warning on baby walkers

Since I know a lot of gardeners have little ones in the family,I wanted to pass along the info I sent to friends and family today. The American Academy of Pediatrics-called for a ban on the sale of mobile baby walkers due to the danger of injury. Reporters here interviewed doctors from our Univ. of WI Children's Hospital who said that walkers with wheels can also slow physical and mental development. They have requested that people dismantle the walkers and not give them to thrift shops, garage sales or put out on the curbs; and have asked the local thrift shops ( Goodwill) etc.) to take them off the shelves and dismantle them. The quote was that over 8,000 infants were injured, many seriously in 1999, from walker accidents. Please pass along this info.

I have a new grandaughter coming in November and I have been picking up things here and there for her visits to my house which will be often.I almost picked up a walker at a tag sale this past weekend but the person before me had already bought it. Thanks so much for the warning. I certainly don't want anything that might cause injury to her.

Marcia, Thanks so much for that important reminder. I am expecting number five and have never had one. I have found the Exersaucer to be a great alternative. The baby is still in the same position, still has a tray for toys, can spin and rock, but cannot go anywhere. There are also others with flat bases that do not roll. My neighbor had his six month old out in a walker the other day and it scared me to death. Our driveways were poured to fit two car garages, and are poured in eight seperate squares. Trust me, they are not perfectly even at the edges! My sister in law still uses them too. I don't know if people don't hear the warnings about them collapsing and flipping, or if they just think it won't happen to them. Through different parts of my house, I have ceramic tile, carpet and hardwood and that nice deep stairwell. This is a no walker zone!
Michele

Little fingers can get pinched really bad too when baby bumps against a doorway or tables. :( I used an exersaucer for my girls sometimes but found that baby proofing the house and using baby safe gates at stairways and bathrooms works great! Just lay them on the floor and let them go!! :)

I'm going to show this to my sister, who ranted and raved from day one that I didn't have a walker for my son Joe. Of course, we didn't have the room for one anyway, our place is tiny. And the little guy pretty much learned to walk by pulling himself up against one of our dogs (cockers or the huskies, depending on who was closest) and then teetering over to the next dog.

oh and I miss that 'tumbleweed' stage, where they roll and roll and roll....you set them down and turn your back for just a sec, and they're halfway across the room already!

sigh....

Makes me wonder how my babies survived all those years ago! I used a walker and had regular cords on my mini blinds! We did use some common sense back then and did not leave them unattended in the walker but by todays standards that would still be considered bad practice. We didn't have break apart cords so we coiled the cords up out of reach. That so many injuries and deaths are occuring is truly sad. You cannot remove all dangers from your child but you can try! My pet peeve was always the mothers who placed their babies in a playpen every waking moment! To use one for awhile is fine but to live in it all the time? I wonder how many children are injured when they try to climb up and out!

Zany, my hubby and I say the same thing all the time. "I wonder how we survived". LOL Hubby still likes raw cookie dough and cake batter too. We do try to keep it away from the little ones, but what about the BIG KID?? My kids do get loads of freedom as babies, but sometimes they need to be restrained and that is when the exersaucer came in handy. My kids used Siberian Huskies as walkers too. LOL I think the problem with a lot of todays massed produced products, is trying to get the bigger, better, deluxe model (with the convenience of folding and accompanying bags to put them in) out before the other guy. I have never had a playpen or 'johnie jump up' either. There are so many things on the market now, I guess I just avoid the things that I have heard bad things about. I don't think my life or the kids has been any better or worse because of it, but they didn't get hurt on them and that is good. Now if they can keep all their teeth and bones in tact, while playing soccer, riding bikes, etc., I will consider my job well done. :)

I know what you mean, Zanymuse and Badseed; I used to bike all over (as a kid) on country roads and never got hurt or heard about any closed head injuries, also babysat kids in the walkers and watched them enjoy wheeling around etc. I do not know what it is. I use a helmet when I ride my 10 speed ( 2 of my friends were in accidents, -one still sustained some head injury-but the helmet saved her life), I worry about my nieces and nephews and their kids when I read the news. Maybe things are made so fast, fancy and cheap, that they aren't as safe anymore. Maybe life is so hectic that it is much harder nowadays to make sure that the kids are OK, and maybe ; because I already have gray hair, I worry more. I even stopped quality tasting the chocolate chip cookie dough since they warned about salmonella (that is extreme!!!!) I do not know how you parents do it. I think it takes great courage to be one, being an aunt is hard enough.