Not Teaching Your Baby To Walk Part 2: Reasons NOT To Walk Your Baby
Not my baby, but cute, right?
Yesterday, I talked about the urge people have to encourage babies to walk, and how I have difficulty understanding it. One of the commenters on my post pointed me to an article she wrote about reasons why you shouldn’t walk your baby. ‘Walking’ your baby is when you hold his hands while he walks, even though he can’t really walk yet.
Janet Lansbury, the writer of this piece, has a blog dedicated to RIE, a parenting approach that encourages babies to move freely on their own, without the aid of other people or objects. I’ve written a few posts on RIE if you want to read some of my positive and negative feelings about it.
I found this particular piece to be worth sharing because it points out a few enlightening reasons for letting babies figure it out on their own that really do make sense from a movement perspective. Here is a sample of some of her 9 Reasons Not To Walk Your Baby:
1. Body Wisdom- …when it comes to motor development, babies are self-learners — they really do know best. By holding a baby’s hands to mobilize him, position and reposition his body, we hinder his natural ability to find balance, sense spatial relations, and judge what he can and cannot do. Better to trust our babies to walk when they are ready, and by doing so encourage mental and physical awareness.
2. Safety – …walking babies makes them less aware — gives them a false sense of balance and of their abilities — which can be dangerous… But babies who are given freedom to move and develop in their own way gain a self-knowledge that keeps them safer. Their inner sense of balance and judgment intact, movements are carefully calculated, and they tend to make fewer reckless moves.
4. Parent Backaches
That last one is one of my personal favorites.
However, of all the things she says, the most compelling reason for me is #9.
“I’m Enough.”
I’ve seen it all too often. Parents of new babies are constantly trying to get their baby to the next level while they compare their babies to their friends’ babies. People are always asking each other “What’s she doing?” “Is he talking?” “Is she walking yet?” What’s she doing?”
My answer to that question is the following:
He’s being a baby and enjoying every minute of it. And so am I, because before I know it, he won’t be one anymore.
You can read the rest of Janet Lansbury’s article here.
Photo Credit: Phil Wood Photo/Flickr
Ok, I have one more thing to add, on that last part: Perhaps my baby doesn’t “enjoy” every minute of being a baby, but he’s in the moment, and he’ll walk when he’s good and ready to walk. That’s what I meant.
We have friends whose first baby is 7 weeks younger than our nine month old. Their baby has four teeth and learned to crawl this week. Our baby has no teeth and flops onto her belly as soon as she gets that second leg out from under her. The reason: she’s too fat to move
She’s like her older sister in that regard. I know she’ll move when she can/wants to. (Actually, I think she really wants to.) I notice her changing, growing and learning every day, and that’s all that matters.
This is very hard. It is like everyone suggests ways to teach babies to walk. My husband’s sister insisted I put my girl in those type of bouncers (I don’t know how you call them in the US) with wheels to help my girl walk at four months. I put her at 7 months because I could not listen to her anymore. I hate them, they make babies lazy. They are supposed to hold the baby while he/she tries to move the feet but my girl was smart enough to understand they have wheels. She would just push herself around everywhere and not move her little feet. And don’t get me started on the thing with straps to keep the baby from falling on his face where the parent has a long leash to do that, it is a baby not a dog for heaven’s sake.
@lo as far as I know, walkers, bouncers and the like donn actually “teach” or develop any skills or muscles related to walking… they’re mainly a way to keep babies somewhat contained while parents do their own thing (which as far as I’m concerned IS a worthwhile goal in itself.
@Naomi See, I intend to “walk” my baby when he’s old enough because its FUN, not because I think it’s necessary. I really doubt it does any harm… I wish all these specialists and experts would butt out.
Thanks for this post! I read Janet Lansburys blog and respect her and RIE a lot. I always take things I read to my mind and then look at my baby to see whaf works for him. As a result he is very happy and able to communicate with me even without words.
I have twin baby boys that were born among a plethora of other babies so one of our favorite small talk topics is what the babies are up to. I have one twin who was active even before birth and was walking solo by 9 months. His older twin brother didn’t walk for two months more and even now is still not as steady on his feet. It makes me remember that all children are individuals and will develop at their own pace.