Why Carry Baby in a Sling?
1. Wearing a baby is convenient and safe
When we carry a baby in a sling, we can walk around freely and not have to worry about negotiating steps, crowds or narrow aisles with a stroller. Front carriers or backpacks force a childs legs apart and keep a newborn in an unnatural and possibly dangerous vertical position. Slings offer baby the comfort and support of their own mini-hammock.
2. Wearing a baby promotes physical development
When a baby rides in a sling attached to his mother, he / she is in tune with the rhythm of her breathing, the sound of her heartbeat, and the movement his mother makes - walking, bending, and reaching. This stimulation helps baby to regulate baby's own physical responses and exercises baby's vestibular system, which controls balance. The sling is in essence a " transitional womb " for the new baby, who has not yet learned to control his bodily functions and movements. Research has shown that premature babies who are touched and held gain weight faster
3. Held babies are happier
Studies have shown that the more babies are held, the less they cry and fuss. In indigenous cultures where baby wearing is the norm, babies often cry for only a few minutes a day - in contrast to Western babies, who often cry for hours each day. Crying is exhausting for both baby and parents, and may cause long term damage as the baby's developing brain is continually flooded with stress hormones. Babies who do not need to spend their energy on crying are calmly observing and actively learning about their environment. Baby-wearing is especially useful for colicky or "high need" babies, who are far happier being worn, but placid, content babies and children will also benefit greatly from the warmth and security of being held close.
4. Baby wearing is healthy for you
It can be challenging for new mothers to find time to exercise, but if you carry your baby around with you most of the day or go for a brisk walk with your baby in her sling, you will enjoy the dual benefits of walking and "weightlifting". Carrying your baby most of the day from when they are small gradually strenghtens your body, so when they are toddlers or preschoolers you will be strong enough to carry them when needed.
5. Toddlers appreciate the security of the sling
Slings are usually associated with infants, but they can be very useful for toddlers as well; Bubba Lugga slings accommodate children up to 14 kilos or more if the sling is new. The world can be a very scary place for toddlers, who feel more confident when they can retreat to the security of the sling, when they need to do so. Toddlers often become over-stimulated, and a ride in the sling helps to soothe and comfort them before (or after!) a melt down occurs. It can be very helpful in places like zoo, acquarium, or museum, where a small child in a stroller would miss many of the exhibits,or in very crowded places so that the child can see more than a sea of knees!
6. Baby-wearing helps you and your baby to communicate with each other
The more confidence we have in our parenting, the more we can relax and enjoiy our children. A large part of feeling confident as a parent is the ability to read our baby's cues successfully. When we hold are baby close in a sling, we become finely attuned to the babies gestures and facial expressions. Many baby-wearing parents report that they never learned to distinguish their baby's cries - because their babies are able to communicate effectively without crying! Every time a baby is able to let us know that she is hungry, bored or wet without having to cry, her trust in us is increased, her learning is enhanced, and our confidence is reinforced. This cycle of positive interaction enhances the mutual attachment between parent and child, and makes life more enjoyable for everyone.
It is face to face time that strengthens the bond between parent and child - and these very early experiences in life set the stage for all their communications later. If they learn about the world face to face and eye to eye, they will be more tuned into themselves and others. If we keep our infants in strollers that face away from parental influence and communication are we setting them up as poor communicators? Teaching them to not look at you? Depriving them of your facial reactions to the world around them to allow them to filter and process their new experiences? Don't take the risk! Use a sling!
7. Slings are bonding tool for fathers, grandparents, and other caregivers
Slings are a useful tool for every adult in a baby's life. It makes me smile when I see a new father going for a walk with his baby in a sling, it is not only a great chance for them to bond, but gives mum a chance for a well deserved rest. Father's don't have the automatic head start on bonding that comes with gestation, but that doesn't mean they can't make up for this once their baby is born.
8. Slings are a safe place for a Child to be
Instead of running loose in crowded or dangerous places or being overwhelmed by a sea of knees, a child in a sling is held safe and secure next to your body. Slings also provide emotional safety when needed, so that children can venture into the world and become independent at their own pace. In cold weather there is room in a sling for baby to be snuggly wrapped in a blanket; or the baby and sling may be cosily worn under parent's warm jacket.
9. Slings are economical & environmentally friendly
Slings cost far less than strollers, front carriers or backpacks. many mothers consider the sling to be one of their most useful and economical possessions. Our Bubba Lugga sling costs only $50 - not bad for an item many parents use daily for 2 years or more.
Cotton fabric + 2 big stainless steel rings + a little batting - less energy to produce compared to complicated strollers or back packs. And when it is worn out, the cotton can be simply used as rags before being composted and the rings can be recycled!
And, being cotton, when the sling is soiled you can simply toss it in with the famly wash...
10. Baby - wearing is fun
Who doesn't love to cuddle a precious little baby?. When you baby is older, having her in the sling makes converstaions easier and allows you to observe her reactions to the wonders of the world around her. Its also fun for baby, because when she is up at eye level she sees the world from a more interesting place and other adults notice and interact with her more. Your child will feel more a part of your life when she is in her sling, and you will find yourself becoming more and more enchanted with this special little person and intuitive to her needs.
11. Sling babies cry less.
Parents in my practice commonly report, "As long as I wear her, she's content!" Parents of fussy babies who try babywearing relate that their babies seem to forget to fuss. This is more than just my own impression. In 1986, 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.
