Dear Fellow-lacnetters,

Nikki Lee also was interested in my position on babywearing.  Here is  
an essay I wrote about that (it was removed by my editor):

Infant carriers: Another piece of ancient wisdom that is making a  
comeback


"I used to think that people with baby carriers were granola people and

hippies…but now, I think women are weird if they don't use one.”


                                        Debra, mother of twins Audrey  
and Sophia


A final example of an old, discarded custom that has been  
resurrected, thanks to

recent scientific studies, is the use of baby carriers and slings.   
These devices allow

babies to be carried while leaving their mom’s hands free for other  
jobs.  These

simple folds of cloth are so valuable to new parents that I suspect  
they were one of

the first items of clothing ever invented!


Despite their great practicality, however, infant carriers were  
discarded by our

Western culture many generations ago.  During the late 1800’s baby  
carriages

replaced the old practice of carrying babies for walks.  Pushing a  
“baby buggy” or a

“pram”, as these carriages were referred to, was seen as being more  
refined and

lady-like than strolling down the avenue with your baby draped over  
your shoulder.


This preference to not hold babies was reinforced by the vocal  
opinions of experts

who warned parents to avoid carrying their babies “too much”.  In  
1894, Dr

Emmett Holt, the “Dr. Spock” of his day, cautioned parents not to  
pick up their

crying babies, not to spoil them with too much carrying and never to  
rock them to

sleep!  So, for decades, parents continued to transport their infants  
exclusively in

carriages and strollers.


Imagine, though, what it’s like being in a stroller…from your baby’s  
point of view.

There she is, sunken in a bucket seat unable to see you or even hear  
you very

well.  And, when you stop walking, an eerie stillness descends around  
her!


Strollers are certainly useful and valuable tools for long trips  
(and, heavy babies).

However, in the late 1980s, a new series of medical and  
anthropological reports

began to push these rolling baby seats back into a more limited  
role.  These

studies by top scientists, like Ron Barr from McGill University,  
reacquainted the

our culture with the prehistoric practice of carrying babies in slings.


Babies adore slings and infant carriers of all variety.  They nurture  
their senses in

a rhythmic, calming way.  Babies who are carried become enveloped by  
the constant

presence of their parent’s warmth, scent, movement, touch and  
sounds.  If I were

asked to compare strollers to slings, I’d say that strollers are like  
singing “Row, row,

row your boat” over and over again while slings are like a full  
chorus performing

“The Hallelujah Chorus”!


In 1986, Dr. Barr and his associate Dr. Urs Hunziker asked women to  
carry their

babies at least 3 hours a day (in a sling or their arms).  They  
discovered the more

a baby was carried the calmer and happier she became.  Overall, these  
cuddled

infants had 43% less crying.   Thanks, in part to studies like this,  
infant carriers have

been saved from the brink of extinction and sent back up to the “top  
of the charts”.


In the 1970s, women carrying their babies in slings may have been  
considered

counter-cultural oddities, but these days, mothers from Tacoma to  
Tallahassee are

snapping up infant carriers like hot cakes.  Now, they’re so much a  
part of our

culture it’s almost odd for a mom not to “wear her baby”!

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