Okay.. this blog is not like my usual blogs. I am writing this only to share some useful information with parents.
Nyssa was barely able to sit up by herself and I had many people telling me to buy her a walker. They said it would help her walk fast. I am a first time parent, clueless about most things and so I take help of our good old google for every little doubt I have.
I started reading about walkers helping baby's motor development, and I was shocked to learn what I found!
Contradictory to what people usually believe, Walkers actually hamper a child’s ability walk! That’s because baby uses different muscles to move around in a walker than what we actually use to walk naturally. Usually the bones above to that of knee help in walking but the child in a baby walker uses the bones below the knees.These children lose the muscle control and research has shown that they will walk about a month later than if they had not used a walker. They take longer to learn the balancing concept.
It is best to let the baby learn to walk naturally… sitting to crawling to standing to walking. Each of these milestones is important for Child’s development and it is not healthy to skip any. Each one of them is important for child’s muscle development and internal strength building. Walkers allow babies to move around before they are physically ready for it, which can cause unusual movement patterns and delayed muscle control.The children using walker may even show some different modes of walking than that of an ordinary child. The legs of those child are bent than that of an ordinary child.
In a walker, baby cannot see their legs and lower body and so they don’t learn that you need to use your legs to move. They don’t get the correct information they need about motor development. I still remember when Nyssa was first learning to walk, she would always look at her legs, how one moves and then the next etc. and then look up to me proudly.
Research has also shown that walkers are related to back pain in the later part of life.
Even the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against using them. There are a bunch of articles about safety issues with walkers as well.
It is better to get her a jumper or exersaucer (which is what I got in the end). Walker is a BIG No No!
I had to share this information because I haven't come across a single person who knew these side effects of a baby walker. Everyone who talked about it asked me to buy it for my baby. Statistics show that more than 52% parents in USA buy these for their babies completely aware of the fact that they are spending money over something which is bad for your child.
