Why Carry Your Baby

    Holding your baby in a baby carrier is also known as babywearing
    because you "wear" your baby in a carrier. This term was coined by
    pediatrician Dr. William Sears. Though this may be a newer term,
    babywearing has been around as long as there have been babies!
    And today many people think of a baby carrier as a carseat (the kind
    that's portable) since we have gotten so far away from actually
    carrying our babies in arms.

    You probably have heard "a held baby is a happy baby". You might
    have noticed that when you see a baby crying and they are picked
    up the crying usually stops. Why?

  • Being held is a biologically need for babies to thrive. Babies
    are "held" for nine months in your tummy and they were safe,
    fed, heard your heartbeat and loved the rocking motion of your
    movement. When they are held they also feel all of this and
    their needs are met. Being held promotes attachment and
    bonding which babies need.

  • Research has proven the many benefits of babywearing.
    Babies cry up to 40-50% less when held.

  • They often nurse better, and gain weight better. Being held
    enables mom or other caregiver to notice their baby's feeding
    cues earlier and before crying starts, as crying is a late cue for
    hunger in babies. And if you are able to start a feed before the
    baby is crying frantically usually the feeding goes better.

  • Babies with GERD, reflux also greatly benefit from being
    carried in an upright position. And since they are being held it
    is more easily to give more frequent but shorter feeds which
    can also help. Babies who are carried often spit up less.

  • Babies who are often called colicky or fussy often do better if
    the time they are carried is increased. The rocking motion and
    the tight swaddle effect of some carriers is just what they like.

  • It is good for their physical development.  Movement is good
    for their vestibular system, this helps with balance. Soft
    carriers like cloth also keep the pressure off their heads which
    is still very soft and laying too much on the back of it like they
    often do in swings, carseats etc (used in moderation is the
    key) can contribute to flat head syndrome. Carrying your baby
    counts for tummy time.  Also, carrying your baby helps
    promote good hip development when carried with knees pulled
    up and then legs turned out. And babies with hip dysplasia are
    often placed in this position to help correct the problem.

  • Dads and other caregivers can also promote bonding with
    baby through holding and provide comfort to baby when mom
    needs a break.

  • Keeps them safe. Since they are held in your personal space
    strangers are less likely to touch baby and this can be great
    during cold and flu season and for spreading germs. You also
    always know where they are-- which is great for toddlers!


    Look at it from a baby's point of view: Before they were born they
    were held 24 hours a day, so even if you hold your baby 12 hours a
    day, to them this is half of what they are used to. By holding them
    you are helping them adjust to this new world.

    Your might be thinking "Great, I realize babies need to be held but
    how do I get anything done, how do I attend to my other children?"
    That is where baby carriers come in. They allow for you to meet the
    needs of your baby but still enable you to do all the other things that
    need to be done.

    Since we now have so many baby devices to substitute parents
    sometimes we don't even realize how little a baby is being held when
    they go from the bed to high chair to bouncy seat to swing to
    exersaucer to carseat to stroller and then back to bed.

    The important thing is just to hold your baby a little bit more
    whether in arms or in a carrier because *human* touch and
    interaction and movement is good for both of you!

    Ask any parent with grown children and they will tell you that their
    children grew up too fast. They are only young for such a short time
    that goes by so quickly and soon they will be telling you to let me run
    free!


    For more information read the wonderful book Babywearing The
    Benefit and Beauty of This Ancient Tradition by Maria Blois, M.D. and
    from Nine In Nine Out (NINO) brochure. Also here is more articles on
    why babywearing is so good.

"Parental lifestyles may change, and undoubtedly have over the course of
the centuries and the millenniums, but babies do not. The baby born in the
twenty-first century has the same needs and will respond in the same way
as the infant who arrived before time was tallied."

~ Mary Ann Cahill, Founder La Leche League