of research. There appears to be some evidence that they can hinder a child's walking development and no evidence at all that they help a child learn to walk.

As for safety, RoSPA discourage the use of them because of the number of injuries that have been attributed to their use. Canada banned the sale of them in 2004 on the same grounds.

Not very safe, and not very good for development. There are better toys to buy.

ds1 was given one.i tried 20 minute sessions,he enjoyed it.it folded up with him in it.end of babywalker,luckily ds was ok but never ever again.

Had one for DD who managed to injure herself in it - if I had a second I wouldn't bother TBH. Interestingly she was a very late walker but think this was more genetic than anything - she was late on all her gross motor skills. However she did the tippy toe thing the article mentions and I do sometimes wonder if that was because of the baby walker, until she was 13-14 months she wouldn't put her feet flat on the floor.

Thanks guys. I think that maybe my original avoidance was right. I may look at a static play station for his nibs.

My bub loved it. He is now 10 months old and crawling perfectly, he has just started walking with no tippy-toe walking. In saying that, he couldn't actually move it himself until about 3 weeks ago.

I think it could be that if left in a baby walker for long periods of time that the baby might not get as much tummy/crawling time as they should and that could definitely affect development. I do remember my brother toppling over in his when he tried to go over the door saddle but that was 29 years ago!

spoke to ds's physio about this the other day (someone had given us one), she said to avoid like the plague, as they are bad for the pelvis and hips, as well as encouraging tip toe walking, and being unsafe if not watched like a hawk.

DS's physio also said never to use one, and she also said that the bouncers aren't good for them either. I suppose the point is that there is a natural way that babies learn to walk and that "pushing" them to do so quicker with walkers/bouncers means that they learn to walk "artificially" which can have an impact on bones/muscles/joints.

could have written it myself jenmelbourne

fair enough, smearedinfood and jenmelbourne, but the op's question was whether baby walkers are safe or not, not whether babies love them!

Mine hasn't had a tumble, he's flat footed on it, we got ours for free. It's fine, I've seen one at a sure start childrens centre, so it can't be criminal.

My DSlikes to push around small coffee tables and chairs too, improvised baby walkers

If you mean one like this then they are fine, and no not illegal or unsafe or potentially harmful to a babies developing legs and hips.

But if you mean one like this then although they aren't banned (although they are in Canada) as this article points out a lot of physiotherapists say they should be banned partly because of the injuries they can cause, but also because they aren't good for developing legs.

There was a thread on here recently, and I had just been given one and didn't have a clue about safety issues, I used it a couple of times and ds seemed happy in it. I struggle to find places for him to sit happily because he has developmental delays, and is unable to sit well. However after reading the thread here, I asked my ds's physio about is, and she was vehement in her condemnation of baby walkers and the harm they can potentially cause.