Buggy study pushed too far

28 November 2008

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“Baby buggies which face forwards may stunt children’s development and turn them into anxious adults,” the Daily Mail reported. It said that a study had found that babies suffer more stress and even “trauma” in buggies that face away from their parent.

Despite the news report, there is no evidence from this study that buggies which face forwards cause trauma or have an effect on how the child grows up. Such interpretations of its results are incorrect and could be seen as scaremongering.

The study used heart rate as a measure of infant ‘stress’ and the finding that babies facing forward have slightly higher heart rates is unsurprising as they would be experiencing different stimuli. As such, this may have nothing to do with ‘stress’ levels. The cautious interpretation of the results taken in some parts of the research article must be emphasised. In other areas and in some news reports the results have been over-interpreted and may cause parents unnecessary anxiety.

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