Baby walker: My review of Luvlap Sunshine baby walker. Should you even buy one?
Planning to buy a baby walker for your princess/ prince?
It’s not only the brand and type of walker that you should be concerned about, there is more to ponder. A baby walker comes with a ‘RED’ cautionary note about the potentially serious hazards of its use. Before you make that purchase, spend some time reading about the product, its impact on your child’s development, and its specifications.
Be cautioned, there is a lot of concern over the use of baby walkers. Countries like Canada have banned the use entirely.
Watching your little one take her first steps is plausibly one of the most joyous memories of her childhood that you gonna hold dear forever. Her happy gliding across the hallway in her musical carriage will bring a smile to your face, evermore.
With a lot of hesitation, I couldn’t stop myself from buying one myself, the second time around now. I have included my review of the Luvlap sunshine baby walker in the blog. First, let us tread through the controversies, myths, and truths encompassing the use.
Why not use baby-walkers?
To be most precise- Baby walkers are dangerous.
Experts have concluded that using a walker can be injurious to your child’s safety. Baby walkers contribute significantly to emergency department visits worldwide. The majority hurt their head, back, or neck due to accidents around the staircases.
A child in a walker gets access to ordinarily unreachable and potentially hazardous areas/objects in your household like sharp corners, doors, stairs, medicine-boxes, glassware, sharps, poisons, hot-liquids, etc.
Additionally, there is a risk of falling out of the walker, drowning while scooting (into a pool or tub). The attached toys may act as a choking hazard.
In 2010 mandatory federal safety standards for baby- walkers were enforced, and this led to significant decrease in the accidnets.
Potential for delayed walking/ hindrance to normal development.
Despite the popular belief that walkers help children learn to master the art of walking, the reverse is actually true. Most experts agree that introducing a walker can delay the walking milestone of your child. Walkers teach the children to pull/scoot along, drag themselves forward with the assistance of a walker, and not with the support and strength of their legs. This can delay the coordination required to walk independently.
Chronic bone and muscle problems, specifically hip and back issues, are attributed to abnormal posturing during walker-use.
The muscle development in the legs is also affected due to unusual weight-bearing during walker-use vs normal walking.
To summarize, using a baby walker can:
- Be a potentially dangerous, accident-prone exercise.
- Delay walking, interfere with crawling.
- Lead to Chronic health problems.
- Cause developmental discrepancies.
- Grant access to potentially hazardous corners and substances in your home.
If you may like, visit Myths and Truths about Baby walkers By NHS, Shetland, UK for experts’ take on the subject.
Why parents love baby walkers?
Despite a lot of cautionary air around its use, parents worldwide find immense joy in buying a baby walker for their cuties. Lots of myths and misconceptions hover around the walker use in infants, most encouraging the already super-confused parents to grab for themselves asap.
Learning to walk
The belief that it helps their babies learn to walk is a major driving force for its use, although the reverse is true as explained earlier. Moreover, the unnatural stance and posture adopted can cause long term hip problems.
Child- engagement
The walker can keep your child engaged and off your back for a while. Kids love to roam around, interact with their surroundings, and engage with the toys on the walker.
Sense of safety
Having a baby in a walker gives a false sense of safety to the parents. In fact, a baby using a walker needs strict supervision of a dedicated adult eye.
Years of experience, easy availability, and dedicated marketing.
Years of use and experience, support and encourage its use generation after generation. Walkers are the ‘preferred gifting article’ for our enthusiastic learners. Adding to the dedicated marketing and promotions, the easy availability of a tremendous variety (both, branded and locally made), makes it highly likely to catch your eye while you surf the internet or hop around a toy-shop.
How to use?
Now that we have decided to buy one and let our munchkins have some fun, let’s go through some ‘safe-use-tips’ of this waker-game.
Strict vigilance
Be exclusively vigilant all the time, stay in close proximity. Never let your guards down. A baby in a walker needs you to be much more watchful than a baby not using one.
Childproof the playarea
Remove all potential threats from the play area: sharps, breakable, hot liquids, wires, electricals, cover all sharp edges, and so on. Never underestimate the self-hurting potential of your little crusaider.
Adhere to safety-standards
Buy the one that satisfies international safety standards for baby walkers. Don’t bargain on the minimum required features:
- Measures to help prevent walkers from falling down stairs or tipping over.
- Ensure that babies inside them are well-supported and can’t get stuck inside them.
- The rules also require a parking brake, to help keep the walker stationary when required.
- Adhere to standards for the wheels.
Read safety instructions carefully and follow them diligently. Spend good amount of time in the yet-to-buy phase, A NICK IN TIME SAVES NINE.
Avoid too early introduction and overuse
Limit the use to less than an hour each day, preferably under 10 minutes.
Wait until your baby can support her weight on her legs with support.
Make sure your baby can place whole foot on ground, not just toe-tips.
Your baby can crawl with ease. Remember, walkers are known to hinder development and desire to crawl in infants.
Choose alternatives
Opt for stationary activity tables or door jumpers. A stable push-type baby walker is a better option and more stimulating for her development.
Luvlap baby walker: My experience so far.
I have been using the Luvlap baby walker for over a month now, and I am excited to share our experience with you all.
Pros
- Sturdy built.
- Reputed company.
- Very well balanced.
- Comfy seating.
- Very useful push-along handle for parents.
- A foot mat to use while you drive for your baby.
- Easy self-assembly.
- 3 adjustable height levels.
- Easy folding for storage.
- Very engaging front panel with music bar, bright red flashing lights, rotating side arms with the rattling ball, and two moveable knobs in the front panel.
It keeps my little monster occupied for a good amount of time. She loves bouncing in her seat and exploring the house on her little unsteady feet. I can’t emphasize more on the need for constant supervision during its use. It’s actually exhausting at times- running after her from corner to corner, pulling things out of her grabs, organizing and reorganizing our living space to ensure she can hop around with safety.
Cons
- The breaks provided don’t work. Poor vacuum/suction strength on both sides makes it almost impossible to apply brakes.
- Changing height levels is a little tough as well as rough, not a very smooth transition from one level up or down.
- Kids at this age keep putting any and everything to mouth. The quality of plastic doesn’t seem very good in this aspect.
- On the undersides, there are some sharp edges, that could have been easily smoothened out.
- The noise is deafening, and there is no way to control the level except for some ingenious hack. We covered both speakers with small spot bandages for the noise-control. It worked!
The safety concerns surrounding the baby walker use are for real, and potentially hazardous. Do your homework sincerely, and invest in a sturdy and safe option, there is more to this shopping than what meets your eyes.
Happy and safe walking to my cute little friends.
Do read my review of the Kiddale baby food processor and weaning introduction, if you are planning on introducing solids in your infant’s diet.