Babywalker-related Injuries Continue Despite Warning Labels and Public Education

Objective . To describe the epidemiology of babywalker-related injuries to children treated in a pediatric emergency department despite current prevention efforts, and to investigate the beliefs of parents regarding babywalker use. Design . A descriptive study of a consecutive series of patients. Setting . The emergency department of a large, academic children9s hospital. Participants . Children treated for babywalker-related injuries during the 3-year period of March 1993 through February 1996. Results . There were 271 children treated for babywalker-related injuries. The mean age was 9.2 months, and 62% of patients were boys. Ninety-six percent of children were injured when they fell down stairs in their babywalker. The number of stairs that a child fell down was significantly associated with skull fracture and admission to the hospital, and a fall down more than 10 stairs had a relative risk (RR) of skull fracture = 3.28 (95% confidence interval, 1.35 Conclusion . Despite the currently used prevention strategies, including adult supervision, warning labels, care giver education programs, and stairway gates, serious injuries associated with babywalkers continue to occur to young children. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission should promulgate a rule, similar to the voluntary standard adopted in Canada, regarding design requirements for babywalkers that will prevent their passage through household doorways at the head of stairs. The manufacture and sale of mobile babywalkers that do not meet this new standard should be banned in the US. A recall or trade-in campaign should be conducted nationally to decrease the number of existing babywalkers.