Monday, April 28, 2008

Are Baby Walkers Really Dangerous?

Yes! In US every year about three million baby walkers are sold for their 6 month kids. But by giving a child added height, a walker unexpectedly brings him within reach of hazards such as hot pots, electric irons and unprotected electrical cords. And kids in walkers travel so fast three or four feet a second that even the most attentive parents may not be able to avoid disaster," said Diana Willensky in American Health magazine. Babies in walkers plummet downstairs, door thresholds, and carpet edges, roll themselves against hot wood stoves and heaters, fall over concrete curbs, or tumble into swimming pools are common disaster what we can not avoiding. Especially old-style x-frame walkers cause for many injuries such as finger amputations when a baby's hand got caught in the closing x-joint of the frame.

Generally, the risk of accidents increases in kids who use an hour or more a day in them and most of the accidents occurred in the early afternoon when only one parent was away. Usually we bought the walkers in the belief that it will help our child walk sooner but the facts say otherwise. Rather than assist your baby walk, walkers may make things hard for your child. Freitag, who has developed safety standards for baby products for the American Society for Testing and Materials, said walkers may "get in the way with needed pulling up, crawling and creeping experiences" of babies. This was proven by a study that showed that the leg actions of babies who used walkers differed greatly from those who didn't. In that study, babies who exhausted a considerable time in walkers had stiff legs and shorter steps. They also leaned forward more than children who learned to walk on their own.

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