Thursday, May 5, 2011

Front-facing stroller = danger?

Who knew that strollers were so controversial? We're currently using the car seat in the Snap n' Go stroller frame for Jack. This means that he faces us as we walk. As Jack is no real fan of his car seat, I've started to think about when we can switch to his front-facing stroller. I thought a quick Google search of how old a baby should be to ride in a front-facing stroller would give me an easy answer. Man, that was naive of me. Did you know that this is a controversial subject? A cursory search turned up tons of articles like this one. They all basically said the same thing with a few variations. That front-facing strollers are bad for young babies. That it can over-stimulate them, stress them out, and deprive them of parent-child interaction. That parents tend to talk less to babies when they're not facing them and therefore hinder their development. Of course, there were plenty of comments from moms who said this is ridiculous. And I'm sure it is for most. But it is certainly something to think about. The little guy's not ready to transition yet but we'll see when we decide to do it.

7 comments:

  1. articles like this crack me up. it's not like the study followed the babies for 30 years and concluded that the the now grown babies who were anxious adults were anxious because they spent more time in forward-facing strollers. ridiculous. they say the same thing about forward-facing carriers, but as a solo data point, i found the opposite to be true with violet - that more "development" was going on when she could see the world, not just my boobs. if she got stressed out, she'd let me know, and i'd respond. parents who talk to their children are going to do so regardless of which direction the kid is facing, and parents who text on their cell phones while pushing a stroller across a busy intersection are going to continue to suck regardless of stroller seat direction. i guess what i'm saying is don't worry too much - if jack doesn't like something, i'm sure he'll let you know. :-)

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  2. p.s. i'm sorry my comment is as long as your post!

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  3. Stuff like this kills me because it doesn't take the parent into account at all. Yes, yes, I know we should be sacrificing our lives for our children and all that, but really? 30 minutes of walking with baby in a stroller and getting a little "you" time to just walk is very therapeutic for a stressed-out mom. I turned Johnny forward in his stroller once he started sitting, so around 5 or 6 months...ish and I think he's developing quite well.

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  4. Have you seen Away We Go? "I love my babies! Why would I want to push them away from me?" Hilarious.

    And I agree with the other comments - and I think you can go front-facing as soon as he's able to sit propped up without looking/being uncomfortable. It's not a car seat, after all, so the issue isn't safety.

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  5. The nice part about a front facing, is that Jack will be able to see what you're talking about in the environment. Or just contemplate it in quiet. Which is also necessary :)

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  6. By the way, I work with kids with speech/language issues. None of them got their diagnoses because of front-facing strollers. PROMISE!

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  7. Front facing was great for Nate, I turned him around as soon as he could sit up (5 months). I actually talked to him more because he could then really see things as opposed to being covered by a sun shield and a blanket! And I would stop periodically and interact with him face to face (I had read the same articles and was also shocked and nervous!). He's 2 1/2 now, talking in paragraphs, and not an anxious kid at all : )

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