April 22, 2005

Baby ‘walkers’ and your baby’s first step

By Dr. Meena Sathappan
Special to the Times

“Walking is man’s best medicine,” said Hippocrates, the famous Greek philosopher and mathematician.

As parents, we strive to inculcate this in our kids at a very young age. One of the ways many of us have attempted to do this is to get babies to use “walkers.”

Did you know baby walkers sent an estimated 8,800 children younger than 15 months to the hospital in 1999? Thirty-four children died from 1973 to 1998 because of baby walkers.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and related institutions have called for a ban on the manufacture and sale of baby walkers with wheels.

Danger of baby walkers
Some of the common ways children in baby walkers get hurt are:

- Rolling down the stairs. This is how most children get hurt in baby walkers, resulting in broken bones and severe head injuries.

- Getting burned. A child can reach higher when in a walker. These gadgets put a cup of hot coffee on the table, pot handles on the stove, a fireplace or a space heater within a baby’s reach.

- Drowning. A child can fall into a pool or bathtub when in a walker.

- Poisoning. Reaching high objects is easier in a walker.

Simply put, there are no benefits to baby walkers!

While you may think a walker can help your child learn to walk, they do not help children walk sooner. In fact, walkers can delay normal muscle control and mental development.

Most walker injuries happen while adults are watching. Parents or caregivers simply cannot respond quickly enough. A child in a walker can move more than three feet in one second. Therefore, walkers are never safe to use, even with close adult supervision.

Make sure there are no walkers at home or wherever your child is being cared for. Childcare facilities should not allow the use of baby walkers. Throw out your baby walkers. Try something just as enjoyable but safer, such as stationary walkers, playpens or high chairs.

Stationary walkers have no wheels, but have seats/toys that rotate, tip and bounce. ‘ExerSaucer’ and ‘Activity Centers’ are some good examples.

Playpens are great safety zones for children as they learn to sit, crawl or walk. Older children often enjoy sitting up in a high chair and playing with toys on the tray.

On July 1, 1997, new safety standards were implemented for baby walkers. Walkers are now made wider so they cannot fit through most doorways, or are made with a braking mechanism to stop them at the edge of a step.

Yet these new walker designs will not prevent all injuries from walkers. They still have wheels, so children can still move faster and reach higher.

Keep your child safe. Throw away your baby walker with wheels if you have one!

Source: American Academy of Pediatrics

Dr. Meena Sathappan is a board-certified pediatrician who lives and practices in Evergreen. She is available for questions and consultation at Aasha Pediatrics, 2060 Aborn Road, # 230, San Jose, CA 95121 (corner of Aborn Road and Capitol Expressway). You can call her at (408) 274-9099, e-mail her at msathappan@gmail.com or visit her Web site at www.aashapediatrics.com.