Baby Walkers

Baby walkers are detrimental to normal development, because in walkers babies can get around too easily & may not undertake the important task of …

Dr. Greene’s Answer:

Children between 6 and 12 months old have a powerful urge to move across the floor. When they are placed in baby walkers, most of them squeal with delight and are happily entertained for hours on end. I can still remember the expression of sheer ecstasy on my first son’s face as he moved across the floor in his walker.

We want our children to be happy. Often their delight is a good measure of what they need — but sometimes it can lead us astray. Sometimes short-term delight can lead to unfortunate long-term consequences. Children can’t think of the future. As parents, part of our role is to do that for them. With each new choice, consider what this teaches your son, how this will affect your son, what are the implications for your son — over the long haul.

Since the days when my first son was an infant, we have learned that walkers are detrimental to normal development. Because the babies can get around too easily, their urge to move across the floor is satisfied, and many of them will not undertake the important task of crawling, creeping, scooting, or hitching. This stage is important for developing strength and coordination.

Many parents think that walkers will help children learn to walk. As it turns out, walkers interfere with learning to walk. In addition to decreasing the desire to walk by providing an easier alternative, walkers strengthen the wrong muscles. The lower legs are strengthened, but the upper legs and hips become relatively weak. The upper legs and hips are most important for walking.

Moreover, children in walkers have more accidents than their counterparts. Walkers often tip over when a child bumps into a small toy or the edge of a rug. They are also more likely to take a dangerous fall down a flight of stairs. According to a 2018 study published in the journal, Pediatrics, more than 9,000 US children are injured using the devices every year.

Along with The American Academy of Pediatrics, I strongly urge parents not to use baby walkers.

For children who want to be upright, an exersaucer can be a nice alternative. These look like walkers, but without the wheels. They allow children to bounce, rock, spin, and sit upright — without satisfying the urge to move across the floor. They are safer and developmentally appropriate.

Your son might like a sturdy push-car or wagon. These might look like lawnmowers, vacuum cleaners, cars, fire engines, trucks or wagons. Be sure it has a bar he can push and is sturdy so it won’t tip over. These will help a child strengthen the right muscles and learn to walk — but you still have to supervise directly and to be very careful about stairs.

When your son gets a little older and has been walking long enough to be able to squat and stand back up without falling, he will be delighted by push and pull toys — especially the ones that make lots of noise. These add sparkle to his developmentally appropriate tasks.

With practice, you can learn to choose toys that delight your son while helping him learn what he needs — instead of short-circuiting the process by providing easy, numbing entertainment. We’ll all make mistakes along the way, but the process itself will enrich us and our children.

Dr. Greene is a practicing physician, author, national and international TEDx speaker, and global health advocate. He is a graduate of Princeton University and University of California San Francisco.

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  1. Hannah Scott

    sorry guys! Walkers DO NOT HELP CHILDREN LEARN TO WALK!!! It sucks, but it’s true.

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  2. chizoba

    Thanks. i was thinking a walker would help speed up my baby’s growth. just imagine rather it’s the opposite.

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  3. Susan Kalver

    Can sleeping in the crib past the age of 4 cause bow legs and flat feet?

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  4. Colleen

    I would love to know everyone’s thoughts on baby walker carts or push carts. We’ve never used a walker like described above but have a few push carts.

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    • Laura

      I haven’t got a walker, just a push a long which my son doesn’t like. We don’t have space for him to get around in a walker. He turned 1, 2 weeks ago, he has crawled since just after 7 months & walked along the furniture since 8 months, he is now a master of this & can bend for toys, squat even climb onto the couch, but he’s not ready to go solo yet, he doesn’t stand alone even for a second. We did have a jumparoo.

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    • Hannah

      the push ones delay walking as well. sorry :(

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  5. Alan

    Lol, the first thing I thought about was how they may eliminate the car because it will ‘decrease the desire to take the subway because there is an easier alternative’. Oh wait… It does… O_o

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    • Dania Cross

      Not so funny Alan, I am an occupational therapist and have seen the developmental delays caused by parents who are not informed on the harm walkers actually cause! It may not happen to all children whose’s parents used walkers. However, there are many other variables to consider for those children. Perhaps, they are children of very active parents that have involved their children at an early age other gross motor activities/experiences. For the parents that are less active and fail to engage their children in outside activities, their chances are increased for developmental delay! This is a real serious problem!

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      • Sylvia O'Donoghue

        A fair question. Why are walkers still available and have not been withdrawn shops if they are harmful for children? It doesn’t make sense.

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        • Hannah Scott

          Sylvia,
          Because America is incredibly behind other countries in many, many ways. Sweden and a couple other countries have totally outlawed them.

