Baby Walkers

Walkers are dangerous — even with adult supervision.

Children in baby walkers can:

1. Roll down the stairs — which often causes broken bones and severe head injuries. This is how most children get hurt in baby walkers.
2. Get burned — a child can reach higher when in a walker. A cup of hot coffee on the table, pot handles on the stove, a radiator, a fireplace or a space heater are all now in baby's reach.
3. Drown — a child can fall into a pool, bathtub or toilet while in a walker.
4. Be poisoned — reaching high objects is easier in a walker.

You may think a walker can help your child learn to walk. But, in fact, walkers do not help children walk sooner. Walkers can delay normal muscle control and mental development.

Most walker injuries happen while adults are watching. Parents and other caregivers simply cannot respond quickly enough. A child in a walker can move more than 3 feet in one second! Therefore, walkers are never safe to use, even with close adult supervision. Make sure there are no walkers at home or wherever your child is being cared for. Child care facilities should not allow the use of baby walkers. If your child is in child care at a center or at someone else's home, make sure there are no walkers.

Baby walkers just aren't worth the danger they present.

Try something just as enjoyable but safer,
such as the following:

"Stationary walkers" — have no wheels but have seats that rotate, tip and bounce.
Playpens — great safety zones for children as they learn to sit, crawl or walk.
High chairs — older children often enjoy sitting up in a high chair and playing with toys on the tray.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association for Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI) have called for a ban on the manufacture and sale of baby walkers with wheels.

Keep your child safe...throw away your baby walker.