Buggies 'can affect babies' development'

The direction that a baby faces in his or her buggy can affect their development, according to new research. A study of 2,722 parent-child pairs found that babies in buggies which faced their pusher were more likely to talk, laugh and interact, thus encouraging their communication skills from an early age. The research, led by Dr Suzanne Zeedyk from Dundee University, in collaboration with the charity the National Literacy Trust (NLT), suggests that old-fashioned prams which allow babies to lie down and face the person pushing them gave infants the best start in life.

It was also discovered that babies in buggies that faced their parent were twice as likely to fall asleep and also had a slightly reduced average heart rate, which could indicate that they are less stressed and anxious than those in forward-facing buggies.

However, Dr Zeedyk stressed that the study was only small and required further investigation.

"If babies are spending significant amounts of time in a baby buggy that undermines their ability to communicate easily with their parent, at an age when the brain is developing more than it will ever again in life, then this has to impact negatively on their development," she said.

"Our experimental study showed that, simply by turning the buggy around, parents' rate of talking to their baby doubled."