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What you need to know about babywearing
Find out if babywearing is right for you and your child
In South America, they call it an aguayo. In Korea, a podaegi. In China, a mei tai. While the slings, wraps and carriers we have in Canada are far from a new phenomenon, “babywearing” is undoubtedly gaining popularity in North America. There’s a reason for that. Supporters believe there are a number of benefits to wearing your baby.
What’s so great about babywearing?
Famed American paediatrician, and father of eight, Dr. William Sears coined the term “babywearing,” and has been studying its effects since 1985.
On his website, he lists a number of reasons to wear your little one in a sling or wrap. Sears mentions his own anecdotal experience to back up his claim that babies who are worn cry less, but also cites a six-week study that showed infants who were carried in a sling or carrier for at least three hours a day cried and fussed 43 percent less than babies in the study who were not carried.
He also believes babywearing reduces the risk of SIDS, in part because of the way a baby’s breath will sync up to the breath of the person carrying him.
Amy Ma is the group leader of Mamasupial Montreal, an organization that educates families on the “how-tos” and “why-tos” of babywearing. She says she began wearing her children out of convenience.
“Even if you’re not sold on attachment parenting, with babywearing you always have your hands free to do whatever needs to be done around the house,” says Ma.
“And in the winter, there’s nothing more frustrating than trying to get a stroller down the slushy sidewalks. I just put my little one in a carrier or wrap and he is snug next to my body under my coat. We don’t have to worry about boots and stuffing him into a snowsuit.”
Ma, a mother of three, also mentions that women who wear their babies tend to get back to their pre-baby size sooner. She explains that weight-bearing exercise burns calories very efficiently. “You might be doing something as simple as taking stroll to get milk. Carrying the baby will burn more calories than pushing a stroller.”
She adds that the muscles that need to be engaged when wearing your baby will also help strengthen the pelvic floor, and help get all your body parts back to their pre-baby condition sooner.
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