My friend just bought an infant walker for her baby. She looks so cute! Amazingly, she zips around the house on her own two feet. The baby looks happy, and the walker has many bells and whistles. It is colorful, and my friend tells me it helps the baby learn to walk much faster. I want my Amit to have that advantage too!

The short answer is no. In a highly competitive world, parents are always looking to do something to give their precious little darling a competitive edge. While it is great to be prepared and anticipate your child’s needs well in advance, trying to micromanage every aspect is hugely counterproductive. Walkers are a case in point.

How does a child learn to walk?

Like everything else, it is a staged process. The child first learns to sit with support initially and then without support. He then gets on to all fours. The next step is to crawl around, pushing herself in different directions. Once proficient, the child learns to stand up and then, finally, takes steps gingerly. Along the way, there will be many failures, many a spill and a fall.

It is natural and vital for the child to spend time at each stage. The child initially needs help in each stage, and the parents are always eager to help.

The process of acquiring a new skill is both rewarding and frustrating to every human being and especially so, to the infant.

She must learn to balance and use the right muscles at the right time and at the right pace to progress from one activity to another. One mistake, and either she will fall or have a painful experience. To counterbalance that, her caregiver’s approval encourages her when she does something right. After repeated attempts, different muscle groups and reflexes develop and become strong at each stage.

The confidence and expertise developed with each stage set the foundation for completing the next phase successfully. It is just like constructing a building. If your foundations are weak or faulty, you invite a disaster.

So, what exactly is the problem with a walker?

A walker seeks to fast-track the skill of walking. When an infant reflexively puts one foot on the floor, he will put his other foot forward. This reflex is called the ‘stepping reflex‘ and is ingrained into our brains. When the child does this while being supported by the walker, it seems like she has learned to walk.
There are many hidden dangers here, though.

• Unstable and faulty walking on toes
  An infant who uses a walker tends to balance herself and walk on her toes. Toe-walking causes an abnormal weight-bearing axis (i.e., the transmission of the child’s body weight to the ground) and could permanently deleteriously affect the structure of the child’s foot.
• Risk of serious injury
  Walkers have wheels on them; naturally, they run smoother and faster across the floor. When a child learns to walk, after the first few falls, s/he is wary of falling again. As a result, until they learn the art well, they proceed gingerly and with great caution. When the infant is on a walker moving around smoothly, there is no immediate risk of falling. The child who has not experienced a fall earlier is happy to scoot around at reasonably high speeds.
  At this point, if the child crashes into some furniture or down a flight of stairs at some speed, the resultant injury can be quite severe.
  The wheels increase the distance a child can reach, and s/he may be able to access dangerous areas like the kitchen, the bathroom, or the toilet or go into areas with hazardous substances. This increases the likelihood of a serious accident.
• Poor shoulder muscle development
  When the child goes through the crawling stage, an equal amount of weight is borne at the shoulder and pelvis level. This strengthens the muscles, ligaments, and joints of the upper body. If the crawling stage is bypassed by using the walker, the shoulder region doesn’t develop well.

What are the alternatives to the walker?

An activity center is a very good alternative. The advantages are that it is fixed and doesn’t have wheels. The child can use it to learn to stand up. It has all the bells and whistles that one can wish for and provide your child with hours of entertainment. The side-benefit to the harried parent is that it allows some breathing space and time for oneself!😊😊

I already have a walker at home. What should I do?

Cut your losses. Dispose of the walker. If you must use it because your in-laws insist 😉, take the following precautions:

• Your child must be within your arm’s reach.
• Cordon off a safe area – no pointed/sharp objects, no heavy furniture, no dangerous chemicals/water/heat/electrical sources, and the child can only move around in that area.
• Make sure that the walker itself is stable and padded.
• Don’t use a walker before your baby can sit or after your baby can walk.
• Choose a walker with a lock to prevent it from moving when you want to and a braking mechanism.