Buggy direction 'affects child'

[Urchin]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tay ... 739655.stm

Children who are put in buggies which leave them facing away from their parent could have their development undermined, a study has suggested.

Researchers found that youngsters in prams which face the pusher are more likely to talk, laugh and interact.

More than 2,700 parent-infant pairs were observed across the UK and a smaller study was done in Dundee.

Parents in away-facing buggies talked less to the child and the youngster appeared to be more stressed.

My boy have always faced me, its the main reason we use the pushchair we do.

How about everyone else?
If you usually wear a sling just answer for your buggy if you have one.

 

[Sammystar]

All facing me until they got to about one year old, when they wanted to look around at where they were going.

 

[1sttimemum]

yeah ive got the cosatto mobi which faces me or the "world"

 

[Jen & Her Men]

I got an M&P Pilko which does either way. For the first few months James was facing me but its more of a pram that way and he got too big for it so now he faces away.

 

[LisaJ1986]

I have 2 pushchairs. One at home which is part of my travel system that faces out, i use that nip to the shop.
I have another that faces either way, but i have it facing me. It's in the car for when we go into town. I love chatting away to her and i play with her in it. I will turn it when she gets a little bigger. We use the parent-facing one more often.

 

[purple13]

connor's mostly slung anyway, but my main priority when buying a buggy was that it was parent facing - there have been studies previous to this one that suggest the same.

i've always extolled the virtues of the city mini (front facing) but i've only ever used it for very short pram trips/cricket matches etc for those reasons. he's still parent facing when i use the loola - he can see plenty of the world, just in reverse

 

[beanie]

I sling so Cally always faces me. We do have a quinny zapp which she went in occasionally when we were in Bulgaria 9when it was too hot to carry her) but that was for a few minutes at a time as we were always stopping for food or drink. Seren was in a travel system and as such faced away from us, this was why I got into babywearing.

 

[Suzie and Faith]

When Fi was littler our Graco had a carrycot attachment so she faced me, and the same when the car seat pops into it but now she is big enough for the main part/our small stroller she faces forwards.

TBH I think she likes it, she is so nosey and hates just looking at me, lol.

If we'd have had the money we might have gotten one that did both

 

[drea b]

until she was 4 months she faced me in her carrycot and she hated it - use to cry all the time. Once I moved her forward facing she was so much happier

 

[Squiglet]

Lil miss is mainly slung so facing me.. but when she does go out in her pushchair she has been outward facing since about 5 months, when Papa (because he usually uses the pushchair) became boring and she would throw a paddy. Theres nothing wrong with her language and social interaction skills I can tell you... Now she tries to grab kids and people passing the pushchair and chat to them.... Its very cute...

but then saying that it might be because she is slung most of the time that she is more interactive.

 

[SarahH]

Arianna has always faced away from us except when she was a tiny baby and I can tell you you will never meet such a happy, smiley talkative child that is everyones best friend!

 

[newmum]

Facing me until 4 months or so and then facing forwards. Changed because she started crying all the time and seemed better looking our at the world. No problems with interaction or stressed baby I would guess though that the time they spend out of the buggy is more than the time they spend in it, and perhaps the home environment or baby personality has more to do with it than going for a walk.

OR maybe that's why LO has started walking backwards this week she wants to look at me

 

[Minxy]

Stanley got too big for the 'face me' position at about 6 months but I'd have liked him there for longer and I'll be shopping for a pushchair that allows that this time around.

I think it's key for development to have that level of interaction with your child. Cause we do a lot of buggy walking, I was (and still am) always concious to keep a conversation with Stanley. People used to look at me funny as I walked past rabbiting away to the tiniest of tots.

But Stanleys speech is good, and it's because I talk to him a lot. Even if it's not deliberate, the tendancy with a 'face away' is just to push and go.

 

[Hazel]

Have a travel system so when we first used it put the car seat in pram and faced me for the first month. We use the sling quite a bit and I'm going to have to turn her around in it soon so she's facing out as she's now starting to get frustrated with not being able to see much. On the rare occasion we use the pram she faces outwards now but she sleeps in it anyway.

 

[sazzylou]

We have a travel system, so i used to put her in the car seat to pick beth up from school , just so she was facing me. I love looking at her. Now she's sitting in the proper pushchair bit facing forwards and i HATE it I actually miss her. All i can see is the top of her head (and thats if i dont have the hood up) I find myself stopping every 5 minutes to check on her and give her a kiss

After we've recovered from spending all our dosh at Christmas , im going to be getting one that you can have rear or forward facing. She does seem to like facing outwards, it just me who doesnt like it, so i wasnt pushchair that can do both

 

[littlepip]

Ive had 4 pushchairs so far lol 2 have been facing out ones and the other 2 i could have either way and i always had him facing me but i dont think it makes much difference because ryan will sit there and chat away anyway

 

[Magic Monkey]

I have both, and Ella generally prefers to face out, she certainly doesn't talk any less when facing out and she will not sleep facing me! I have to turn her around when she gets tired! That said we have a Quinny and the main reason she doesn't like facing me is that it doesn't sit upright enough when it is rear facing (something for others to consider when buying one)

One of my criteria when choosing a pushchair was that is faced me, but now she is older I generally use the buggy where she faces out. In all honesty I think this study is rubbish - yes it is better to be able to interact with your baby, but how much time do they spend in the pushchair? Less than 10% of a day, not interacting while they are in the pushchair isn't exactly going to lead to them being 'emotionally impoverished' is it! Besides I still talk to Ella whether I can see her or not, I just look like a mad woman talking to myself!

 

[joj]

Jess faces away from me most of the time unless she's fallen asleep in the car then we clip the car seat on and it faces us. If we put her like that when she's awake she gets grumpy, she loves looking around and gets bored of looking at Mummy and Daddy!

 

[daftscotslass]

I have both, and Ella generally prefers to face out, she certainly doesn't talk any less when facing out and she will not sleep facing me! I have to turn her around when she gets tired! That said we have a Quinny and the main reason she doesn't like facing me is that it doesn't sit upright enough when it is rear facing (something for others to consider when buying one)

One of my criteria when choosing a pushchair was that is faced me, but now she is older I generally use the buggy where she faces out. In all honesty I think this study is rubbish - yes it is better to be able to interact with your baby, but how much time do they spend in the pushchair? Less than 10% of a day, not interacting while they are in the pushchair isn't exactly going to lead to them being 'emotionally impoverished' is it! Besides I still talk to Ella whether I can see her or not, I just look like a mad woman talking to myself!

Almost exactly the same for us. Most of the time when we're on short trips out she's in the mei tai. When she's in the buggy she faces forward and loves it. I think the key quote in that study is "If babies are spending significant amounts of time in a baby buggy...". I'd would possibly re-assess my choice if she was spending significant amounts of time in her buggy but she's not so I'm more than happy with our choice.

ETA... just noticed the 6 month thing in the poll. Becky was in a parent facing carrycot on our travel system when she was a newb. Wasn't really a fan of clipping the car seat into the travel system.

 

[moss]

You beat me to it! Here is the original article. The research was at my uni!

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/pressreleases/2 ... uggies.htm

I usually use a sling, but when Jacob is in his chair, it is always facing us. He will face us whenever he uses it, even if he is older.