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Go naked: diapers affect infant walking

Whitney G Cole1, Jesse M Lingeman, Karen E Adolph

  • 1Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003, USA.

Developmental Science
|October 31, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Diapering hinders infant walking development. Studies show diapers negatively impact infant gait, increasing falls and missteps, suggesting a link between diapering practices and motor skill acquisition.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Biomechanics
  • Human Motor Control

Background:

  • Childrearing practices significantly influence infant motor skill development.
  • The biomechanical impact of diapers on infant locomotion is largely unexplored.
  • Existing research suggests environmental factors can alter motor milestones.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effect of wearing diapers on infant walking ability.
  • To determine if diaper bulk influences gait patterns and stability in infants.
  • To explore the potential contribution of diapering practices to cross-cultural variations in walking onset.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of infant gait while wearing different types of diapers versus no diaper.
  • Observation and quantification of gait parameters such as stance width, step length, and balance.
  • Recording of missteps and falls during walking trials.

Main Results:

  • Both cloth and disposable diapers adversely affect infant walking.
  • Diapered infants exhibit less mature gait patterns and increased instability.
  • A higher frequency of missteps and falls was observed in diapered infants compared to naked infants.

Conclusions:

  • Diapers act as a biomechanical perturbation, negatively impacting the learning process of walking.
  • Changes in diapering practices may correlate with historical and cross-cultural differences in infant motor development.
  • Reducing diaper use could potentially facilitate more typical infant walking development.

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