I'm definitely not a proponent of letting new-fangled baby holding devices and apparati (is that the plural of apparatus?...let's just say it is. Okay...it's not. Just looked it up. Apparatuses just doesn't sound right to me...but it is. Oh well) raise one's children. I know there are probably A LOT of people out there who plop their babies down in car seats, bouncers, walkers, Exersaucers, Jumperoos and the like for hours and hours on end. We live in a society that thinks it's weird to actually HOLD one's baby...even detrimental. ("You'd better not hold that baby so much, you'll spoil it!") The thing that cracks me up about the people who say that you have to put your baby down and let your baby go to sleep by him/herself because they need to learn to "self soothe" is the fact that the alternative to holding one's baby all the time is putting them in these baby devices or a crib with a bunch of noise-making, light-flashing, vibratey thingamabobbers. How is THAT "self soothing"? It's just replacing the human element with something else that soothes and entertains the baby. Seems silly to me.

A study conducted by A.L. Abbott and D. J. Bartlett in 2001 found that "infants who have high equipment use tend to score lower on infant motor development or that infants who have low equipment use tend to score higher on infant motor development."

Don't get me wrong, Scout has a few noisy plastic flashy toys and baby chair that vibrates. But we use that chair in moderation...say, when I am cooking something and wearing her in the sling is not practical at that moment, or I need both of my hands to carry laundry through the house, etc. But she does not spend the majority of her day in plastic baby-entertaining devices.

My mother-in-law gave us a bouncy doorway jumper. At first, I didn't think we'd use it because my sis told me that her daughter got a little wild in it once and she conked her head on the side of the door frame. And let's face it, they don't have the safest appearance. Also, I've read how the carriers that let baby dangle from a crotch strap, such as the Baby Bjorn, are not good on babies' spines because all the weight rests on the tailbone. I guess I just assume other devices in which baby hangs from a crotch strap would produce the same outcome. My chiropractor is not in favor of people using Exersaucers and similar devices because she believes it puts stress on the tailbone and puts babies' bodies into positions that are not part of the natural progression of mobility. I've Googled a bit to find out if there are studies that support this belief. I found one interesting report about Exersaucers causing femur fractures in infants. Wow. Kinda scary. I'm sure there's more stuff out there on the safety (or lack) of walkers, Exersaucers, etc.....but I'm feeling lazy and reading studies is boring. Plus, I didn't want to give myself more of a reason to feel guilty about letting Scout hang from a crotch-strap-bouncy-device this evening.

We hung up the doorway jumper and let Scout try it. As you can tell by the pic, she seems to enjoy it. She loves to stretch her legs and stand on my lap whenever I give her the chance, so it makes sense that the jumper would appeal to her. Shhhhhhhhh.........don't tell my chiropractor.

I guess I have the attitude that things like this are okay in moderation. I can't see myself putting her in it for more than 10 minutes at a time, maybe 0nce a day, and she will never be left unattended. I can't see how that could do any damage to her legs and spine, since the movement is very similar to how she moves when she is practicing standing on my lap. Although, I suppose some would say that I shouldn't even be letting her do that. Oh well.

I think the key here is balance and moderation. Two things that our modern American society is not known for. I'd be willing to bet that the babies who are getting fractured femurs and subluxated spines from baby gear are NOT the ones who are only spending 5-10 minutes in a walker or bouncer every now and then.

My friend over at Parenting in Progress has an adorable little son who LOVES his doorway swing. I was laughing hysterically at the videos of him spinning and having a grand time in it. It would be cruel to deprive him of such fun!

Labels: baby gear