Wednesday 6 October 2010

Babywearing

It never occured to me NOT to baby wear. As soon as I started thinking about how I would take care of my baby I knew I would wear him/her whenever I could. When Joseph was born prematurely, I knew baby wearing would be even more essential to his care and development.

I was dead against wrap around slings to start with. They looked so complicated, how would I ever tie it, get my baby in, sort it all out on the run??? I found a wonderful shop in a tiny Yorkshire village. They spent a long time with me looking at different slings. My first visit was whilst pregnant, and we had a very spooky conversation about the importance of baby wearing premature babies. Little did I know that just three short weeks later, I would have my very own tiny miracle.

Whilst rooming in during Joseph's last two nights in hospital, I took my sling, and practiced taking him around the ward. It felt normal, natural, and I felt whole again, with my tiny baby next to me.

Over the coming months I wore Joseph often, doing housework, going on trips to the shops, whenever I could.

Even now, at 17 months of age, Joseph is still worn, admittedly not as often, but still more than weekly. I have a fancy mei tai sling, its fashionable, comfortable and safe.

I was amazed to read on tweets today, the start of International Babywearing Week that in the US the practice of babywearing is under threat. What I love about  Babywearing is the spirit of independence. All you need is a length of fabric and some knowhow. You don't have to spend hundreds of pounds. Slings are natural, they don't use a lot of carbon to produce them. They take up no room, you can put one in your carry bag.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is proposing to regulate the babywearing "industry" potentially this could mean that cottage businesses producing slings could go bust, and that "slings" will now belong to big companies.

It's true that there have been some deaths of babies associated with sling usage. Surely education, providing instruction to users, and setting good examples is the way of the future, not excessive and punitive legislation.

Baby wearing is a traditional, safe practice. Babies die in pushchairs and prams, but they are not legislated against. Babies die in cribs and cots.. Baby deaths in accidents are tragic, and sometimes preventable, and education is the key, not banning practices that have been around since time immemoriam.

3 comments:

  1. What a great post. I love the idea of the baby being next to me. I did get one of the well known baby carrier's when little Gnome was born but I am too busty to use it properly lol.

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  2. Yes, I've always loved babywearing too, though it's definitely been trial and error for us and I am thinking about buying yet another sling this time round!

    You know, it's AMAZING to me how tolerant the western world is of cars considering the sheer number of deaths, surely one of the biggest killers of children in the western world. And yet a few awful, tragic (and tragically avoidable) accidents with slings and "they" are so quick to call for blanket bans.

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  3. Savvymum4 the Kari me I used is excellent, I am busty, and because its stretch its fine and accommodating.

    Penni, so true.

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