Baby Wearing

Text Box: The term “baby wearing” was actually developed by the famous Attachment Parenting Pioneer, Dr. Sears. Baby wearing often accompanies a total redefinition of what parenting is really like, especially if you are a first time parent. Raising children is a messy business, full of inconveniences like colic, illness, crying for no reason, inconsistent sleep patterns and many tiny little hardships. Baby wearing, however, is a beautiful attachment

**BabyUniverse - Great Selection of Baby Wearing Slings and Carriers

<link>Find Gifts at the BabyCenter Store</link>

parenting method designed to make these inconveniences a little less hard on both the parent and the baby.

There are many benefits to wearing your baby. One of these benefits is that baby wearing reduces the time that babies actually cry. According to Dr. Sears, “In1986, a team of pediatricians in Montreal reported on a study of ninety-nine mother-infant pairs. The first group of parents were provided with a baby carrier and assigned to carry their babies for at least three extra hours a day. They were encouraged to carry their infants throughout the day, regardless of the state of the infant, not just in response to crying or fussing. In the control, or noncarried group, parents were not given any specific instructions about carrying. After six weeks, the infants who received supplemental carrying cried and fussed 43 percent less than the noncarried group.” 43% less! That is nearly HALF the time spent crying than babies who are not “worn”. Do you realize, too, that the cultural “norm” across the world is to wear your baby (and sleep with your baby, but that is a different page!).

The next benefit of baby wearing is that the babies carried in a sling or other carrier actually learn more. Why do they learn more? They cry less. They are more alert and attentive because they are HAPPIER.

The state of quiet alertness also gives parents a better way to interact with their baby. Mother and baby have their faces positioned at a perfect place for interaction, and there is nothing that small babies like to look at more than a loved one’s face.

I have also heard it said that gestation actually lasts 18 months, 9 months in the womb and then the first 9 months out. Human babies are born so early because our brain size (i.e. head size) is so large that the baby has to actually exit the womb before it is ready to face the world. By extending the womb life, the baby wearing mother (or father) provides an external regulating system to balance the newborn baby’s systems which are in an uproar. Mama’s rhythmic walk, for instance, reminds baby of life in the womb. This familiar rhythm, imprinted on baby's mind in the womb, now reappears in the "outside womb" and calms baby. The same goes for the mother’s heartbeat and breathing pattern, which can be heard clearly when the baby is snuggles up against it’s mother’s chest. Baby wearing "reminds" the baby of and continues the motion and balance he enjoyed in the womb.

If a baby is left to his own resources to self-sooth (such as the Ferber method) the infant may develop disorganized patterns of behavior such as colicky crying, disorganized self-rocking behaviors, anxious thumb sucking, irregular breathing, and disturbed sleep. The infant, who is forced to self-calm, wastes valuable energy he could have used to grow and develop.

Sling babies are smarter. That may sound like a bunch of horse-puckey, but AI can attest to this. Baby wearing helps the infant's developing brain make the essential connections. Babies who are worn participate in what the mother is doing so that her developing brain stores a myriad of experiences, called behavior patterns. For example, mothers often tell me, "As soon as I pick up the sling and put it on, my baby lights up and raises his arms as if in anticipation that he will soon be in my arms and in my world." Babies learn to anticipate behaviors and cause and effect. I have noticed that sling babies seem more attentive, clicking into adult conversations as if they were part of it. My son is a testament to that. He was the most attentive, alert and cognitively able baby I have ever seen. His intelligence is out the window. By age 2, he knows his colors, numbers and speaks in 5 to 6 word sentences. I don’t spend all day drilling my little guy with flash cards, either. I spend all day cuddling him, loving him, holding him and participating in his world while he participates in mine.

Baby Wearing also is a conducive state for...breastfeeding! Can’t go wrong there!

*New eBook! Check out Rebecca’s Wolf’s eBook on BabyWearing and Choosing a Sling or Carrier! VERY COOL!