Baby Wearing: The Whats, Whys, and Hows

Lisa — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:00:21 +0000

There is a growing trend in America that is making babies everywhere happy, happy, happy.

What is Baby Wearing

“But what does that mean?” you might ask. Baby wearing is the ancient art of keeping your child (infant or toddler) close to your body as you go about your daily tasks. Although the stereotypical pappoose baby on a native American’s back comes to mind, modern baby wearing is that…and then some. Babies are attatched to their parents by a sling or carrier of some sort. Baby wearing can be as simple as another form of transport for your child, or as indepth as part of your practice of attatchment parenting. Research has shown that babies who are carried and remain close to their parents cry far less and are much happier than their non-attatched counterparts.

Benefits of Baby Wearing:

Easy parent / child bonding
Familiar parental movements help calm the child
Gives your child an “adult” height view of the world
Helps develop baby’s inner ear balance
Allows for easy breastfeeding with some
Baby’s human social development begins earlier
Decreased risk of “flat heat syndrome”
Frees your hands to go about daily tasks
Allows for easy interaction and effortless conversation with your baby
Baby stays calm and content
Makes trips to restaurants easier
Great for parental mental and bodily health
Eliminates the need to remove the carseat carrier
They’re fashionable, modern, and statement-makers

Baby wearing is especially important for infants who are failing to thrive. Close, personal contact is needed to ensure proper brain development. Studies have been done that shows how infants in 3rd world countries fail to thrive if not given enough human contact – even if they have all of their other needs met!

The versatility of modern “baby slings” allows for maximum comfort, with your child being positioned either on your chest, back, or hip.

I personally do not think I could have made it through the past few months if I hadn’t begun “wearing” little Jack. Trips to the library, eating out, and even leisurly walks around the neighborhood all became much more “doable” with him strapped to my chest.

The particular style of carrier I use is a blue “Infantino” brand one that I picked up at a local Goodwill store. After (finally finding! and) reading the instructions online, I was able to safely secure Jack-Evan in it both ways – facing me, and also facing outward (as seen in the photo below). When he is in the carrier facing my chest, he never fails to fall fast asleep.

Although my little blue carrier serves it’s purpose, the ergonomics of it’s design sort of tires my back out. I would much more prefer a traditional sling that allows for a variety of placement ways (such as hip and back in addition to chest). If I had money to spend, I would absolutely love to purchase this particular sling that I have recently been drooling over on Etsy….

She offers a variety of wonderful patterns, reinforced stitching, versitility (hip and back placement!) in her sling creations! I probably wouldn’t put Jack-Evan down for the next 3 years if I had one of these slings.

Here are some more examples of baby wearing I found on Flickr….

For more wonderful information about Baby Wearing, as well as it’s history, visit this site!

Little Jack's Corner » attatchment parenting

Baby Wearing: The Whats, Whys, and Hows

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