The Effect of Baby Walker on Child Development: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective Baby walkers are used all around the world as fun equipment without any dangers. In contrast with public beliefs, some researchers have claimed they can cause developmental delay. We aimed to investigate their effect on child development through a systematic review. Materials & Methods We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE, and Scopus for related articles in English and included all study designs. All articles, which fulfilled the inclusion criteria, were included without considering the year of publication. Results Of 315 articles found in PubMed, 1630 citations in Google Scholar, 18 articles in EMBASE, and 38 papers in Scopus, only 9 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Among them, a cohort study and two cross-sectional studies reported developmental delay in thaspects in baby walker users. Other studies including clinical trials did not show any developmental delay in these children. Conclusion Evidence against baby walker is not enough regarding its negative effect on child development. This subject needs to be addressed more, considering a large number of baby walker users worldwide.