Parents seem to love walkers because they imagine that they might give their child a headstart in learning to walk, plus they keep the baby entertained. However, contrary to parental expectations, baby walkers may actually delay a child’s ability to walk by herself.
Studies have shown that infants who used baby walkers did not learn to walk until two to four weeks later than infants who did not use walkers. Additionally, two comprehensive reviews, compiling the results from nineteen studies of baby walkers, found that using baby walkers delayed the motor development of infants. Two studies found delays in walking of between eleven and twenty-six days when babies had been using walkers. In a particularly concerning study of 109 infants, those who used baby walkers sat, crawled and walked later than those with no walker experience, and they also scored lower on tests of mental and motor development. Two other randomized, controlled trials did not show a delay in when babies learned to walk if they had been using walkers, but they showed no advances either. The take-home message: walkers do not help babies walk earlier, and may even cause them to walk later.
Why do walkers possibly cause these delays, when babies really do look like they’re learning to walk when they use them? First of all, walkers usually block babies’ ability to see their legs moving – which is crucial in their ability to learn to walk. Second, babies walk differently in baby walkers than they do when they walk on their own. In a walker, they use the muscles at the back of their legs and often walk on tiptoes, causing their muscles to develop and tighten improperly. To crawl or walk properly, babies need to use the muscles at the front and the back of their legs. Babies who learn to walk in walkers need to relearn how to work these muscles before they can walk on their own. Finally, walkers provide balance for a baby, which means they are not prepared for the challenges of balancing themselves when they walk unaided.
Still, some parents just like to use walkers to keep their baby entertained. However, these parents should be careful – baby walkers can easily fall down the stairs, into other dangerous places like fireplaces or pools, and even roll down a driveway into the road. Baby walkers commonly cause head injuries, broken arms and legs and facial injuries. If you have a baby walker in your house, your child is nine times more likely to end up in the A&E department with an injury. In surveys, between 12 and 50 per cent of parents whose babies use walkers report that their child has had some sort of walker-related injury. Some estimates say that more than 20,000 infants are injured in the United States every year because of baby walkers.
Since walkers don’t work particularly well, and they have the potential to harm your child, we advise you to stick the walker in the attic and forget about it.