In my neighborhood, there’s a lot of stroller activity.
Why?
In the old days I suppose there was some myth that “fresh air” was essential to health. It isn’t, I take it (tell me if there’s anything about being outside, other than maybe a bit of sunlight for Vitamin D, that’s necessary healthwise)?
Okay – baby needs visual stimulus to develop mental functions properly? Outside activity/people/animals/stimuli help mom/caregiver have a basis for talking to baby and developing language skills? Mom would go stir-crazy otherwise?
I mean, it makes sense to me in the sense that we all do it and have always done it. But then again – why such a production (a LOT of effort goes into getting ready, strapping the kid in, getting back upstairs, etc.)? If this is a MPSIMS, I’d be happy to have someone move it.
That’s one reason (and it works for dads, too). Taking your baby for a stroll gives you an excellent opportunity to socialize as well as giving you and your neighbors an instant reason for starting a conversation.
Another is that it’s the second best way to get a cranky baby to fall asleep (the best way by far being a ride in the car).
I always did it because it was fun and the babies seem to enjoy it. I also figured seeing more than the same 4 walls was good for the baby. Of course I have no evidence for that.
You’re assuming that there is a reason pertaining to the baby’s health, welfare, etc. that makes taking them on a stroll important. I don’t see any reason to assume that. A lot of customs on how babies are raised are specific to particular cultures and have no proven benefit. Someone who’s an expert on cross-cultural childraising could tell you more about this, but I’ve read about some examples. In some cultures it’s considered very important to constantly talk to a baby so that they will learn to speak quickly, while in other cultures the baby is expected to constantly be around adults who are always speaking but no one talks to the baby. There’s no proven benefit in learning to speak quickly for having people talk directly to a baby as opposed to being around adults who are speaking. There are cultures where it’s considered necessary to help a child to learn to sit up and then stand up and adults go out of their way to show a child how to do it. There are others in which adults never try to show a child how to sit or stand up, although the child constantly see adults do it. Again, there’s no proven benefit to trying to teach sitting up and standing up in how fast the child learns.
Perhaps the reason that adults take babies on strolls in our culture is that the caregiver is bored by staying inside and wants to go out to see other people.
How do you know that the parent and child are not out running errands or something? Going to visit a friend? Half the time I see a pram it’s got a dog walking next to it–it’s too bad the parent has to come along at all.
Be careful not to generalize from your neighborhood. In suburban Sunbelt neighborhoods, neither dogs nor babies are taken for walks. The babies are sometimes taken to the supermarket or the mall, and eventually to the Gymboree or indoor playground.
Why do you think that fresh air is a myth? Yes, for some time in the 70s and 80s, when people realized that pollution in the cities was bad, it was realized that walking next to a busy main road was not best for your lungs. But today with catalisators, lead-free gasoline, filters in facotries, even city air is much cleaner. And most people take their babies on a stroll through the park or a suburban area with low traffic and lots of green / trees … which are producing nice fresh oxygen, along with smelling better than the stale used air inside the house.
Another benefit is that it sets a pattern for the baby. Both strolls into the park and strolls along with Mommy to the store etc. set a pattern for later, when the baby is starting to toddle and walk, to be taken along in a stroller (sitting type) instead of the pram, and then walk along on the parents hand. Both to learn to enjoy being outside in the park, with Mommy and later other children at the playground, and out of necessity, because Mommy has to take the child along to the store instead of leaving them alone at home.
And because going outside in the sunshine, getting a change of scenery and talkign to other people will get Mommy in a better mood, the baby associates being outside with a good mood, which will help later getting the child outside to get the necessary movement in fresh air that is good for health.
Because babies like to get out of the house just as much as we do. Playing with the same 4 toys is fun but being pushed around looking at birds and cars and people is a new experience
But surely there’s no contention that babies kept in a house would have metabolically-measurable deficiencies in oxygen or any other nutrient, etc.
The other more psychological benefits you mention, those seem pretty on point.
I thought of one more benefit. There seems to be an innate human psychological need to break the day into segments or differentiate between times of the day (one reason that solitary confinement, or keeping detainees in the same position or sensory deprivation for hours on end is considered akin to torture). On this theory, kids need to be socialized/catered to to understand and implement this sort of structure (structured time will also be important later in childhood and in adult/working life), hence we tend to have big rituals for feeding time, play time, nap time, bath time, bed time, and, yes, walking-about-seeing-the-world time.
When my daughter was a baby it really helped to take her for a nightly stroll. It helped calm her. She slept like a baby (bwahahaha!) after her evening stroll instead of being fussy when she didn’t get her stroll.
Babies really enjoy being outside. Try it sometime with a fussy baby–take her outside, and 80% of the time she’ll calm down. Being outside just makes a baby happy. It feels good, there’s plenty to look at, it’s just nice.
I think it really is better for the health of the child, too. Inside air is almost always more polluted than outside air–there’s more dust, mold, and other ick. Not to mention the whole sunshine thing.
I live in an Orlando, Florida suburb and I see people walking their dogs and babies around the lake all the time, except during the hottest part of the day during the summer.
I found my mom’s late 70s era copy of Doctor Spock a long time ago and he said that back then baby strollers were mostly used in the northeast, and a lot less so in other parts of the country. I wonder if more recent editions still say that.
No, the best way is taking the baby with for a horseback ride. (The bouncing motion really helps babies with colic.) Actually, I think that the mothers I’ve seen jogging with babies in backpacks would also be better than a ride in a car.