Studies Show Kids that Use Tray Walkers are Delayed in Mental and Motor Skills

By: Integrated Learning Strategies

The most important details in this text are that some of the simplest milestones during a child's development can become critical for their learning development. These milestones include crawling, babbling, and learning to walk. Tray walkers are often used to encourage a child to walk more, but research now suggests that they can also interfere with an infant's motor and mental development.

Tray walkers are seats hanging from frames allowing a baby to sit upright, bounce, and cruise around the house while letting their feet dangle and touch the floor. A study in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics reported that babies who use the latest 'tray-style' walkers learned to sit up, crawl, and walk later than those who never used walkers or who used the older models that allowed the child to see their legs. The authors found that babies who never used walkers had the highest scores in mental development, followed by those who used the older-style walkers.

Researchers found that children who used tray walkers developed better mental skills than those who did not, with an average score of 123.

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