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      • John

        Let me inform people of something that seems to be truly evading their intelligence. All babies are different, no? Yes, they are and that means that all babies will learn differently.

        Three of my four children were walking before 9 months of age and all used walkers. The youngest, which is 6 months, has been using a walker for a month and is also pulling up and standing by herself. This gives the thought that she’ll be walking before 9 months as well.

        So, tell me people, how does something so terrible work so well for one family and not the other? It’s simple – your child may be delayed while another isn’t.

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  6. miftah

    Thank you for the page owner as well as peoples who shared us their valuable comment.As to the argument of associating psycho motor development of child with childwalker reminds me my highschool biology lesson of the evolutionist fallacious argument that tried to link the length of austric neck with its day to day effort of stretching up to the tree to catch the leaf.am not a Dr.but children’s development and mental capacity can never be related to where he spends his early child hoods.It is a matter of natural gift and his exposure to various circumstances that determined how genius Albert aniestine became a scientist and barak Obama a brilliant black African born politician.Most children’s in Africa spend their early child hood in the hands of their mothers feeling moving on the floor.Does this lead us to conclude that African children’s are the most hummor,stronger and mentally genious? I need your answer.Any how as an African father I purchased baby walker to my 7 month baby boy.Why because moving him around the house gives him a sense of happiness as this let him dive into the air.Tell rather how fast should I move him to avoid harm?.secondly putting the baby in the walker gives his mom a bit time to do some activities .That is all.Otherwise we are too selfish to leave our boy in the walker for hours or throughout a day.We love this amazing gift of God so much that we long him until he wakes up from his nap or until his mom comes from office and give him a kiss.So the general rule is to be applicable here to avoid any kind of actual or colsteral damage.Giving time and attention to every thing.If we do so and keep our safety valve in all endevours nothing wrong will happen to us.Save those calamities which are beyond our control hence can’t just avoid them from happening.in a but shell Canada should have banned walkers,rather it had better teach people about safety measures and proper time and love management.Walker per set has no problem at all.It is a means not end by itself.

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    • Gma

      Hear, hear. Excellent points.

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  7. Nikki G

    This is absurd DOCTOR…. I put my oldest in a walker and he crawled and had all the normal cognitive development he should have had. I didn’t use one at all with my 2nd and the child refused to crawl but got up and walked just fine. Used walkers with my 3rd and 4th. Again they all crawled and moved on the floor fine. Currently using a walker with my 5th and she had a very strong urge to still move about when out of the walker. In fact she often cries to be taken out and put on the floor to crawl about and scoot. Just goes to show you can’t always take a persons word even if Dr. is in front of their name…..

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    • Ebony

      Exactly!

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    • Kas

      Yes exactly. My oldest never crawled on all fours but he did do the army crawl. He was in a walker for a couple of hours a week. But he still started walking the week he turned 9 months. My youngest (7 months) hasn’t crawled either and has no desire to stand or pull up where my oldest was already standing at 7 months. My youngest isn’t put in a walker because I haven’t gotten one yet but I do feel it helped my oldest to stand and walk well.

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    • Angela

      I agree! That’s the biggest load of rubbish I’ve read today. A baby is not going to be in the baby walker exclusively and will get plenty of opportunity to excersise other muscles! I have 3 daughter’s, my first 2 went in baby walkers and I’m about to purchase a walker for my 3rd and there was nothing wrong with my first two daughter’s development in fact one plays contact rugby now at 16! I say get whatever makes your baby happy and encourages movement and use of various muscles …. just don’t put by the top of stairs!

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      • Hannah

        Regardless to what you experts with a degree in child development say, which I am positive none of you know jack crap of child development, using a walker exercises the wrong muscles, delaying the development of walking. Research even shows us this, yet you still pull this crap?! what is wrong with people

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        • James

          What is wrong with you?
          Researches also show walkers have not caused major difference in children’s development.
          Yes , I am a Physiotherapist.

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          • Hi James,

            Thanks for writing in.

            There are actually two different types of walkers. It’s very unfortunate that they have the same name. The walkers that toddlers stand behind and push or no problem at all. It’s only the walkers that toddlers sit in and scoot around the floor by standing on their tippy toes and pushing that are a problem. There are studies that show negative effects on motor development.

            In the end, an individual child may not be negatively impacted by using a baby walker, but would you want to find out with your child?

            I hope that helps.
            Best, @MsGreene
            Note: I am the co-founder of DrGreene.com, but I am not Dr. Greene and I am not a doctor. Please keep that in mind when reading my comments and replies.

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          • Hannah Scott

            A physiotherapist’s primary focus isn’t even child development. You guys are supposed to be the muscle people. Stick to your focus.

