A new post has been published over at the Starlight Baby blog: Are Baby Walkers A Help Or A Hindrance? Would love to hear your thoughts on this topic below!
I think baby walker is a help. This not only helps the baby engaged (they think walking is a fun game) but also helps build leg muscles in babies (it is something like a exercise machine for them). On the other hand, it also helps parents take takes away the frustrations of teaching the babies how to walk.
I have never really seen that much of a purpose in them. The way I see it, the more and more that you use things like this the more it starts to work against the kid, or at least it would seem. I could very well be wrong though, but I would avoid them.
I agree with this post as this is the fact. Nature is the best teacher, one should leave it on it for the baby to learn all stuffs by themselves. Unless it is a special case, kids usually vary in talking, teething and walking. Even among siblings there are variations on exact time of walking, teething and sitting. If the child is little late in a certain milestone there is nothing to get alarmed.
It is true that nature will teach the baby every thing he wants to know, however, it is also true that there is limitation on what nature teaches to the baby. The nature will give intelligence, however, nature will not teach how to read and write. Even if you don't have a walker, your baby will learn how to walk, but giving your baby a walker entertains him, and it is easier for you to attend your baby.
My 6 children had been growing up with no aid of baby walker. We left them crawl, grasp something to hold on like the chair, the couch to help themselves to stand until they develop themselves to walk independently. We were always there to watch them. But of course, we assisted them to tiptoe while holding their both arms until they developed the confidence of making a walk by themselves.
My baby girl actually did use a baby walker and she learned how to walk just fine by the age of 1, she did get help by me most of the time of course. The best way I saw her learn was letting her try it out herself my sustaining herself with the wall. The walker eventually got too small for her before she learned to walk so her only option was to learn naturally. The walker did help her gain some practice though.
I agree that baby walker could slow down the rate of development in particular cases but in my baby's case it made no difference, as she was able to walk perfectly by the time she was 1 year old. However the bay . I used to take her to nearby park and ask her to use a baby walker which helped her learn walk faster. Maybe different babies have different ways to learn different things.
I believe in the natural processes being allowed to play out in baby's development. Baby walkers may just be by the side to sometimes serve as an assistance or aid to the baby while learning to walk. I am not sure baby walkers can cause abnormal muscle control if children are exposed at the actual time.
I grew up with no baby walkers and I think children can live without them. I think children muscles develop better when they try walking naturally. The child may get used to the walkers and they may take longer learning to walk than without using them.
I believe that baby walker is a good invention because it facilitates the learning of the baby to walk hence the name. However in my experience, my daughter had figured in several falls that caused injury so I do not recommend the baby walker. The tendency of the parents is to neglect the baby in the walker because of the idea that the baby can be self supporting.