From what age can a child be put on a walker and is it worth it?

It so happened that Russian parents consider walkers and jumpers to be an excellent gift for a newborn. The family has just appeared replenishment, and already on a par with the stroller and crib walkers are given. Indeed, these devices are very bright, entertaining, attracting attention. In addition, many parents are confident that they will help the child to stand on their own feet and go on their own. Is the gingerbread called “walkers” so sweet, if they do not harm the child’s development, from what age you can use them, we will tell in this material.

All over the world it is accepted to call walkers worldwide a narrow group of goods intended for disabled people and people of old age. Such devices appeared in the middle of the last century, and their role is still extremely important. They help people with disabilities to maintain an upright position of the body in space while standing and walking.

Baby walkers are essentially made for the same. They were first patented in Great Britain in 1953, but the people's love for invention came much later, and the first walkers were put on mass production in 1970 in the United States of America.

Children's doctors in the USSR categorically opposed the use of such devices for babies, and therefore in the country at the legislative level they decided to ban the manufacture and sale of walkers. In the 90s, the ban was called into question and seeing how babies of developed countries were cheerfully dissecting in walkers, they decided to start selling such products in our country.

Since then, the walker has become a familiar affair, you will not surprise anyone in their presence in the family in which the child grows. But doctors are increasingly recalling the prohibitions of the Soviet era and claim that they were very reasonable and reasonable. The main argument of pediatricians is considered unnatural walkers for children.

If an adult who has previously walked and stood, cannot take a single step now due to illness or injury, the device is considered reasonable, because it helps to improve the quality of life of a person accustomed to an upright position.

Children to whom nature has given time to ensure that the skeleton is fully grown, and during this time they do not stand on their feet and do not make vertical movement, the walkers, according to many pediatricians, are not needed. They are a gross intervention in the processes envisioned by nature. Parents can make their own conclusion by weighing all the advantages and disadvantages of these devices.

The advantages of the walker are obvious. They are useful and pleasant for young parents. Mom, having seated the child in the device, can spend a little time on herself, do the accumulated household chores.

The kid will not get anywhere out of the walker, unless, of course, his parents fastened it correctly with straps and made sure that there were no unnecessary items on the floor that the wheel of the walker could “stumble” on. Roll over from a walker is real, but in practice this happens infrequently.

In baby goods stores, walkers are classified as developing goods. But you should not believe it, because the benefit of the walker to prove until no one managed.Moreover, many pediatricians (and their number is steadily growing) are confident that the walkers are dangerous for the child.

To plant a child in a walker, experts say, is to contradict nature, to disrupt the natural course of human development. He will surely stand on his legs, but this should happen when the muscles, bones, joints, ligaments are fully prepared for the vertical load. The degree of readiness can be determined by one obvious sign: the child began to rise independently without coercion and the help of parents.

Device manufacturers and their vendors swear that they can be used from 5-6 months. However, in matters of age, they are somewhat cunning, and this slyness can later cost dearly the mother and father of the baby. Experienced pediatricians recommend using walkers, if parents so insist on their use, not earlier than the child turns 8-9 months.

Putting a child in a walker earlier means increasing the load on immature bones and joints, on the spine precisely at the moment when the child’s bone and muscular systems need to be treated carefully, in reasonable loads for proper formation.

Famous pediatrician Evgeny Komarovsky recommends that parents pay more attention to the natural development of the child. Before you get to your feet, the baby must go a long way - learn how to roll over, crawl, sit. This sequence of skills guarantees the normal development of the spine, muscles, legs.

Attempts by parents to accelerate the normal course of things can lead to excessive strain on the spine and hip joints, knees and feet. As a result, the child will develop an incorrect posture, problems with vertebrae and joints may occur, which can even bring the child to a disability in the future. Walkers, according to Komarovsky, like other devices for early verticalization, form an incorrect setting of the feet, which is fraught with their deformation - valgus, varus, flat-footedness.

You will learn more about how many months you can put a baby in a walker and whether you should do it, you will learn from the following video.