Answer: Hi,
Your sense on this issue is probably correct. Walking age is not an
indicator for future intelligence and at five months she’s a little young
to be placed in an upright position for any length of time.
There are real benefits to her development of being on the floor as much as
possible, rather than being immobile in a walker.
Later learning and gross motor development are all helped by floor time. In
truth, there’s really no place for walkers as they don’t do anything
positive to help a child’s development.
Her leg shape and feet are unlikely to be negatively impacted by being in a
walker; babies who don’t have the muscle strength to hold themselves up
will just collapse into the walker once their legs tire. But it’s more so
an issue of what she’s missing out on when she’s in it which is the issue.
It’s really hard in these situations to not come across as being critical.
But if you frame it as “the expert” says type response that may help.
No health professional recommends baby walkers and from a developmental
point of view, they really aren’t a useful piece of baby furniture. There’s
also the issue of their safety which is a major risk because of tipping
over and the baby scooting uncontrolled from place to place.
Hope this information helps.
Best
Jane