London - Parents who put young children in prams and baby seats for too long and too often could be hampering their speech and physical skills, an expert has warned.
An over-reliance on prams and strollers – particularly those that face forward – reduces the time they spend interacting with parents or exploring freely, it is claimed.
The knock-on effects can harm performance at school and persist for life, said an expert on children’s brains.
The growing use of tablets and smartphones can cause similar problems, with babies denied opportunities for “rough play”, singing and talking.
Neuro-psychologist Sally Goddard Blythe said: “Attention, balance and co-ordination skills learnt during the first 36 months of life support cognitive learning and have been linked to performance at school.
“Infants need opportunity for free movement and exploration, whether that is tummy time, cuddling or rough play.”
She said social interaction – singing, talking and even just eye-contact – also helped physical development.
“That is not happening if a child is in a forward facing buggy and her mum is using her smartphone.”
Goddard Blythe, director of the Institute for Neuro Physiological Psychology in Chester, said children with immature physical skills were less likely to perform well in national curriculum tests, although they may be intelligent. She said prams, car seats, rocking chairs and other equipment, as well as electronic screens, were increasingly used in the home.
“If they are used in moderation there is probably no problem at all,” she said.
“There is perhaps a culture among a new generation of parents who don’t know they should only be used as tools, rather than devices that you can keep a baby in for long periods.”
Studies have shown language skills were more advanced among youngsters who had been pushed in rear-facing pushchairs, she added.
Physical movements such as sitting from lying down helped develop pathways in the brain which lay the physical foundations for problem-solving later on. Crawling was thought to help with hand-eye co-ordination and reading. – Daily Mail