When we read the headline, "Study: Away-facing strollers stress babies" our first reaction was, "Hogwash!" Then we decided to read the article.
Researchers out of the University of Dundee, Scotland, in two studies, found that babies whose strollers were oriented to face their parents had more and better interactions with their parent or caretaker.
In an observational study of 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. Additionally, the heart rates of parent-facing babies were lower and they were twice as likely to fall asleep. Researchers concluded that these babies found their stroller time less stressful.
"Our data suggests that for many babies today, life in a buggy is emotionally impoverished and possibly stressful," lead researcher Suzanne Zeedyk said. "Stressed babies grow into anxious adults." The researchers concluded with the wish that stroller designers take note of their studies and revisit the conventional forward-facing design.
We found the study findings and conclusions to be more than provocative. For our own 5-month old son, we consider stroller time (facing forward) to be his time to observe and interact with the world. He gets enough "face time" with mom and dad at home as far as we're concerned. We'd be interested in seeing these studies replicated with baby carriers as our son is delighted to face forward in his carrier and seems rather bored when he faces our chest.
What do you think? Do you love your Xplory or other parent-facing stroller because you and your child can interact more? Do you think your baby loves facing forward and taking in his or her surroundings? If you're currently stroller shopping, does this influence your thinking?
(Via: Swiss Miss who pointed out this article. Another good read is here.)
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I read this the other day, and while it's interesting, my 10 month old son would have a FIT if he wasn't able to face out and see all of his surroundings. As it was, we had to abandon his infant carrier/travel system at just 4 weeks (thankfully we had the newborn compatible Maclaren so he could sit relatively snug and upright early without the carrier) because he just cried and cried at being forced to look up and back. He was much happier instantly. He's just a baby who loves to take it all in at all times. So for us, something like the Xplory wouldn't be a good option.
We, like you, feel that our 10-month-old daughter gets plenty of face-to-face interaction with us. Her one-hour walk every day in the forest is her chance to explore. Most of the time she sings along and I try to carry a conversation with her – talking about our dog running around or the train going by. Sure, the research made me reflect on our choice of stroller, but I also thought the impact on "long-term development" was unfounded. They didn't track these babies through childhood and beyond. Couldn't boredom explain the lower heart rates and number of sleeping babies? Every child is different, and our daughter, at least, seems to like facing out.
i think for infants.... those in the car seat stage, I might agree w/this. but now (he's a year)... or even from 6/7 months on... he wants to see EVERYTHING that's going on around him... it may depend on the baby also. i'm so tired of studies and findings that are really more wastes of money that could be spent on MUCH more important things.
I think it depends on the age of the baby. They don't say what the ages of the infants are. I know my seven week old daughter needs to see me when we're walking, but I'm sure as she gets older she'll want to see what's going on. And I think it's important to interact with the baby whether you're facing each other or not. I always keep a running dialogue with whatever baby I'm caring for, whether her or she is old enough to answer back. The child needs to know that you're aware and caring for them. And I point out things all the time, it's also a learning experience. So being forward for an older baby is beneficial in that instance.
i agree with all the other commentors, i think it's important for young babies to face their parents but more than 6 or 7 months? i think it's hogwash. my daughter loves looking out at the world around her.
The nice thing about the Bugaboo strollers is they can face either way. So you can do both depending on your baby's mood.
I love my Stokke Stroller. It is great that he can face me or face out. We turn the seat around depending on the situation.
Like I said, even my newborn hated to be stuck just looking at me or the cover of his infant seat and needed to see his world facing out. So it's really all about what works for your baby, young or not. I'm always amazed when I see older babies perfectly content closed off in their infant seat, but it obviously works for them.
When I read this article, the first thing I noticed was that there was no mention of how long a child "should" remain parent-facing.
We switched at around 9 months so that we could talk to our son about his neighborhood on our daily walks. Now at 14 months, he loves looking at squirrels, pigeons, and every dog that comes our way.
