Children pushed in buggies that face away from their parents may suffer long-term emotional and language problems, hints a study published yesterday.

The research, believed to be the first of its kind, found that children who were not facing the person that pushed them were less likely to talk, laugh and interact with their parents compared with those babies that did.

The findings were based on a study of 2,722 parents and babies and an experiment where 20 babies were wheeled in buggies for a mile, facing their parents for half the journey and facing away for the other half.

Parents using face-to-face buggies were twice as likely to talk to their children while the heart rates of the babies fell and they were twice as likely to fall asleep, an indicator that they were feeling relaxed and safe.

Additionally, only one baby out of the 20 studied laughed while sitting in an away-facing buggy.

“Our data suggests that for many babies today, life in a buggy is emotionally impoverished and possibly stressful,” said Dr Suzanne Zeedyk, Developmental Psychologist at Scotland’s Dundee University who carried out the research.

“Stressed babies grow into anxious adults.”

The study, which was published by National Literacy Trust as part of its Talk To Your Baby campaign, found that 62 per cent of all children observed travelled in away-facing buggies, rising to 86 per cent between the ages of one and two.

Dr Zeedyk said it would impact negatively on babies’ development if they spent a long time in a buggy which undermined their ability to communicate with their parent at a time when their brain was developing rapidly.

Laura Barbour of the Sutton Trust, a social mobility charity which funded the research, said buggy manufacturers should look closely at the findings.

Reuters Health