PREGNANCY

Lenore Kilmartin is convinced that carrying her baby saved his life. “OK, maybe the doctors who did the surgery also had something to do with it,” she concedes. “But I have no doubts that being carried around helped him.”

Liam, her fifth child, seemed healthy and normal at birth. Kilmartin took care of him just as she had her older children, carrying him in a sling or soft carrier most of the day while she did housework, went shopping and helped her other children.

“He did seem a little quieter than the others, but I thought that was just his personality,” she comments. “He nursed frequently but for short times — and that was easy to do with the sling.”

During a visit to the doctor when Liam was five months old, Kilmartin was shocked to discover that he had a serious heart defect. They went straight from their family doctor’s office to a paediatric heart specialist. The diagnosis? Liam had four holes in his heart and would need surgery to repair them.

“The doctor asked me, ‘Didn’t you notice his lips turning blue when he cried?’” Kilmartin recalls. “And I realized that he really never cried. He was always close to me, so if he started to fuss or squirm around, I could quickly shift his position or burp him or nurse him if that was what he wanted. He really never got to the point of crying hard.”

The doctor was also very impressed by Liam’s weight gain. “Most babies with heart problems like Liam’s, because they tire so easily, have problems gaining weight,” Kilmartin explained. “But Liam never tired himself out with crying, so his weight gain was very good. That meant he went into his surgery in good shape.”

He also made a rapid recovery — heading home six days after the operation. “I tucked him back into the sling and he continued to do well,” Kilmartin says.

Being carried has also been shown to be helpful to tiny premature babies. With these infants, it’s often called “kangaroo care” because it mimics the way mother kangaroos carry their babies in a pouch until the joey is more mature. The system originated in Colombia, South America, but research shows that when premature babies are carried in an upright position, skin to skin with their parents, they gain weight better, maintain body temperature and have better breathing and heart rates. Just as important, the parents feel a stronger attachment to the babies they have carried, and are less likely to abuse or neglect them.

Carrying may be good for babies with health problems, but what about normal, healthy infants? Is it a good idea, or will it spoil the baby?

Originally published in Today's Parent, Pregnancy & Birth, Spring 2005