Best Christmas Gift For Baby? Maybe Not

Here’s why you should rethink getting that infant walker, sitting pillow or bouncer, a rehab specialist tells EVELINE GAN.

At 18 months old, the toddler still couldn’t walk without support. His family thought he was a “slow” learner, but kinesiologist Poh Ying Bin knew better.

“Deep in my heart, I was screaming: The boy is not slow! It was because he wasn’t given the chance to go through developmental steps,” says Ying Bin, a rehabilitation specialist in private practice who has a special interest in developmental kinesiology (the development and movement of the body in childhood).

The tot was always either in a cot or a baby walker, and rarely explored different movements without support. As a result, he couldn’t build up his motor control skills and learn to walk upright and unaided.

Incidents like this have spurred Ying Bin to raise awareness on how improper use of baby gear can adversely affect babies’ development.

In the first year of life, babies learn to lift their heads, roll over, sit, crawl and stand before they start to walk. By 18 months, most of them learn to walk without the need for support, he explains.

But introducing baby gear such as sitting pillows, walkers or baby bouncers – before your little one is ready – may do more harm than good for motor control and development, he says.

Although these tools may appear to help them sit, stand or walk earlier, it doesn’t mean that their movement patterns and control are optimal, he adds.

It’s important that they experience the process of constantly trying, failing and refining their movements.

When you introduce an “artificial aid”, such as a walker, your baby will rely on it without first learning the necessary motor control. They also leave babies in a passive position they are not ready for.