Why Babywearing?

There are many benefits to wearing your baby or child (heck, I just sold a sling to a lady who wanted to carry her dog around...whatever floats your boat!) For me personally, it has helped to calm a (very) colicky first child, nurse a 'round-the-clock eating machine second child, and protect a third child from his crazy big brothers! Over the past nearly four years, many dinners (at home and out) have been saved thanks to a carrier, virtually every Sunday at church has been spent singing and swaying a baby to sleep in a sling or carrier and more days than I can count, I've spent kissing the head of a baby wrapped closely to my chest.

There are many things that have been proven about wearing your baby (thanks to The Babywearer for providing this info!):

• Babies that are worn cry less (I love the bit about babies in cultures where they are worn all the time have been found to rarely cry at all, that says a lot!)
  
• Babywearing is great for babies mental development
• Babywearing is great for their emotional development, as well
• Babywearing is also good for physical development
• It can help with a mom who is suffering from PPD

If you are new to babywearing, you may be wondering a couple of things. First, how do I decide which carrier is right for me? There are many charts throughout the internet that can help you decide that (here and here are two examples. The first talks about activities using a carrier and the second talks about closeness/learning curve/breastfeeding in a carrier/etc...)

The second thing you may be asking, "Why do I have to spend so much? What is wrong with a $30 carrier from my local 'big box store'?" Well. A lot is wrong with those carriers - for you, for baby, for their spine - rather than beat a dead horse (is that the cliche?) I strongly urge you to take a few minutes and read this article, "Infant Carriers and Spinal Stress" (it's short, but packed full of information and written by someone who knows a lot about the spine and the effects spinal stress can have on the rest of the body - a chiropractor).

No matter your reasoning for looking for a baby carrier (to have more use of your hands, to calm that precious, screaming little one, to avoid lugging a heavy stroller everywhere), kudos to you for looking at babywearing! Hopefully this week has provided you with some useful information that can at least assist in your decision making. If you ever have any questions regarding babywearing, please feel free to ask any of the writers here via email or a comment - if we don't know the answer ourselves, we will be happy to help direct you to someone who does.