No to baby walker

I guess it's not often you learn something about "parenting" from reading medical journals. Doctors are possibily the worst parents, they either ignore or get paranoid about physical complaints.

I'm sure baby walker is part what our parents bought for us when we, generation y, were kids. Apparently these things aren't good for you. From this week's Lancet:

Baby-walkers: an avoidable source of hazard
Original TextHemmen Sabir MD a, Prof Ertan Mayatepek MD a, Jörg Schaper MD b, Dr Daniel Tibussek MD a

In April 2006, an 11-month-old girl was playing in a baby-walker, when she fell down 15 stairs. Her parents heard the noise, and ran to investigate. They saw that the girl had a nosebleed (which lasted less than 1 min), and a small bruise on her forehead. However, she remained fully alert, and did not seem to have sustained any serious injury. Her parents thought she just needed a rest. However, because she appeared increasingly “apathetic”, they changed their minds, and took her to the emergency department of her local hospital: she arrived 1 h after the accident. Doctors found no evidence of serious injury or neurological damage. CT of the head and neck showed no evidence of bleeding or fracture; nor did radiography of the cervical spine. However, 24 h after the accident, when the girl was still in hospital for observation, her legs became weak, then paralysed. Within 12 h, she was unable to move any of her (flaccid) limbs. Nonetheless, emergency CT showed no abnormality. The girl was transferred to our hospital for MRI.
On arrival, 36 h after the accident, she remained fully responsive, but still had flaccid quadriplegia. Moreover, she now had marked tachypnoea (48 breaths per min), and appeared to be in pain, which increased when her limbs were touched, and decreased after administration of paracetamol and metamizole. MRI showed marked swelling of the spinal cord, between the second and sixth cervical vertebrae (figure). We diagnosed spinal cord injury without radiological abnormality (SCIWORA).1 12 h later, the girl developed respiratory failure, apparently because of spinal damage, and required mechanical ventilation, in the intensive-care department. On the same day, we observed peripheral oedema. Blood tests showed an extremely high concentration of creatine kinase (>230 000 U/L; normal <202>

SCIWORA is most often caused by spinal hyperextension or flexion, and accounts for 19—34% of all spinal-cord injuries in children.2 In around a quarter of children with SCIWORA, manifestation of neurological abnormality is delayed or gradual;3 it usually occurs within 48 h of injury.2 Most infants recover from SCIWORA incompletely, or not at all.3 Baby-walkers increase potential speed and mass, and prevent the baby from falling correctly; they allow children to reach higher than when crawling or walking unaided, which can expose them to danger; and their use can delay normal motor and mental development.4 The implementation of the American Society for Testing and Materials' infant-walker standard, from 1997, coincided with a reduction in injuries caused by baby-walkers in the USA.5 However, baby-walkers remain a hazardous toy, of no benefit to the baby. Parents may buy them, as they do infant formula in some countries, in the mistaken belief that they benefit children, while unaware of the risks. The Canadian government banned the use and importing of baby-walkers in 2004. We see no reason why other governments should not follow this example.

And here's is what our consumer affairs has to say about baby walker..

It's rather sad the young girl died anyway. What's the chance of you (an adult) died from unexpected cardiac arrest? According to data from the Framingham Heart Study, from your 55th birthday on, your risk ranges from 2-5 per 1000 per year.