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          • amanda santos

            You know very little about what Physiotherapists do. I work in rehab center for children with disabilities and development delay. Well we have walkers to help those kids. I minored in Early childhood development. Sorry , but seems like you just want to be right.

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    • Hannah

      this is the idiocy I was talking about. modern research on this subject that happens to be very accurate even if you are in denial is handed to you on a platter and you STILL can’t believe it. The American Academy of Pediatrics warrants against them too. and Mayo Clinic, one of the top hospitals in the US

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      • Gma

        How is it so accurate, Hannah? Do the studies use a crystal ball to see what any one child’s development would have been without the use of a walker? How do they measure time spent in a walker; do they rely on parents reporting (very inaccurate) or somehow have access to cosmic recordings of the exact time spent? Those two questions alone are enough to cast doubt on the conclusions. People these days are overly impressed by anything that calls itself “science.” All science is not equal.

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    • Gma

      My great-granddaughter was the only child in the family to never use a walker, and the only child in the family to walk after 12 months (she didn’t walk until 13 months). A) Why would anyone expect a walker to teach a child to walk? They are strictly for fun. Rolling on the floor, pulling up on the couch, holding a hand – those are for learning to walk and are daily occurrences. The only people who would leave a child in a walker all day are the ones who would belt the child in a high-chair or other stationary seat in front of the tv. B) What moron would allow use of a walker where stairs are accessible?? C) For many years, walkers have been made with a wide base that makes them impossible for the child to tip over when encountering an obstruction, barring a wrinkle in the laws of physics. D) This may come as a shock to many, but I am more impressed by facts, logic, common sense, and experience than I am by a medical degree.

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  8. Shena Woods

    This notion is rediculous…ALL the babies in our entire family have used walkers and they have crawled, and walked on their own very early! Walkers give them independance to WANT to walk on their own ! Sure they can be dangerous if the ADULT does NOT take the necessary precautions to gate stairs and move objects out of their reach…..” simple common sense”!! They Help mothers be able to get necessary task done while knowing their baby is safe (if they took the precautions mentioned above). The idea that walkers are “detrimental” to development is ludicris. Research from a mother and grandmother and great- grandmother of 70 years!

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    • Tav

      Your personal experience does not count as research. Actual research (scientifically controlled studies on numerous babies) show babies who use walkers walk later and reach other developmental milestones -including intellectual – later than non-walker babies. They interfere with babies developing balance, muscle tone, correct posture and are, imo, an easy, short sighted fix for the distracted parent. I hope the babies in your family who used these avoid developing back pain issues as teenagers.

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      • Lesha D

        Tav-
        Where exactly do you think that, “Scientific research” comes from? A controlled lab setting cannot compete with one’s natural environment. Not to mention that the scientific research has to be conducted and followed longitudinally (long-term). For every bit of research with one result, there is still other researchers with differing results. The research would also have to be duplicated continuously. As professionals we know that that would be nearly impossible as no two children are the same…

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  9. maryam

    my son is 8 month old but he can not sit up or walking without help. I really worried about him so, I get a walker but he does not like it. please help me!

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    • Hannah Scott

      Don’t push him. He will walk WHEN HE IS READY!!!!!! for the love of god, stop pushing babies to the next stage and let them be little!!!! so sick of parents rushing developmental stages

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  10. Monica

    FYI: This article was originally published almost 20 years ago and even with a ‘review’ 5 years ago, this seems outdated – many things in walker designs have changed

    I have read almost every research study and as a scientific researcher, these ‘studies’ have a significant number of technical issues. Primarily, did not capture any socioeconomic or environmental factors or specific details such as: amount of time in walker, exact nature of ‘adult supervision’, other safety measures taken (i.e. baby gates to stairs – which are a danger to even a crawling child, moving hot items or dangling items from tables, etc)
    And to say that the walker ‘often’ tip over is an exaggeration unless this happens more than 50% of the time

    From what I’ve seen from the accident reports is that most parents were irresponsible: leaving their children unsupervised in a walker, leaving a child too long in a walker (which is just as detrimental as leaving them on their back all day), leaving too many things that are potentially dangerous in grabbing distance.
    While a baby in a walker moves more quickly than a crawling child, my scooting twin moves just as fast and can pull himself up to the same height putting him at similar risks.

    As with all toys, common sense is required
    I use a walker at 10-15 min increments in an apartment and a house under supervision and other safety measures: door closing access to the stairwells, nothing dangling from tables or towel bars, a cleared floor, and nothing hot or sharp on low tables.
    The twin who uses the walker is at the same developmental stage as non-walker twin in terms of muscle development and desire to try to move by scooting and stepping.

