Doctors Call for Ban on Manufacturing and Selling Infant Walkers in Wake of Severe Injuries

Because infant walkers have caused numerous deaths since the 1970s and offer no developmental benefit to babies, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is recommending they be banned.

A new study published in the journalPediatricson Mondaysupports a ban on manufacturing and selling these types of apparatuses, also known as “exersaucers.”

“I view infant walkers as inherently dangerous objects that have no benefit whatsoever and should not be sold in the U.S.,”Dr. Benjamin Hoffman,a pediatrician who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention,told National Public Radio in regards to the new study.

It found about 230,676 babies visited the ER for infant walker injuries during that time frame, most of them, about 90 percent, because they’d hurt their head or neck. Some 74 percent had fallen down stairs. While less than 5 percent of the total patients the study looked at were admitted to the hospital, almost 38 percent of those admitted had skull fractures.

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The AAP also stressed that walkers do not facilitate walking or other motor skills, contrary to what parents might think. The group also explained that walkers allow babies to move so fast that even the most vigilant parents might not be able to react to a dangerous situation in time. Canada banned such walkers in 2004.

source: people.com