Some parents believe that baby walkers can help their baby's growth and development, especially helping children to be able to walk faster. However, is it true that baby walkers can help child development? Or even dangerous? Let's look at the pros and cons of baby walkers below.
What is baby walker? Does your baby really need this tool?
Baby walkers or baby walkers are objects that form a square, with wheels on each side of the bottom, equipped with a cloth in the middle as a baby's seat. Sometimes toys are placed on the top for babies or designed to put baby cups and plates.
A baby walker is a device that is staying digging can help the baby run faster. When a baby is able to sit or stand tall, many parents buy this tool and hope the baby's walking ability will be faster.
In addition, this tool can also be said as a child's toy. Why? Because, children aged 5 to 12 months will smile cheerfully when they are on the baby walker while shifting to and fro in the house. Even though he really can't really walk alone.
The need for or not this tool actually depends on the needs and goals of parents using this tool for babies. To determine whether or not you need it, please look at the benefits and risks of using this tool.
Are there benefits?
Baby walkers are generally designed with a busy look and use a lot of colors. It aims to attract the attention of children. The presence of a toy that is installed can also make a child sit quietly longer by using a walker. Many babies like and enjoy sitting, eating, or even watching television shows from walkers.
By using a baby walker, parents also do not become too troublesome when feeding children. Because, when sitting on the walker, the child becomes more calm. The process of feeding or maintaining a baby also becomes easier because the child's body does not move too much and we can control it.
The risks and dangers of using a baby walker
Some studies show that the use of baby walkers does not help the learning process to walk. You can even make your baby lazy to walk. In addition, not all baby calf muscles are able to withstand the burden of walking. When parents force children to use a baby walker, this can make an injury even the risk of defects in the baby's feet.
Keep in mind, that babies tend to use their toes when on a walker. This way of walking on tiptoes or using fingers will tighten their leg muscles and interfere with normal development.
In addition, try to look after the baby comes out of the walker, chances are they still use their toes to stand or walk. In fact, the baby should walk and hold his body with all the soles of his feet, not just resting on his fingers.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics there are some dangerous things that can occur due to this baby product, including:
- Fall from stairs. This is the case that most often results from using a walker. The ease of movement of the baby walker sometimes makes it possible to reach the end of the stairs, which if unattended, will lead to falls. Falling babies often experience broken bones and severe head injuries.
- Burnt. Using this tool can make the baby easier to reach and reach something higher. For example, babies who walk into the kitchen can reach a pot, food, or hot drink. They may also be easier to pull on the tablecloth, making objects on it overwrite the baby, including food or beverage containers that might have contents. In fact, other dangerous things, using this walker, babies can hold the stove, oven, socket or even dangerous objects that have electricity in it.
- Sinking. By using a walker, an unattended baby can walk out of the house (or another place that attracts his attention) quickly and risk falling into a pool or bathtub.
- Eat or drink foreign objects. Not infrequently, when assisted by a walker, the baby can reach or pick up objects and eventually put it in his mouth. Using this tool can increase the risk of choking on foreign objects and eating foods that are placed on the table in infants.
- Upside down. When tripping or bumping into something on the floor or in front of a child, walkers and children can risk falling over.
In addition to the various risks that might occur, keep in mind that using this tool can hinder the ability to walk instead of helping it run fast. This is because walkers can disrupt the strength of the child's leg muscles. When using a walker, the leg muscles that become strong are only the bottom. In fact, the development of the leg muscles should be balanced with the hip and thigh muscles.