Parents Are Ignoring Dangers of Baby Walkers

The American Academy of Pediatrics said in 2001 that baby walkers were unsafe for children, but many parents are still putting their kids into them.

“The AAP has a position statement that baby walkers are not good for children; I’m not 100 percent sure why people are ignoring the warning,” said Ruth Milanaik, DO, director of the neonatal follow-up program at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park.

Dr. Milanaik and her colleagues surveyed several consumer websites and found a lot of high ratings and reviews for baby walkers despite the AAP’s recommendation. These findings were presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting last weekend.

Even though Dr. Milanaik posted on some consumer websites about the AAP’s position on baby walkers, people either found it unhelpful or her comments were not even included on the websites at all.

“People are very, very protective of things that they love,” Dr. Milanaik said.

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