This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lindsay, R. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Lindsay, R. L.
Related Collections
Right arrow Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

AAP Grand Rounds 3:1-2 (2000)
© 2000 American Academy of Pediatrics

DEVELOPMENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS

Baby Walkers Delay Motor and Mental Development

Source: Siegel AC, Burton RV. Effects of baby walkers on motor and mental development in human infants. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 1999;20:355–361.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Many parents use baby walkers to provide mobility and exercise for their young, pre-ambulatory infants. Manufacturers now equip most walker devices with a wide opaque plastic tray and relatively small leg openings to decrease the likelihood of tipping accidents or suffocation from the infant’s head being wedged in the seat. This design prevents the infant from seeing his or her moving legs. Developmental studies suggest that visual feedback about body position and limb movement is necessary for the timely acquisition of motor milestones.1,2 Therefore, pre-ambulatory walker experience may be conceptualized in terms of early deprivation reminiscent of that created in a classic series of animal experiments on the critical role of visual feedback in developing motor systems.

Siegel and Burton analyzed motor and mental development in 109 infants (of those, 102 were white, 4 were Asian, 1 was African American) with . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Ronald L. Lindsay, MD, FAAP
Pediatrics, Nisonger Center UAP, The Ohio State University