Anthropologists who travel throughout the world studying infant-care practices in other cultures agree that infants in babywearing cultures cry much less. In Western culture we measure a baby's crying in hours, but in other cultures, crying is measured in minutes. We have been led to believe that it is "normal" for babies to cry a lot, but in other cultures this is not accepted as the norm. In these cultures, babies are normally "up" in arms and are put down only to sleep _¤" next to the mother. When the parent must attend to her own needs, the baby is in someone else's arms
12. Sling babies learn more.
If infants spend less time crying and fussing, what do they do with the free time? They learn! Sling babies spend more time in the state of quiet alertness . This is the behavioral state in which an infant is most content and best able to interact with his environment. It may be called the optimal state of learning for a baby. Researchers have also reported that carried babies show enhanced visual and auditory alertness.
The behavioral state of quiet alertness also gives parents a better opportunity to interact with their baby. Notice how mother and baby position their faces in order to achieve this optimal visually interactive plane. The human face, especially in this position, is a potent stimulator for interpersonal bonding. In the kangaroo carry, baby has a 180-degree view of her environment and is able to scan her world. She learns to choose, picking out what she wishes to look at and shutting out what she doesn't. This ability to make choices enhances learning. A sling baby learns a lot in the arms of a busy caregiver.
13. Sling babies are more organized.
It's easier to understand babywearing when you think of a baby's gestation as lasting eighteen months - nine months inside the womb and at least nine more months outside. The womb environment automatically regulates baby's systems. Birth temporarily disrupts this organization. The more quickly, however, baby gets outside help with organizing these systems, the more easily he adapts to the puzzle of life outside the womb. By extending the womb experience, the babywearing mother (and father) provides an external regulating system that balances the irregular and disorganized tendencies of the baby. Picture how these regulating systems work. Mother's rhythmic walk, for example, (which baby has been feeling for nine months) reminds baby of the womb experience. This familiar rhythm, imprinted on baby's mind in the womb, now reappears in the "outside womb" and calms baby. As baby places her ear against her mother's chest, mother's heartbeat, beautifully regular and familiar, reminds baby of the sounds of the womb. As another biological regulator, baby senses mother's rhythmic breathing while worn tummy- to-tummy, chest-to-chest. Simply stated, regular parental rhythms have a balancing effect on the infant's irregular rhythms. Babywearing "reminds" the baby of and continues the motion and balance he enjoyed in the womb.
What may happen if the baby spends most of his time lying horizontally in a crib, attended to only for feeding and comforting, and then again separated from mother? A newborn has an inherent urge to become organized, to fit into his or her new environment. If left to his own resources, without the regulating presence of the mother, the infant may develop disorganized patterns of behavior: colicky cries, jerky movements, 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.
While there is a variety of child-rearing theories, attachment researchers all agree on one thing: In order for a baby's emotional, intellectual, and physiological systems to function optimally, the continued presence of the mother, as during babywearing, is a necessary regulatory influence.
14. Sling babies get "humanized" earlier.
Another reason that babywearing enhances learning is that baby is intimately involved in the caregiver's world. Baby sees what mother or father sees, hears what they hear, and in some ways feels what they feel. Carried babies become more aware of their parents' faces, walking rhythms, and scents. Baby becomes aware of, and learns from, all the subtle facial expressions, body language, voice inflections and tones, breathing patterns, and emotions of the caregiver. A parent will relate to the baby a lot more often, because baby is sitting right under her nose. Proximity increases interaction, and baby can constantly be learning how to be human. Carried babies are intimately involved in their parents' world because they participate in what mother and father are doing. A baby worn while a parent washes dishes, for example, hears, smells, sees, and experiences in depth the adult world. He is more exposed to and involved in what is going on around him. Baby learns much in the arms of a busy person.
15. Sling babies are smarter.
Environmental experiences stimulate nerves to branch out and connect with other nerves, which helps the brain grow and develop. Babywearing helps the infant's developing brain make the right connections. Because baby is intimately involved in the mother and father's world, she is exposed to, and participates in, the environmental stimuli that mother selects and is protected from those stimuli that bombard or overload her developing nervous system. She so intimately participates in what mother is doing that her developing brain stores a myriad of experiences, called patterns of behavior. These experiences can be thought of as thousands of tiny short-run movies that are filed in the infant's neurological library to be rerun when baby is exposed to a similar situation that reminds her of the making of the original "movie." 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."
I have noticed that sling babies seem more attentive, clicking into adult conversations as if they were part of it. Babywearing enhances speech development. Because baby is up at voice and eye level, he is more involved in conversations. He learns a valuable speech lesson _¤" the ability to listen.
Normal ambient sounds, such as the noises of daily activities, may either have learning value for the infant or disturb him. If baby is alone, sounds may frighten him. If baby is worn, these sounds have learning value. The mother filters out what she perceives as unsuitable for the baby and gives the infant an "It's okay" feeling when he is exposed to unfamiliar sounds and experiences.
[points 11 - 15 Quoted from Dr.Sears at http://www.askdrsears.com]
OK - I'm are convinced - but how do I do it? How do I get it on me and the baby into it?
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at $50 each
Indian batik patterns in Magenta/black (shown above), Red/black, Brown/tan, Yellow, Navy blue, Blue/purple, Pink/purple, Maroon/natural;
and plain colours (ie no pattern) in Beige, Brown, Navy, Pink, or Green.
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Information presented at www.greenfamilies.com.au
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