Baby-wearing benefits mom and baby
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Dr. Sears’ book, The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know about Your Baby from Birth to Age Two, is my new parenting bible. It’s 740+ pages covers everything from feeding and nutrition to health concerns and remedies, to baby’s stages, to parenting the colicky baby, to baby-wearing and contemporary parenting, to the transition from baby to toddler, to safety issues and baby-proofing, and more. Reference charts and diagrams, including growth charts, proper medicine dosages and stages of teething are extremely helpful.
Dr. Sears emphasizes the Attachment style of parenting. He discusses in depth, the art of baby-wearing, or carrying baby in a sling or similar carrier for much of the day. I finally ordered a sling and can’t wait for it to come. I guess you can say that my baby definitely has his fussy days, allowing me to accomplish very little outside of tending to him, and Sears claims that baby-wearing helps to soothe and calm the fussy or colicky baby. If you pick up your fussy baby and hold him close, he usually becomes content, proving that Sears is “right-on” with his approach.
Wearing baby in a sling, pouch or wrap offers him a comforting transition from the womb to the outside world. Sears suggests thinking of baby’s gestation as lasting for 18 months: nine months inside the womb and at least nine months outside the womb. During baby’s first nine months, the womb environment regulates baby’s system automatically. This is temporarily disrupted at birth. Baby-wearing helps baby regulate the world outside the womb. Mother’s rhythmic walk, the soothing and familiar sound of her heartbeat, and her rhythmic breathing, reminds baby of his womb experience.
What really got me interested in carrying my baby in a sling is that research has shown that continued mother-infant attachment, such as baby-wearing, stimulates baby to achieve a quicker distinction between day and night. For now, I’ll keep using my traditional baby-carrier and carrying baby in my arms. Our sling is due to arrive tomorrow; it will make both of our lives much easier! As my sister, a seasoned baby-wearer, said, a baby-sling makes her feel like she has a third arm. She can get things done with baby nestled in his sling. What busy mom couldn’t use that?
I’m sold on Dr. Sears- don’t know what I’d do without him!
jessica says...
Amen to that! I have used this book so much in the last nine months that the cover came off. (Actually my nine month old ripped off the cover, but I digress.) Every section is full of practical information and what I love best is that some of the solutions are medicine free. I don’t have to worry about my baby being drugged because I read it somewhere. Homeopathic solutions are great for the whole family!