Baby walkers--still a major cause of infant burns.

Baby walkers have been implicated in many forms of paediatric trauma, ranging from finger tip entrapment to severe head injury. Their relationship to childhood burns has been documented previously. The Department of Trade and Industry published further warnings in 1984 and the British Standards Institution in 1989. We wished to determine if the degree or frequency of thermal injury had been lessened by these recommendations. All parents of children under 15 months of age admitted to this unit in 1994 were asked if their child was in a baby walker at the time of injury. Eight of the 32 infants, aged between 6 and 12 months, were burned in their walking aid. Half of the burns were contact and half scalds, and the average in-patient stay was 8 days. One patient required formal resuscitation and three were grafted. The incidence and severity of thermal injury sustained in baby walkers remains at a high level despite increased safety measures. Perhaps it is time to concur with the American Academy of Paediatrics and recommend a ban on these dangerous aids.