>I am just wondering what effect these policies may be having, in
>effectively telling mothers "don't pick up your baby"
>When they go home, baby is transfered from the goldfish
>bowl crib to a car-seat and often, once home, from car-seat to Moses
>basket or bouncy cradle. They become what some parents on a parenting
>list I know of, call "bucket babies".

From New Beginnings, July-Aug 1991:

Researchers from Columbia Univ College of Physicians and Surgeons
conducted a survey to explore the effects of increased physical
contact on mother-infant attachment.  23 new mothers were sent home
from the hospital with a soft infant body sling and 26 mothers were
presented with a plastic carrier.

The relationship between the mother and the baby was assessed at 2
months, 3 1/2 months, and 13 months.  Test measures included the
Ainsworth Strange Situation test, the Bayley Scales of Infant Devt,
and videotapes of mother-child interaction.

The findings concluded that by the 3 1/2 month evaluation, mothers who
used the soft carriers responded more often to their babies' noises
and initiated more verbal interchange with them than did the control
group.

By 13 months, this responsiveness seemed to be correlated with more
secure mother-baby attachment ratings:  83 percent of the sling
carriers were rated as securely attached, compared with 38 percent of
the plastic group.

Fewer babies in the soft carrier exhibited "avoidant behavior" toward
their mothers, while 38.5 percent of babies in plastic carriers
exhibited this response to their mother.

Carrying infants around in a soft body carrier seems to bring out
latent nurturing behavior, researchers speculate.  The soft carrier
enables some women who might have had an initial aversion to physical
contact to overcome this and form a healthy attachment to their
infant.

The use of the soft carrier did not seem to have any effect on babies'
temperament or on their development.

Child Development, Vol 61 pp 16-17.  The Growing Child Research
Review.  Dunn and Hargitt, Inc: 1991 No 1.

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