When you have an infant you may think it’s cute to see them scoot around in an infant walker, hoping it will help speed up the time it takes for them to be walking on their own. But it turns out, these walkers can be really, really dangerous.
A new report is warning parents against using infant walkers, suggesting they are a safety hazard. According to a report in the journal “Pediatrics,” from 1990 to 2014, more than 23,000 children, ages 15 months and younger, were taken to emergency room because of infant walker-related injuries.
The study finds that 91% of those injuries were to the head and neck, while 30% were concussions or skull fractures. Walkers falling down the stairs caused the most of these injuries, while other issues include falls out of the walker, and the walker allowing a child access to something they normally wouldn’t be able to reach, like say the stove.
These baby walkers are considered so dangerous that the American Academy of Pediatrics has been calling for a ban on them for decades, but they are still on the market at major stores.
Source: CBS News