Baby Walkers: A Dangerous Ride

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HOUSTON, Sept. 17, 1998 -- Despite continued warnings from physicians and safety advocates about the dangers of baby walkers, 90 percent of children under age two are still put in them. As a result, nearly 20,000 children are treated in emergency rooms each year for baby walker-related injuries.

"Even if a parent is nearby to supervise, a walker greatly increases a child's chances of falling, especially around an open stairway," said Dr. Joan Shook, chief of the Emergency Medicine Service at Texas Children's Hospital. "Nearly half of the children who use the walkers get injured."

The devices, long considered an easy and entertaining way to occupy a child's time and provide exercise, can gather speed quickly -- moving as fast as four feet per second -- and put children at risk for falls and give them access to other hazards.

The majority of children with baby walker-related injuries fall down stairs (80 percent) and many sustain serious head injuries. Other injuries occur when a child tips over in the walker, pulls down hot liquid or food, suffocates or drowns due to increased mobility in a baby walker.

Because baby walkers are so harmful, Dr. Shook recommends the following guidelines for parents:

• Never use baby walkers with wheels
• Use stationary activity centers or walker alternatives, such as Exersaucers(TM)
• Supervise infants at all times.

Texas Children's Hospital in Houston is a 456-licensed bed, non-profit pediatric specialty hospital, the largest children's hospital in the United States. Founded in 1954, Texas Children's has trained nearly 80 percent of all Texas pediatricians as the primary pediatric teaching and research hospital for Baylor College of Medicine, one of the top 20 U.S. medical schools in research funding.

Within its spectrum of more than 40 pediatric specialties and subspecialties, Texas Children's is known worldwide for developing breakthrough treatments in all areas of children's health care, including childhood cancer, cardiology, neonatology, asthma, diabetes, organ transplantation and gene therapy. More than 3300 physicians, medical and professional personnel care for patients and their families at Texas Children's Hospital, located in the heart of Houston's world-renowned Texas Medical Center.

CONTACT: Tracy Scott of Texas Children's Hospital, 713-770-2118