Tshirt from Made By Momma's Babywearing Collection
International Babywearing Symbol by Natural Mother Magazine
Let's get our babies out of buckets and up 'close enough to kiss.' Babywearing does so much good for our little ones - and for us as parents as well!
Wearing your baby:
* Increases neurological development and brain activity
* Increases calm alertness
* Increases oxygen flow
* Increases the flow of oxytocin and other 'feel good/love' hormones (for BOTH Dad/Mom and baby)
* Improves sleep at night and nap times
* Improves and regulates cardiovascular health
* Improves and regulates respiratory health
* Improves breastfeeding (and Mom's milk supply when she baby wears)
* Improves gross and fine motor development, strength and ability
* Regulates body temperature especially in small babies (when baby has a fever, babywearing skin-to-skin with Mom/Dad will lower his temp; if baby is too cold, skin-to-skin will raise baby's temp)
* Decreases fussiness, colic and gastrointestinal problems
* Decreases cortisol and other stress hormones (for BOTH Mom/Dad and baby!)
* Decreases blood pressure and hypertension (for BOTH Mom/Dad and baby!)
* Develops healthy, secure attachment (for BOTH Mom/Dad and baby)
* Decreases physiological development issues (such as Plagiocephaly, Tortocollis, and 'flat head' that we see so often in what the AAP calls 'Bucket Babies' - those left in carseats/strollers)
Babywearing Resources:
The Babywearing Group: Facebook.com/groups/WrapMyBaby
Babywearing: Proper Positioning
Babywearing International [website]
Babywearing International Resources for Professionals
The Benefits of Babywearing
American Academy of Pediatrics on "Bucket Babies" and SIDS
What are "Bucket Babies"? You've seen babies carried around in car seats at knee-height...being lugged around everywhere they go. These babes rarely leave their carseat/stroller 'bucket'. Life for them is lived at a lower level (literally). They are not up at eye-level with mom and dad and the rest of the world. They are not talked with the same as slingin' babies. They are not at kissing/hugging/holding level. They are not heart-to-heart with mom. They do not have easy access to her warmth and her milk. These are babies that have been sadly termed "Bucket Babies" and they face many additional risk factors for health problems - SIDS being one. Let's bring them up to where they belong.
Car Seats Are For Cars: Babies are Born to Be Worn
Dr. Sears on Babywearing [website]
The Importance of the In-Arms Phase
Rock-a-bye Baby
Attachment Parenting: A Practical Approach For the Reduction of Attachment Disorders and the Promotion of Emotionally Secure Children
Increased Carrying Reduces Infant Crying: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Does Infant Carrying Promote Attachment? An experimental study of the effects of increased physical contact on the development of attachment.
AAP: Car Seats Lower Oxygen Levels for Babies [does not occur with worn babies]
Cardiorespiratory Stability of Premature and Term Infants Carried in Slings (AAP)
Infant Carriers and Spinal Stress
History and Science of Carrying [Translated from German]
History of the Ring Sling [photo essay by inventor]
Kangaroo Care Benefits [Prematurity.org]
Babywearing Benefits [Dr. Sears]
How Did Sacagawea Carry Her Baby?
Babywearing (2005) by Maria Blois {Book}
A Ride on Mother's Back: Babywearing Around the World {Kid's Book}
Beloved Burden: Baby Carriers in Different Countries (2009) by Itie van Hout {Book}
The Mamaponcho - great for cold weather babywearing! Talented mothers - Knit Your Own 'mamaponcho'!
Peekaroo Baby Fleece - another cold weather babywearing item
Babywearing Coat Alterations Instructions
Back Wrap Cross Carry with 43lb Preschooler (Demonstration)
The Babywearer.com
Babywearing Forum
Annual Babywearing Conference
Babywearing Safety [on Facebook]
Real Men Wear Babies [Peaceful Parenting Photo Gallery]
Babywearing Books [and other supplies] peaceful parenting Amazon Collection
Attachment Parenting International on Babywearing
La Leche League International on Babywearing
Positional Plagiocephaly and Tortocollis (does not occur with slinging babies)
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If you have photos of a great man in your life wearing your baby, and you'd like to include it in the REAL MEN WEAR BABIES photo collage, send to Born2BWorn@gmail.com. Include any information you would like (name/location/baby's age/type of sling/wrap) or you can send anonymously without any info.The purpose of this collection is to demonstrate that fathers DO frequently wear their little ones as well as mothers, and to encourage other dads to give it a try.
Babywearing has been shown to significantly impact attachment, bonding, and trust between fathers and their children - a social bond that lasts into the teenage years and beyond. Father babywearing as also been shown to decrease stress hormones and lower blood pressure and hypertension in both men and their babies.
Let's get Dad involved alongside Mom!
Wonderful links and pictures.
ReplyDeletePlease add the Babywearing Safety page to your resources.....there are carriers such as bag-style Infantino SlingRiders and similar that are inherently dangerous and should never be used. There are also safe and unsafe ways to carry babies, particularly newborns, in good-quality slings and carriers.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/BabywearingSafety
A fantastic fairly new sling on the market is Beep Beep slings - http://www.beepbeepslings.com/ We do attachment parenting & used this sling solely for the first 7mnths until my daughter started to weigh about 8kgs. From then she started to get a bit heavy so we progressed to the Ergo for long stints & still used the Beep Beep for quick trips and around town. Both of these slings allow baby to sit correctly and there are several different positions that they can be used in.
ReplyDeleteWonderful link. I am proud to say that my son has yet to sit in a stroller. I probably won't use one unless my husband is taking him out for the afternoon which doesn't happen because I still EBF, we do BLW but its sporatic and dependant on his mood of course. Hes calmer in public, I can get in and out of places fast, no bulky stroller in my way, and I am constantly interacting with him, its win/win
ReplyDeleteI love www.babesinarms.com.au They constantly update their blog with links to babywearing around the world and have a bunch of resources on their page.
ReplyDelete