 |
21, June 2002 |
||
   
|
New UCD research shows babywalkers delay infant development The UCD School of Physiotherapy has carried out research on babywalkers and their effect on infant development. The research, which will be published in the British Medical Journal on 22 June 2002 shows that babywalkers are associated with significant delay in achieving normal locomotor milestones in infants, such as crawling, standing, and walking, and should be discouraged. Researchers in Ireland surveyed parents of 190 normal healthy infants (83 boys and 107 girls), born at term and attending registered day care centres. They asked parents to record the age at which their child reached various developmental milestones including rolling over, sitting alone, crawling, and walking alone. Of the 102 infants using babywalkers, achieving crawling, standing alone, and walking alone occurred later than in the other infants. They found strong associations between the amount of babywalker use and the extent of developmental delay. Each aggregated 24 hours of babywalker use was associated with a delay of 3.3 days in walking alone and a delay of 3.7 days in standing alone. This study provides additional evidence that babywalkers are associated with significant delay in achieving normal locomotor milestones, say the authors. The use of babywalkers should be discouraged, they conclude. For further information please contact: Dr Mary Garrett, Director, UCD School of
Physiotherapy. -or- Public Affairs Office, UCD. Issued by the Office of Public Affairs, 19 June 2002. |
||
|
|||