My son is so bored of me...the crazy people on the sidewalks and on transit are much more interesting. Then we have something to talk about later when we snuggle. Honestly, everything in moderation...chocolate, booze and face time. (ummm...the first two were meant for me.)
Lawd have mercy!
i recently switched from a parent-facing to forward-facing stroller because my 8 month old got too big for the carseat stroller, and i have to say that these study findings ring very true for our experience -- he's much less happy in the stroller, and tends to sort of tune out now, whereas before he would smile and laugh at me constantly. i miss the interaction and he clearly does too. if i had the room (and $!) for one of the expensive ones, i'd definitely consider it.
i really hope that he'll soon grow more interested in the world around us (and these comments give me comfort that he will!), but for now, i just feel bad when i have to take him out in it...
It would be interesting to know how old the babies in this study were. I can totally see small infants freaking out when they can't see mom or dad. My son is four months old and loves to face out in the stroller or the Moby, but he does get over it after a while.
"emotionally impoverished" Wow...that's quite a conclusion to draw from the fact that babies laughed less and had slightly higher heart rates.
Maybe it depends on the kid and the amount of time you have them in the stroller. I live in the city center and so my daughter would easily spend 4/5 hours in the stroller a day as I did my errands, shopping, and visiting. I felt like a lunatic sometimes, babbling away at the back of her head. She would occasionally be straining and twisting to try and interact with me. When she finally got to the point where she could undo her harness, I just let her wiggle around and kneel on her seat so she could see my face- which necessitated a bit of a slower pace and extra vigilance re: road bumps, but that was a small price. If you are talking about a half hour walk to the park and back, ,maybe there is no difference. But for serious time spent in the stroller, how it can it not make a difference?
I find these car seat strollers interesting- does that mean the baby out of the car inside a capsule and placed in the stroller without being held?
This idea (along with battery operated bouncer swings) bother me as they almost seem like a parent subsitute. I wear my baby in a ring sling and love that he can see me, feel me, hear me and smell me!
I'm very in to attachment parenting, more by instinct than theory and I believe they've got a point. We have the Quinny Buzz and our Daughter was in the parent facing position till about 8 months or so. I loved the interaction as did she. Once she started pulling herself up and we noticed her looking back at things as we walked by we switched to the forward facing position. It's great when she's content but I often find myself stopping and leaning in just to reassure her (myself?) that I'm there. I definitely feel like we interact less this way and if she get's fussy I often end up picking her up and carrying her around instead.
My husband and I duke it out with the bugaboo -- he puts our son forward-facing, claiming he likes to see everything, while I have him face me, claiming he likes talking to me. Whenever we want him to sleep, he definitely faces us though -- works like a charm.
(love our frog)
I totally agree with the fact that my son is so much happier facing me. My main pushchair is a silvercross kensington carriage, so it is huge. In this he sits facing me, we also have a maclaren buggy. He is so much happier seeing me, and contrary to what other people have said, he can still see the world, he watches the squirrels and the animals, and also has a selection of book and toys in his pram. He is much calmer and loves watching things with me, as i can point them out to him and not just shout around the side of the pushchair. He is 17 months so is older than the other babies but i wouldn't have him facing away from me, the benefits of facing me are huge.
i agree with labrewster. my baby likes looking at me, and he can look at other things just fine when he wants to.
I felt really strongly about my son facing me when he was in the stroller and smaller. I liked that I was able to talk to him and tell him what we were seeing. Another mom was giving me a hard time that I didn't have him facing forward at 6 months. I think I turned the seat around at 7 or 8 months.
I think the study was about little babies (probably younger than 8 months).
i wonder if it has anything to do with the developmental stage of little babies? I don't think they have object permanence until they are quite around 6 months old, so if an object leaves their range of sight, they can't understand that it is still there, or still exists. Maybe that's why their heart rates are higher when facing out (assuming these were little babies) - developmentally they can't understand that Mom or Dad is behind them. Could be.