    To say things should be banned because they might cause injury is ignoring an adult’s responsibility
    Keep your baby in little bubble if you really want to keep them safe from life.

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    • Monica

      Here is a summary of some more controlled studies, including studies with twins where one twin used a walker and one did not:

      http://www.otcats.com/topics/CAT%20-%20Paula%20Chagas%202007.pdf

      There conclusion was: There is no evidence to support or refute the effect of baby walkers on motor
      development in typically developing children

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      • Hi Monica,

        There appears to be several factors that lead to the paper’s conclusion of “no evidence”:

        1. The studies showed varying outcomes — some were negative, some neutral, and I didn’t see that any of them showed an advantage
        2. The methodology was inconsistent:
          • Some studies only allowed babies to be in walkers for brief periods of time each day (which is not typically how parent’s use them)
          • Different studies used different starting and stopping ages

        Also, the summary was compiled by Paula Chagas, but there is no bio or disclosure statement. Do you know the author? Do you know how this summary was funded?

        Personal opinion (NOTE: I am not a doctor, just a mom) walkers probably don’t impact kids much IF there are no stairs in the home and IF the baby only uses the walker for very brief periods of time and is limited in total time per day. On the other hand, what’s the advantage of walkers? Is there a good reason for parent to use them at all?

        Would love to hear your response.
        Cheryl Greene

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    • Great points, but what’s the advantage of using one?

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  11. mrs pinki sharma .delhi

    My 9yr daughter walks, runs but her legs are slightly bent towards her big toe. What treatment and remedy has to be followed? I consult 2-3 doctors but don’t know the real root cause of this problem. Kindly suggest the best for my sweet, cute girl. Thanks.

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  12. renuka

    nice message… thanks

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  13. Crystal

    The first year of my son’s life, he was with a baby sitter for approximately 10-12 hours a day while I worked.

    The sitter thought it would be beneficial to him if she got a walker. So in that walker he sat all day. He is now 7 years old, is a toe walker, and his hips are still rather weak. From the lack of tummy time, he never learned to crawl. Missing that milestone has been nothing but trouble for my guy. He had no core strength, and has been working his little rear end off to build strength in the core area.

    He finally built enough strength in his back, neck, and stomach to sit up for the first time at age 5 and at age 6 was finally able to go up and down stairs, but with difficulties. He still has a little trouble in some areas, but is getting stronger every day.

    He starts physical therapy again next week and hopefully he will finally be able to do things all the other boys are doing like running fast, jumping, and climbing. If I were to do it all over again, I would most definitely forbid the use of a walker for my child.

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    • Monica

      Very sorry to hear about your little boy but I really hope you fired your sitter and she should not work for any other families in a child care capacity.

      ***No child*** should be left in one position or one place all day
      That was irresponsible and dangerous of her to leave your child in the walker all day, would you have wanted her to leave your baby in the crib all day? or a highchair all day?

      You should warn other parents of the sitter’s irresponsibility.

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    • Hannah Scott

      exactly. someone flipping gets it

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  14. Sarah Kakeeway

    My son used a walker from 6 months until he was about 9 or 10 months and then he started walking. He was walking from an early age…so I don’t understand how his development was inhibited by the walker whatsoever. As far as I can tell around other children his age, he has better motor skills than most of them, He walks, runs and dances when a lot of the other children are just learning to walk and are still quite unstable on their feet. I’m not saying this was because of the walker at all, but saying that walkers interfere with walking is extremely biased, and not true in 100% of cases…where are the studies that show the correlation between using walkers and age at which a child begins walking and how it negatively affects the child’s development? We’re just supposed to believe you because you’re a doctor? Also, my son’s walker never once tipped over and was extremely stable in design, we never once let him out of our sight when we used it, and he was never harmed in the slightest.

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    • Christy

      That’s why they said it can and in most cases. Your child was just fortunate he didn’t experience any negative effects. There are plenty of studies that show walkers are bad, bad, bad. Canada has banned them. It’s not biased to say they cause problems… Its fact. Do your research.

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      • Dean T.

        It’s not a fact! As long as you you limit their walker time, they will have normal development. Stop spreading false info and please do not label it as fact when it is not!

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        • Hannah Scott

          If walkers are so amazing, Canada wouldn’t have banned them. I hope parents can get common sense, step out of denial and someday we can ban them here too

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    • Hannah Scott

      the walker CAN inhibit motor development. Every time he went it you take a risk of him having hip or back problems. Also, walkers do not strengthen the muscles used to walk.

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  15. angela

    Thank you for the advice my son is 6 months old and is very active I was gonna get him a walker now I am not

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  16. jayasudha

    Thank You. Article is very useful. I am using walker for my 7 months old baby. I just want to stop now. At least I reduce walker times.

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