Should I buy a Walking Ring for my Baby?
As new parents we have knowledge at our fingertips. You can have any question answered, if you
search for answers. In a day and age where information is freely available, it is so easy to make the
best decisions for your child.
We all want the best for our children, don’t we?
Should I buy a Walking Ring for my Baby? Another question that is debated among parents and
grandparents is: is it necessary for my child to crawl? The question about walking rings and crawling
are interlinked. Why? A baby that is happy spending time on his tummy and on the floor is also the
baby that will improve his shoulder stability (the muscles around his shoulders), trunk stability
(tummy muscles and core stability) and coordination to push himself into a crawling position.
On the other hand, if your baby is unhappy on the floor in tummy lying, as a mother, father or
grandparent, you would want to assist your baby in making him happy and by that “saving” him from
time on the floor. The obvious answer for that would be to put him or her in a walking ring. But is
that the best for the baby?
Why is crawling and time on the floor so extremely important? Every part of normal development is
important and prepares the baby for the next part of his development. It is important for a baby at
the age of 5 months to put his feet in his mouth, as this is a crucial time to stretch his hamstring
muscles and develop core stability in maintaining this position.
A baby needs to go through the developmental stages of lying on his tummy and pushing himself up
into crawling to develop his back muscles, gluteus muscles (bum muscles), shoulder muscles as well
as his tummy muscles. It is also very important for your baby, while he is pushing himself up on
straight arms, to shift his weight from the one arm to the other. In the position of four-point
kneeling he will be bearing weight on flat hands. This will assist with stretching muscles in the hands
which he will recruit later for hand function.
When a baby is crawling he is uses bilateral integration – a term to describe the ability for the two
halves of the body to work simultaneously. The left hemisphere of his brain sends messages to the
right side of the body and the right hemisphere sends messages to the left side of the body. When a
baby crawls, he needs various messages from his brain to move his body: left hand, right hand, left
leg, right leg and so forth.
In conjunction with this, the baby needs to keep his head in a face-down position. The vestibular
system, situated in the inner ear, interprets various movements and positions of his head in space.
The combination of all these aspects makes crawling a very difficult and daunting developmental
milestone, especially for a baby that battles with any of the following: low muscle tone (where
movement is more effort for these babies), tactile defensiveness (over sensitivity on his body and
hands) and vestibular integration difficulties (difficulty tolerating movement and different positions
of his head).
A baby that spends his time in a walking ring does not develop shoulder stability, trunk stability (as
he is suspended in a harness), bilateral integration or hand function and eye hand coordination as all
the toys in front of him are constant in size and distance. Indeed, the walking ring teaches him to
walk, as it stimulates the activity in his back muscles. This is all at the cost of the very important
developmental milestone of crawling and the benefits that go with it. Babies in walking rings don’t
want to crawl because it is hard work. Work that is too difficult for the muscle groups that did not
develop while the baby was spending time on the floor. Babies in walking rings will skip crawling and
go onto walking immediately. This is not to the benefit of your child.
As an Occupational Therapist who specializes in children, this is possibly the most frequently asked
question and still I treat various children on a weekly basis with developmental difficulties due to the
fact the baby is in a walking ring.
The Questions again: Should my baby crawl. The answer is YES.
Should I buy a walking ring for my baby?
The answer is a definite NO!
By Diana Kleyn – Occupational Therapist
Occupational Therapist in Private Practice since 2000
B. Occupational Therapy (UP) 1999
Advanced Neuro Developmental Therapy for Babies (2007)
Sensory Integration for Babies (2007)
Mother of two
Published 5 March 2011 |
