In a message dated 97-12-27 15:15:35 EST, you write:

<<  Instead of condeming [sic] moms when they make choices that we wouldn't,
can't we support the choice that they choose as best for their situation.  We
do no one any good when we judge them for choosing not to do as we choose,
carseats, formula, or etc.  We become labeled as fanatics and shut the door
for any future contacts. >>


As I have said in previous posts, this digest is not meant to be fodder for
anyone whose "feelers" might be hurt by what I happen to think about baby
carriers (the plastic kind), like new moms; instead , it is a professional
forum where these "fanatical" ideas--irony there:  only in the last few
hundred years has not carrying babies become the "norm", and the idea that
moms and dads should maintain body contact become "fanatical"--can be
discussed, debated, ad nauseum.  I for one am not engaging in this debate to
judge any mother's choices as wrong or right; to hurt anyone's feelings *or*
be their emotional bodyguard.  (Reminds me of NOW being upset that the AAP
statement might make some mothers feel guilty)  Instead, I want parents to be
making informed decisions, not just buying into (and buying, and using)
whatever is on the shelves at the store.

I am interested in the research, which says that:  the physical carrying of
babies has been shown to be necessary for proper brain development, especially
the cerebellum.  Babies who do not recieve the specific rythmic stimulation of
being carried for most of the day --as humans were for 100,000 generations
(75% of day in-arms for stone age infants) but have not been for less than 10
generations (25% of day in arms for modern infants) are not receiving the
specific environmental stimulation their brains have developed to expect:
"Physical holding and carrying of the infant turns out to be the most
important factor responsible for the infant's normal mental and social
development." (Restak, R.  The Brain)

Please understand-- my manner is more academic online than nurturing, so I
want to be sure I make myself clear:  I am not condemning any person's
specific choices.  My only agenda is to increase the level of information and
knowledge about what babies physically expect, as I increase my own, by
examining the current and well-replicated research available.  What a parent
chooses to do with that info is truly beyond the scope of my concern.  In
anthropology, I have learned that we must understand how the human body
works--what it expects--before we begin to offer substitutes in the name of
convenience or efficiency.

<<I used a carrier for several reasons.  I have an injured back and would put
the carrier straight from the car into the shopping cart.  I couldn't carry a
baby in a sling>>

 In your case, your choices were limited; in most cases, they are not.
Obviously, you are not being judged; we do the best we can with what abilities
and info are at our disposal.  My complaint is that we, as modern humans, have
too little awareness of our abilities and of legitimate info on child rearing.
That lack is what I hope to help mitigate in my work, and to discuss such
matters more fully I hope we can put aside the personal to some degree here
and discuss these issues with a little distance between our personal feelings
and the professional discourse.  I know I will try, at least.


"Childhhod decides."    ---Jean Paul Sartre
Joy Berry-Parks
Attachment Parenting Group of AR
LLL of AR
Anthropology student ("Ethnopediatrics, here I come!"