Many parents believe that the use of baby walkers is beneficial for their children in learning how to walk. On the contrary, various studies have shown that babies who used walkers sat, crawled and walked later than the ones who did not. This could be explained as follows:
Babies use their front and back leg muscles for walking. When a baby is put into a walker, he or she makes use of the muscles at the back of his or her legs and walks on tiptoes. This creates unwanted tension in the leg muscles and interferes with the normal walking process as well as delays muscle and joint development. Babies try to stand by pulling themselves up, thus learning how to balance. When placed in a walker, they do not make an effort to balance themselves upon moving forwards or sideways as the walker completes this job for them. This hinders their process of learning how to balance. Does baby walkers delay walking
Children who have used walkers during their early childhood have shown delays in their motor and mental development. This is because the use of walkers restricted them from undergoing important stages necessary for developing certain milestones, thus affecting their motor and mental abilities. To establish weight bearing through the use of the shoulders and pelvis, babies need to use their hands and feet in the crawling and pre-crawling positions. The use of a walker gives them less floor time to achieve this.
With every 24 hours spent in a walker, the baby requires three additional days to learn how to walk and four additional days to learn how to stand. This is because of the fact that walkers put the baby in an upright position where they do not have to do anything, rather than learning how to be upright, thus proving that baby walkers do not help and are not really needed in learning how to walk, but rather delay the process!
