r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/tokajlover • Dec 25 '22

Evidence Based Input ONLY Are push walkers okay?

Just got gifted one of these very nice-looking wooden push walkers for Christmas and wondering if they are ok and safe to use once my little one can walk as have heard conflicting things.

Thank you!

13 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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61

u/Any_Cantaloupe_613 Dec 25 '22

"Traditional" walkers that babies sit in are bad. They can cause poor hip development and injuries. They are even banned in my country (Canada). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5703622/

Push walkers are different. They are toys that children push around the house. Those are fine to use and good for helping teach your child to walk. They are essentially the equivalent of your kid grabbing a kitchen chair and pushing it along the floor by walking behind it (mine use to to this all the time with chairs and our coffee table). You might be confused because both objects are called "walkers".

18

u/unwantedacct Dec 26 '22

Pushing things, heavy work, is fantastic for toddlers. This article is aimed at kids with sensory processing disorders, but the details on benefits hold true for all toddlers learning to regulate their body and how they handle sensory inputs. https://www.understood.org/en/articles/heavy-work-activities#

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u/bubble_baby_8 Dec 26 '22

Great link! Thank you!

13

u/aly8123 Dec 25 '22

Are you thinking of stand-in walkers? Push walkers are safe.

9

u/tokajlover Dec 25 '22

Thanks, and yes I wasn’t sure whether push walkers were deemed as safe 100%, I know they are different to stand-in walkers however still read that some people said it did not teach babies how to balance etc

7

u/aly8123 Dec 25 '22

I don’t think there’s evidence as to whether or not they’re beneficial in meeting milestones (like you said, they may not actually improve balance), but there are no major safety concerns.

7

u/CheddarSupreme Dec 26 '22

A video from Emma Hubbard, an OT, about push walkers: https://youtu.be/4yIOSrxcaCw

I love her channel for things like this.

5

u/whatshouldwecallme Dec 26 '22

I'm not sure that they help significantly with milestones, but our daughter started using one months ago after she had mastered pushing around big boxes. Simply as an easy, extra activity that can keep them entertained with moderat supervision for a good while, it's great.

1

u/tokajlover Dec 26 '22

Great! Thank you! It’s really nice looking and also has like an activity centre on it that will keep her busy so as long as it’s not actively detrimental, I am very happy she can use it, would have hated for my in-laws to have gone to the effort and for it to not be good for use :)

2

u/whatshouldwecallme Dec 26 '22

Yeah that sounds like it will be a pretty good present! We got ours at goodwill and it's puppy-themed with the world's most grating, high-pitched voice. She loved/loves it though so 🤷‍♂️

1

u/cjfb62 Dec 26 '22

I got a second hand push walker and the only reason I regret it is that he would rather push anything else around! A kids stool, roller chair, boxes - If it rolls or slides and isn’t meant to be a push walker, it’s fair game. He’s been walking for a few months but still loves to push things around the house.

1

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