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Babywalkers: prevalence of use and relationship with other safety practices
1Division of General Practice, School of Community Health Sciences, Nottingham University Medical School, UK.
Insights
Babywalker use is common and linked to unsafe home practices like not using stair gates or fireguards. Health professionals should advise families on safer alternatives and essential safety equipment.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric safety research
- Public health interventions
- Child development studies
Background:
- Babywalkers are frequently used by infants aged 3-12 months.
- Understanding factors associated with babywalker use is crucial for injury prevention.
- Previous research has not fully explored the link between babywalker use and other safety practices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence of babywalker use in infants.
- To compare sociodemographic factors, risk perceptions, and safety practices between babywalker users and non-users.
- To identify associations between babywalker use and household safety measures.
Main Methods:
- A postal questionnaire was distributed to parents of 2152 infants (aged 3-12 months) across 36 UK primary care practices.
- Data collected included sociodemographic factors, safety practices, and perceptions of injury and household hazards.
- Statistical analyses included chi-squared tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, and logistic regression.
Main Results:
- Fifty percent of parents reported using babywalkers.
- Babywalker use was associated with lower use of stair gates and fireguards, and a higher number of unsafe practices.
- Sociodemographic factors such as receipt of means-tested benefits and residence in deprived areas were linked to babywalker use.
- Perceptions of risk did not differ significantly between babywalker users and non-users.
Conclusions:
- Babywalker use is prevalent and associated with other unsafe household safety practices.
- Health professionals should advocate for limiting babywalker sales and educate families on safe alternatives.
- Promoting the use of safety equipment like stair gates and fireguards is essential for infant safety.
Objective:
To examine the prevalence of walker use, and to compare sociodemographic factors, perceptions of the risk of injury and of household hazards, and safety practices in families by walker use.
Setting:
36 Primary care practices across Nottingham, UK.
Methods:
Postal questionnaire to all parents of children aged 3-12 months registered at each practice (n = 2152) to assess safety practices, perceptions of risk of injury, and of the risk associated with household hazards and sociodemographic factors. Data were analysed using chi 2 tests for categorical data, Mann-Whitney U tests for ordinal data, and logistic regression analysis.
Results:
The response rate was 74%. Fifty per cent of parents used babywalkers. Receipt of means tested benefits (odds ratio (OR) 1.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02 to 1.99), non-owner occupation (OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.04), residence in a deprived area (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.91), and unemployment (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.99) were independently associated with use of walkers. Families using babywalkers were less likely to use stair gates (chi 2 = 4.36, 1 df, p = 0.037), fireguards (chi 2 = 6.80, 1 df, p = 0.009), and had a higher total number of unsafe practices (Mann-Whitney U test, Z = -2.90, p = 0.004). Perceptions of risk of injury and of the risk associated with household hazards however, did not differ by walker use.
Conclusions:
Babywalker use is common across all social groups and is associated with other unsafe practices such as not using stair gates or fireguards. Health professionals should support campaigns to limit the sale of babywalkers, but, in addition, they should ascertain each family's reasons for walker use and try to find acceptable alternatives. They should also make the family aware of the importance of properly fitted stair gates and fireguards and help the family to obtain and use such items of safety equipment.