Is your baby’s stroller stressing him out?

I came across the headline on Yahoo yesterday, it said: Studies show that away-facing strollers stress babies. What?! Apparently, researchers out of the University of Dundee, Scotland have found that babies whose strollers were oriented to face their parents, had more and better interactions with their parent or caretaker. This is common sense right?

Anyway, there were, in fact, two separate studies. The first was an observational study involving 2,700 babies. Those whose strollers faced their parent were more than twice as likely to be interacted with and talked to during their walk. In a much smaller study, twenty babies were pushed in their stroller for a mile. Half of the time they faced their parent and half they faced forward. Only one baby laughed during the walk while facing forward, but over half laughed while facing their parent. Hmm, interesting…

Then, my eyebrows rose when I read this bit – the researchers found that the heart rates of parent-facing babies were lower and they were twice as likely to fall asleep. Based on their findings, they’ve concluded that these babies found their stroller time less stressful.

Goodness me!
The bit that really alarmed me was what the lead researcher, Suzanne Zeedyk, had to say: “Our data suggests that for many babies today, life in a buggy is emotionally impoverished and possibly stressful. Stressed babies grow into anxious adults.” Emotionally impoverished? Stressed babies? Anxious adults?! Oh no! Cause for concern, yes?

Well, ultimately, the researchers would like stroller designers to take note of their studies and revisit the conventional forward-facing design. Indeed, why not? There’s always room for improvement. Thank goodness I don’t have to worry about shopping for a stroller right now.

Incidentally, my son, who’s now 4, always seemed to enjoy spending time in his front-facing stroller. I thought it was good for him to observe and interact with the world. Plus, he gets to look at his mum and dad at home, isn’t that enough? What do you think about all this? Does this affect your decision in buying a baby stroller?

* Adline A. Ghani is an assistant museum curator tandem mummy who resides in Petaling Jaya. This multi-tasker is also pursuing her Masters in Art and Design.

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