From: dlin@weber.ucsd.edu (Diane Lin)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Walkers: should I get one?
Date: 26 Aug 1992 01:21:09 GMT
Organization: University of California, San Diego
NNTP-Posting-Host: weber.ucsd.edu
Summary: Consumer Reports excerpt

In article <LOWRY.92Aug25170215@rotor.watson.ibm.com> lowry@watson.ibm.com (Andy Lowry) writes:
>With all the positive posts about walkers, I feel compelled to point
>out that these things are dangerous, according to last year's Consumer
>Reports guide to children's products (I don't have it with me else I
>would give the proper title and provide direct quotes) and other
>sources (specifically various parent's magazines and my pediatrician).
[rest of article deleted for space]

Just to tag on to Andy's point, I happen to have the _Guide to Baby
Products_, Second Edition, published by Consumer Reports Books.
Here's an excerpt entitled "Walkers:  An Overview of Recent Medical
Research"

"_They don't  make babies walk sooner._   Do walkers encourage a baby
to walk?  The answer is no, even though parents often believe
differently.  One survey found that 59 percent of walker buyers were
under the impression that the walker would make their babies walk
sooner, but research indicates that such is not the case.  This
misconception is encouraged by such manufacturers' statements as :
'This unit is designed to assist infants in learning to walk,' and
'This walker is only to be used by toddlers...ready to learn to
walk.'

Walkers call for an entirely different set of leg and back actions
than those required for crawling or balancing on two feet.  One
study compared babies who spent time in a walker with twin brothers
or sisters who were not put in a walker.  The babies who used
walkers walked with stiff legs and shortened steps, and they leaned
forward more than their siblings who were given floor freedom.
Studies are showing that not only do walkers not help babies to walk
sooner, they may even impede the walking development of babies who
have motor deficits by teaching them abnormal movement patterns. [1]

_Walkers are involved in serious head injuries._   One
hospital-based study of 39 walker-related accidents found that 37 of
the babies injured their faces and heads.  Twenty-five of the
injuries resulted from babies falling down stairs.  The babies
averaged nine months of age. [2]  A similar study conducted in
Canada found that almost all of 139 injuries in walker-related
accidents were to babies' heads.  Similarly, another study found
that 42 percent of the head injuries to babies under age two who
came to an emergency room were walker related.  The head injuries
were caused by falls down stairs.  The falls occurred in some cases
even though parents had installed gates, often because the gates
were either left open or were improperly attached. [3]

_Are walkers being misused?_   The main reason for purchasing a
walker, according to 75 percent of the parents questioned in one
survey, was to pacify their babies and keep them quiet and happy.
Sometimes parental misuse of the walker can contribute to accidents.
One study found, for instance, that even though their babies were
hurt seriously enough in walker-related accidents to be taken to the
hospital, within two months two-thirds of the parents had put the
babies back in walkers again. [4]  Babies most likely to be
seriously hurt in accidents were those who spent as much as an hour
or more a day in them.  Most walker accidents happened in the early
afternoon when only one parent was home and parental attention was
lagging."

[If you're still unconvinced :-), here's one more quote from the
same book.]

"According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there
were an estimated 24,000 walker-related injuries in 1984.  The
Canadian Pediatric Society believes that the risks are great and the
benefits questionable.  They are asking for a ban on walker sales in
their country."

Notes:

[1]  Ridenour, M.V., "Infant Walkers:  Developmental Tool or
Inherent Danger," _Perceptual and Motor Skills_, 1982, 55, pp.
1201-1202; Kauffman, I.B., and Ridenour, M., "Influence of Infant 
Walker on Onset and Quality of Walking Pattern of Locomotion:  An
Electromyographic Investigation," _Perceptual and Motor Skills_,
1977, 45, pp. 1323-29; Holm, V.A., Harthun-Smit, W., and Tada, W.L.,
"Infant Walkers and Cerebral Palsy," _American Journal of Diseases
of Children_, Dec. 1983, 137, pp. 1189-90.

[2]  Wellman, S., and Paulson, J.A., "Baby walker-related injuries,"
_Clinical Pediatrics_, Feb. 1984, 23, #2, pp. 98-99.

[3]  Berg, Paul, "Pediatricians Call for Warning Labels on Walkers,"
_Washington Post_, Sept 9, 1986.

[4]  Rieder, M.J., Schwartz, C., and Newman, J., "Patterns of walker
use and walker injury," _Pediatrics_, 1986, 78, 3, pp. 488-493.
-- 
Diane C. Lin			"Live now; make *now* always the
dlin@weber.ucsd.edu	         most precious time.  Now will 
(Dylan's mom, 20 months)	 never come again." (ST:TNG)
Newsgroups: misc.kids