Parents interested in the theory about carrying their baby whether they’re new or not to the parenting club, will come across the same sort of information.
Without getting into a detailed bibliography, in a kind of readers digest style, it seems to come down to 5 main points why parents should carry their baby;
1) Creating a stronger bond with their child.
2) Carried babies will mature into empathic, selfless people who are completely intune and comfortable with their world.
3) Carried babies can develop a higher degree of emotional intelligence and develop social skills quicker than their ‘left alone’ counterparts.
4) Turns parents into their own ‘baby whisperers’ because parents don’t miss their baby’s cues.
5) Baby is far more settled, which in turn makes parents more confident, which in turn establishes a peaceful harmony of love, trust which in turn will lead to world peace, the end of all wars and life forever more will be a fantasmagorically wonderful Utopia.
OK, the last part of number 5 is a work in progress, but you get my drift? There are some truly wonderful benefits of ‘babywearing’,
Realistically though, I can guarantee you that in any home across the world where you find a new family, theory is the last thing on that new parent’s mind. ‘Babywearing’ might have already been on the family plan in the beautiful bloom state of a first pregnancy, but once baby is born reality sets in.
It happens to be almost comical why most parents will get into ‘babywearing’ anyway.
The 5 real top reasons why parents ‘babywear’ anyway.
FIRST Reason
Babynoia – like paranoia, but at an entirely new level.
There’s no term in the medical encyclopaedia called Babynoia, but to all parents past & present, it is a very real phenomenon. The experience of thinking you hear your baby cry, even though you know baby is asleep, just as you want to do something important.
Take showering? Who hasn’t heard their baby cry the moment you step under the water? Or taking out the rubbish, checking the mailbox or while hanging up the washing.
If showering hasn’t messed with a new parent’s sanity, hanging out the washing will.
Particularly detrimental on the first timer, who may have checked on still sleeping baby a few times already, the ‘abandonment guilt’ side of Babynoia sets in.
Thoughts like ‘I know my baby is sleeping, but what happens if our pet cat/dog/hamster/mongoose lays across baby’s neck’ or ‘Did I leave the iron/heater/left the chips cooking and a fire is starting?’.
Who would have thought in their pre-baby days that hanging out the washing could be so stressful.
Most parents will eventually rationalise that anxiety by either,
* Ignoring it, but still hanging out the washing at Olympic gold medal speed,
* Deny it, what washing?
* Or chill it, by placing baby in the sling, hanging up the washing while swirling around, rocking & possibly singing made-up nursery rhymes about little singlets & cutesy clothes. Singing does amazing things for neighbour relations, if you have a good voice.
A curious thing happens after parents get a handle on the Babynoia, some go ahead and have another baby or few.
The SECOND reason
Family Management - Why most parents go running to the cupboard to get their baby sling out of storage – more kids!
Life changes when there’s more than one. Parents might find themselves in similar situations like -
* Turn back on newborn & toddler for a split nanosecond only to hear a strange gurgling sound. Find baby in the pram choking on a mouthful of Smarties. Do all manner of panic induced Smartie extractions while toddler says “I was only sharing mummy”. Couple more incidences like that and you don’t need to be Einstein to figure out that new baby is much safer carried under your nose than left anywhere else for the time being.
* Toddlers have the uncanny knack of timing urgent toilet needs just as baby is about to be fed. Always happens.
Mums have to precariously hold baby on the breast with one hand, handle toddler clothing & potty placement with the other. Or if bottle fed, have bottle wedged under chin. And not forgetting the wash hands war afterwards.
To outsmart toddler toilet timing, savvy parents have their baby already nestled in the sling just before feeding time.
This is what legends in feeding time are made of. Breastfeeding mums have baby securely attached to the breast supported by the sling, can breeze through potty urgency with both hands free (bottle feeding parents can still have one hand free) like a cool, calm, ‘I have this nailed’ pro.
*Preschool drop off. Some older siblings are absolutely grateful to get a day away from a noisy baby at preschool. They almost can’t get into the school fast enough. I remember seeing one preschooler jump out of the car, race towards the entrance arms flapping in the air, screaming out “FREEDOM!”
OK, He might have been a happy freedom seeking chappy, yet some others, well… have adjustment or jealousy issues.
When this happens, it’s not the most pleasant part of the day for any parent. It can be very, very hard to walk, prise off leg & combat all the pulling & tugging & crying & screaming from an unwilling preschooler with a baby in one arm. After a few ‘ground hog’ mornings like that, parents can have battle half won with baby in the sling, a few deep breathes & the resolve that this too shall pass.
The THIRD reason.
Vanity!
Chuckle all you like, but when it comes to hiding the post baby jelly belly, nothing hides it like a sling. One of the oldest vanity tricks in the book. To hide a plump belly, use a large tote bag, with new mums, it’s a sling.
By carrying baby in the sling out in public, attention goes straight to the baby and not on the new mum’s lack of Miranda Kerr post baby body.
In all my years of giving birth to my greatest creations, I have only ever seen one woman carrying baby out of hospital while wearing size 8 jeans. I would like to think that she was in fact a proud new aunty carrying baby out to the car for the new parents. There was far too much spring in her step to convince me she gave birth 48 hours ago.
Also, carrying baby, breastfeeding & eating right actually help to fast track baby weight loss anyway. Just not within 48 hours.
The FOURTH reason
Personal space.
And it is very personal. In regards to how much you care if every Tom, Dick, Harry, Nigel, toddler Timmy & dear old Edna touch your baby.
Well meaning people quite readily approach a pram or shopping trolley for a peek at the most beautiful baby in that parents world, but they also inclined to start pinching baby’s cheeks, toes, while coughing & spluttering without any thought sometimes.
When parents get to the point where they are sick of producing instant razor sharp talons while snarling out a matching Sabre tooth “STEP AWAY FROM THE BABY” roar, the sling becomes baby & public defender all in one. Almost newsworthy if you think of how a journalist would put the headline….
“Sling used as a diplomatic solution in a near hostile stand-off between a parent & a stranger’.
Having baby in a sling, people usually don’t cross the invisible boundary of
adult personal space; no more unwanted touchy feelies or having to pin a sign on your baby’s chest that reads ‘Please do not touch the baby. Trespassers will be slapped’
The FIFTH reason
Mobility.
‘Have sling & go where no pram can go before you’
Sounds a bit Star Trekky, but all sling parents love this one. Impatient parents are empowered by the speed, often secretly snickering at parents encumbered by burdensome prams as they zoom past. Also on the travelling parents top priority list of must haves, not only is the sling a lightweight baby transporter, can be used as a change pad & a cover on dubious surfaces.
Use a sling, and you won’t be held at the back of the line for an elevator any more, even if you did get there first. How many able bodied people rudely slipping in just as the elevator door opens, does a pram burdened parent have to sneer at before realising a sling is far more practical to manoeuvre in a crowd. Pram rage can only get you so far. Not denying there is a certain amount of satisfaction in ramming ankles, but using a sling, a parent can slalom around the 2 legged ant populations with stealth.
