Wearing my baby

I’m Wearing My Baby (with apologies to Madonna)

Papa don’t preach, we’re not losing sleep.
Papa don’t preach, cause we co-sleep.
And during the day, Iiiiiiiiiii’m wearing my baby.
I’m gonna wear my baby, oooh ooooh.

Don’t laugh. My baby happens to think I’m quite clever. She also thinks I’m a great singer, although her experience is rather limited in that area. This month I’m talking about babywearing. Mothers (and dads, granddads, grandmoms and all kinds of relatives) all around the world carry their young infants and toddlers while they do their daily activities. The Inuit carry their babies in an amautik. In Mexico, it’s called a rebozo. Manta, perraja, podegi, sarongs, kikoy, tonga and mei tai are all traditional carriers. So is the native American cradle board. In every region of the world babies are carried and held close until they are big enough to explore the world on their own.

So why do we put our children in strollers? Maybe, like breastfeeding and co-sleeping, it came to be seen as something common or lower class. Even primitive. But carrying your baby has many, many benefits. Studies have shown that babies that are carried for at least 2 hours a day cry less and have less colic. It is a convenient way to breastfeed discretely. Some babies even prefer nursing while in motion. Sitting up and seeing the world, as opposed to be tucked away in a carrier, is great for baby’s development, both social and cognitive. Being held close, warm and secure is also good for bonding.

Remember, your baby just spent the last nine months in a cozy, little cave. She or he never knew cold, were never startled by sudden movements and could hear mom’s heartbeat every second. Suddenly, they’re out in the big, wide world. To my way of thinking, if it took nine months for baby to come out, it takes nine months for baby to get used to the world (at least). The first few months, especially, baby is essentially still gestating. The brain is still developing and will be for the first 2 years. A newborn has to learn night from day, cold from hot, that mommy is a separate being. It’s a lot for baby to take in. When my daughters would get overwhelmed and fussy, nothing made them calm like being curled up their baby sling and walked around. At first, they’d go in the fetal position, all tucked away, and later they’d sit up and have a look at the world. I’d go to stores and people wouldn’t even realize I had a baby in there.

My favorite thing about my sling is that it has brought all sorts of people into my life. Everywhere I go, people ask me about it. The cashier at the local Asian market smiled and told me how her baby likes to be carried because it keeps her warm. A young, pregnant, Russian woman and her husband came up to me in a restaurant to see where I bought it. Many people in her country use them, she told me, but she had never seen any here. With my little one poking her head out, I get smiles from people of every background and suddenly the world seems like a smaller, friendlier place.

**A wonderful book I found is called: A Ride on Mother's Back: A Day of Baby Carrying around the World by Emery Bernhard. It shows people around the world carrying their babies as they go about their daily activities. I don’t want to endorse any particular style or brand. http://www.thebabywearer.com/ is a wonderful site with many different types of slings, pouches and gear for carrying your kid. It also has great links and articles about babywearing. This site and http://www.kellymom.com/ (type in “babywearing” in the search area) were used as sources for this article and go into great detail about the studies mentioned above.