Why you should not use baby walker
When the babies they start to walk Many parents may consider the need for cBuy a walker. That object that many will have had when they were children and that allowed children to "walk" while learning to do so. However, more and more health professionals have risen up against this object: we tell you why you should not buy (or use) a baby walker.
Pediatricians of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics in Primary Care (Aeped) are very clear in this regard: "The best walker for a baby is the one that is not used." They are that clear with a clear intention: "to make an impact so that once and for all this instrument ceases to be used," they explain.
The best walker for the baby is the one that is not used
These experts in children's health insist that the walkers "do not provide any benefit for children to learn to walk" and they warn that they also "multiply the risk of accidents".
As they say, "quadruple the risk of falling down a ladder, double the risk of fracture by falling down a ladder and also advance the age of fall by a ladder from twelve to eight months, "they list, while indicating that this class of instruments" increase the risk of burns and poisonings " .
Learning to walk with a walker
The main reason why parents use walkers is because the extended belief that says that this class of objects have benefits over learning of walking of children. However, the pediatricians refute it: "no, none, quite the contrary".
The pediatricians explain that when the baby goes to learn to walk first he starts with the crawling, then he learns to get up with support, "he looks at his feet when he starts his first steps, reaches and manipulates objects within his reach to experiment, to develop his tactile, olfactory, visual qualities ...". Something that can not be done with the walker since the baby "does not see his feet, does not reach the objects on the floor *".
In essence, pediatricians warn that the walker "is an object that deprives (the baby) of all those experiences". To corroborate this, they assure that the children who use the walker "initiate the autonomous march later" although, yes, "this delay is compensated or equals 15 months. "
Use of the walker, inadvisable
The experts in infantile health of Spain are not the unique ones that discourage to use the baby walker. In fact, in some countries like Canada advertising and marketing is prohibited and, within the European Union, the member countries are free to do so although, according to the pediatricians lament, "none has taken the step of prohibiting this object of consumption".
"If the walker increases the likelihood of accidents in infants, and also does not favor their psychomotor development, there is no valid argument to continue using it, "insist the pediatricians, who mention as an alternative to these objects centers of static activities for infants, without wheels, broad-based, "where children can entertain a short period of time".
As, despite the warnings of parents, there are many families who end up using the walkers, pediatricians ask to take into account certain aspects: that is wide enough "so that I can not go through the doors", and that has locking systems to prevent falling down the stairs.
Angela R. Bonachera
