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Babywearing is a practice that has been around forever. You can go off into the deepest parts of Africa and there you will see a mother wearing her baby.
Even in today’s modern world with all it’s technology, mothers still babywear because there are so many reasons to wear your baby!
Babywearing is the practice of wearing your infant or toddler in a carrier. This carrier can be a wrap, sling, or structured carrier.
Babywearing does not mean that you need to wear your baby all day long. In my opinion, wearing your baby even a little bit classifies you as a babywearer.
Although you might realize that as you wear your baby that life is just easier when you babywear and the hours might just start adding up.
15 Reasons to Wear Your Baby
1) Babywearing gives babies a secure environment where they feel warm and safe. If you just spend 9 months in a well protected womb, would you prefer close and warm or being held in the open air…or not held at all?
2) Babies that are held cry less (some research shows up to 40-50% less!) Now of course, you could hold them in your arms but you would have to put them down every time you wanted to do something. Babywearing allows you to hold your baby for longer amounts of time which equals even less crying.
3) Babywearing is great for babies who are fussy, have colic, or reflux. Since baby is in an upright position, close to you, and moving they are happier and spit up less.
4) Wearing your baby helps baby’s physical development. It keeps their heads off hard surfaces like the ground, swings, car seats, etc which sometimes leads to flat heads.
Babywearing is also good for hip development so long as you are carrying your baby in a good position (froggy position as infants/seated position when older) and in a good carrier (carriers that allow proper hip placement and sitting position. Not carriers that hold babies by their crotch.)
5) You can breastfeed while babywearing. Talk about a huge timesaver! Plus if you are a pro at it, you can even breastfeed while in public and nobody will even know.
6) Babies who are held get more interaction. People are more apt to interact with your child if they are at eye level. A baby in a stroller or on the floor doesn’t get much coversation.
7) On the opposite side of that, wearing your baby can keep people and their germs away from your baby. This is especially great for newborns. Wearing your baby, generally keeps people from picking them up and playing with your infant.
8) Babywearing is easier on your arms, sholders, and back then just carrying your baby in your arms. Make the task easier on yourself!
9) Wearing your baby allows you to do things! You can do chores, help older kids, go places, get ready for the day, cook, go shopping.
10) It’s easier to get around stores, airports, parks, public transportation with babywearing. Pushing a stroller is hard and sometimes impossible in crowded places. Holding your baby in your arms is better then a stroller but if there’s lots of people around your baby can get bumped easily. Babywearing keeps your baby as close to you as possible making it easy to get through crowds safely.
11) Babywearing is a great way to bond with your baby. The more time you spend with your baby the better you are at understanding them.
12) Wearing your baby is a workout! It’s a great way to lose those pregnancy pounds and stay in shape.
13) There’s no need to wake a sleeping baby or skip naps if you are out and about. Babies (usually) fall asleep easily while being worn and if you are wearing a sleeping baby then you do not need to worry about waking them up if you decide to go somewhere.
14) Allows Dads and caregivers to bond with baby.
15) Reduces postpartum depression. I’m still looking into the exact reason why this is true but my guess is it has to do with the fact that babywearing allows you to still “have a life”, it creates a bond between you and your baby, and your baby is likely to cry less which relieves stress.
There are probably hundreds of other reasons why babywearing is so great. These are just some of the more popular reasons.
More on Babywearing:
How to use a stretchy wrap safely
How to make your own stretchy wrap
It absolutely decreases PPD for the reason you listed – I know from experience and recently talked about it in my blog. This is a wonderful post! Thank you!
http://thatparentingthing.blogspot.com
Jennie – Thank you for sharing! I had PPD with my second (didn't wear him) but didn't have any with my third (and I did/do wear her a lot) I'm sure it helped me even if it wasn't the sole reason.
Love this Brittany! My ERGO saves me life, literally, when I travel to Mexico. Roads there just aren't designed for strollers. I can keep Isaias from running into the streets and still maneuver my suitcases around.
Luv this! Great blog. Im a new babywearing follower!
Babywearing is great – unless your baby hates being confined or cuddled, or you can't hold him up for long periods of time. My brother didn't like being touched too much even as a baby, and my sister became very upset when she was wrapped or strapped into anything. My mother wasn't physically strong enough to wear us for any length of time anyway.
This didn't mean that my parents interacted with us less, or that we didn't bond as well as a worn baby, or that our physical development was less normal. It wouldn't have done anything for my brother's colic, and neither my brother or sister slept at all when out no matter whether they were being held, worn, or in a stroller.
Every baby and mother is different, and every baby has their own preference. My brother always wanted to be upright but not held, my sister had to be on the floor where she could roll and wiggle, and I (I'm told) liked my bassinet.
The best thing to do with your baby is whatever works best for you and your baby. No method is more or less valid than another.
how would 13 be true… You have to put them in a carseat if you are driving anywhere…
Yes of course you would need to use a carseat if you are driving anywhere. The point was more that if you are going somewhere your baby can still sleep and take naps (after being taken out of the carseat)
I’m a single disabled mum with bad hips and back, so I find baby wearing to be great as I can still use my hands to help myself while I carry my baby instead of having to put her down all the time. I use a mobility scooter (motorised wheelchair) as my only transport, there’s no room on it for a baby car seat, so baby wearing allows me to take my baby out with me when I need to go out, as I’m a pedestrian on wheels, not a road vehicle.
Could you please provide links to the sources that provide the evidence off which you base the claims in this post? It all sounds great but citing the studies would make it all the more compelling. Thanks!
I just updated the post to include some of those links. 🙂
Love this! As a Ayurvedic postpartum care specialist (and blogger), I very much support close contact with your baby as much as possible. It is very important for their development and sense of security as well as strengthening the bond between mother and child. The one point I would like to add is wait until baby is at least 6 weeks old before you fully introduce them into the public sphere. Allow as much resting and nesting recovery time as possible:)