Talk to me about baby walkers

[roslily]

A friend has offered to lend me one for my ds. When I mentioned this to a friend at work she said "oh no they're bad" but couldn't elaborate on why!

Is she right are they bad?

well

not bad per se but not recommended because they encourage the use of tippy-toes by the child, which may delay their walking. You would be better of getting a push-along thing with the wheels set to slow

When I had dd1 I was very anti baby walkers.
I thought they were unsafe and unnecessary.

Then I had dd2 after a 2.5 year gap. She was desperate to follow dd1 around and started to make a horrible wailing noise all day - nothing seemed to make her happy.

In desperation I got a baby walker and I loved it. We have a large open plan living area so lots of room to move around.

I was always extremely vigilant and only put her in for short periods of time.

She walked at 13 months so don't think it hindered her development in any way.

I think they have a reputation of being unsafe and delaying walking but I think now as with everything if used sensibly they are fine.

bad? mine had one and it was like a devil unleashed! It gave him freedom to potter around where he wanted to go safely. He loved it.
Only used it for a bout a month because he was walking soon after. He walked independantly at 11 months.
He also walked quite normally.

Big vote for "take up the offer of a freebee" from this house!

I've heard that as they cannot see their feet they struggle to learn to walk properly

I used one of these with my 2 kids. Worked a treat.

You could use it for them anyway, so they're entertained whilst you cook dinner, they can sit in it in kitchen or something? Might as well take it if free, but use a push along often to help them learn to walk as well?

That explains what happened to Barbie then.

I had always wondered.

When my son was in the hospital his paediatrician told us in no uncertain terms that baby walkers are bad. They are dangerous if there are any stairs (yes, even gated, as it gives the baby a way to push against the gate with a bit more force, IYSWIM) and they encourage walking on tiptoes.

I won't have one in my house.

Its a safety issue as well - shouldn't be a problem if you are vigilant. I went out the back door onto a gravel path in mine when I was just under a year and still have the scar on my lip to prove it!

None of mine had one but they were all early crawlers and late walkers. They were happy crawling about.

Safety issue. They help children walk before they are ready, and they can't see their feet, so they sometimes go too far too fast and there have been falls down stairs and other awful things. No chance to learn natural caution, you see?

But I can't see the problem if they are always, always closely supervised.

Brilliant - one of the most indispensable items I had for dd.

She got a lot of use from our Chicco Walker between 6 and 11 months in our open plan living room/kitchen (with hard floors). The space was absolutely baby-proofed, with no staircases for her to fall down. It was a safe place to put her while I was cooking etc, it meant she could move around under her own steam, thus relieving immobility frustrations.

She was walking just after 11 months, and lost interest in it, so the walker is in storage until the next baby comes along.

If your house is already babyproofed, there are no safety issues, and as for delaying walking, that probably only if you leave your LO in it for hours at a time! I'm talking 20 minute periods max for my dd.

I was told they lead to bowed legs and bad for hips. Health visitor said that their colleagues were always able to tell a few years on which children had used baby walkers... ??

I don't think that i will be getting one but I am sure for short time periods supervised is not too bad though. It's the same with anything these days - so much advice and do's and dont's... we have just got to make up our own minds and not worry.

I wouldn't have one either, on the advice of my osteopath re. what hw7342 said about the hips etc. DS cruised around quite happily without one and was walking by 11mo.

10 years old news article about it but there was a lot of strength of feeling that they weren't good

much more recent discussion of baby walker bans in some countries

this from Canada, explaining why they banned them

HTH!

My son's physio feels they are so bad for development, even in 'normal' children that they should be illegal. Apparently they can cause hip problems due to the position they put the child in and do cause the child to walk on 'tippy toes'.

My DSD had one a as a baby and aged 17 she still walks on her toes.

I haven't had one for any of my children and wouldn't have one in the future.

Wouldn't have survived the last few months without mine. I have twin boys and they used it as a seat they could be upright and active in rather than a walker - babies seem to use the 2 leg propulsion method in them. Now that the boys are up on their (flat - no tippy toes here) feet I'm going to get a push along to help their walking progress. I'm in a flat so no chance of toppling downstairs, and they are only ever in it for a few minutes at a time. Safety-wise they can get to places and heights you don't think about babies managing, but other than that, or leaving them in for long periods regularly, I find it hard to imagine they cause problems.

You are not going to get a clear answer to this one as so many people use them. I had my DC in Germany and very few people there use them now.

I would not have one as I was told by my midwife and paediatrician (in Germany) that they are unsafe. My paediatrician worked in A&E and said that he had seen children with terrible injuries after falls down stairs.

The basically allow the child to go faster than his body is designed to go at that age.