Babies 'don't look back in anger'
The right kind of baby buggy
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Friday, 21, Nov 2008 09:58
Children in baby buggies which face away from their parent can be "emotionally isolated and language-poor", a study out today warns.
Research by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) out today suggests that parents using face-to-face buggies were twice as likely to be talking to their baby.
This has significant implications for the child's early development, the study claims.
"Neuroscience has helped us to learn how important social interaction during the early years is for children's brain development," Suzanne Zeedyk of the NLT's early language campaign Talk To Your Baby said.
"If babies are spending significant amounts of time in a baby buggy that undermines their ability to communicate easily with their parent, at an age when the brain is developing more than it will ever again in life; then this has to impact negatively on their development."
The research found 62 per cent of all children were travelling in away-facing buggies – and that for those aged between one and two years old this increases to 86 per cent.
And it discovered that babies' sleeping patterns and heart rates differed slightly for the two orientations, suggesting it is possible that they are more stressed by away-facing buggies.
"Our data suggests that for many babies today, life in a buggy is emotionally impoverished and possibly stressful," Dr Zeedyk added.
"Stressed babies grow into anxious adults. Parents deserve to be able to make informed choices as to how to best promote their children’s emotional, physical, and neurological development."