You’ve seen them on the department store shelves. Maybe you’ve even thought about getting one for your girlfriend’s baby shower. And why not? Baby carriers are cute, convenient and on-so-reasonably priced, but did you know that the Snugli® you tossed into your cart has a history that dates back several hundred years?
Way before the modern playpen or the baby carriage were invented (and being a stay-at-home mom was what every mother was), moms had a bevy of chores to do that took a great deal of time and energy. When there was laundry to be done, no Kenmore machines were around yet to toss a load into. Washing clothes - done by the edge of a river or creek or in tin tubs with washboards - was an all day affair. And, since we humans need our mamas almost constantly while we are infants, mothers kept their babies close at hand so they could be fed, changed and comforted while the chores got done.
The brightly-colored harnesses of today started simply as nothing more than a type of sling designed to keep baby near mama’s breast for nursing. Worn over the neck and shoulder, the baby carriers of old were made of old, soft fabric from somebody's no-longer-used quilt or stitched together from pieces of material from too-small clothing.
Americans of African decent used them not only in the motherland but here in America, while doing tasks ordered by their masters. Necessary to keep working and keep the little one alive, baby slings were used until the child no longer nursed or was able to walk on his or her own.
In this country, the Industrial Revolution came along and moved more and more Americans from the farmlands and into the factories. Although women were still responsible for the bulk of the child rearing tasks, gone were the days of schlepping laundry to the river or cooking over a huge, outdoor open flame, thanks to the invention of creature comforts like the oven, washing machine and icebox. As a result, the baby sling sort of lost its appeal. Later in the 50s and 60s, when formula feeding virtually replaced breastfeeding, baby wearing sort of became a thing of the past.
But now, thanks to the resurgence of nursing and all the buzz about parent-child bonding, baby wearing is making a strong comeback, much to the delight of experts in the field of infant development.
According to pediatric professor Dr. T. Berry Brazelton in his book Touchpoints, pediatricians Marshall Klaus and John Kennel were the first to talk about the bonding that takes place between parents and their infants. “As a way of enhancing the new parents' closeness to the baby, they recommended a period in the delivery room during which each parent could touch, hold and communicate with the newborn,” Dr. Brazelton writes, adding that such contact was not always encouraged in modern hospitals.
Although Klaus and Kennel emphasized the importance of such contact during the first few days of the baby’s life, additional research has shown that the feelings of love that a parent feels for his or her child develop over time as the parent and child get to know each other, not only in the first few moments or hours after birth. Baby wearing today may simply be an offshoot of the need for parents - many of whom work full-time and spend a whole lot less time with their little ones than their parents may have - to better connect with their children.
How Holding Helps
Grab any infant-rearing book from the bookstore or library shelf and, if it has a section on baby bonding, chances are, it will discuss the need for contact between caregiver (mother, father, grandmother or other) and baby. But is human contact absolutely necessary to raise an emotionally secure individual?
Science seems to say that it is. Research has shown that babies who are carried a great deal are less fussy and may even cry for shorter periods of time when they are in distress (i.e. wet diaper, hungry, etc.) A study done in early 1997 suggests that infants who were held a minimum of three hours a day cried considerably less than children in the study who were not held as long, as often or nearly at all. The carried babies not only cried less when they were in the arms of or worn by a caregiver, they also cried less when they were put down.
Other studies, like those done by Dr. George Engle in Rochester, New York, show that if interaction with an infant is limited during feeding, he or she will not digest food properly. But, when a child is held, and talked to and played with while feeding, nutrients will be better absorbed by the body.
The most convincing argument about the need for human contact by babies began in 1997 at the St. Christopher Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. The hospital’s “Kangaroo Care” program began by using simple skin-to-skin, chest-to-chest contact in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for premature babies.
The program places the new mother and her baby in a quiet area with low lights and a blanket which helps keep them warm. Infants in the Kangaroo Care program not only sleept longer and deeper but they also maintained their body temperature, moved onto oral feeding sooner, gained weight faster, came off ventilators sooner and left the hospital earlier than other pre-mature infants.
Touch is also something that fathers can provide. For those feeling left out of the “getting to know you” stage if their partner is breastfeeding, baby wearing allows dad to connect with baby in ways an hour of watching the little tike sleep cannot.
So go ahead and encourage a little human contact. Buy that Snugli® or make your own using a bit of quilted Kente cloth. It may help get the new family off to an emotionally healthy start.
Sidebar:
With all the attention being paid to baby bonding, baby wearing has become popular once again. There are so many different brands of baby carriers that in specialty stores like Babies “R” Us, the selection takes up an entire wall. Here are a few of the more unique finds:
1. NoJo’s Original Baby Sling - Developed by Dr. William Sears, the sling allows for parent and child to connect in a variety of different carries, including the kangaroo carry, the chest-to-chest snuggle or the over-the-shoulder cradle hold. Fits newborns to children weighing up to 30 lb. Sells for about $29.99.
2. Fisher-Price Deluxe Perfect Support Carrier - Allows for carrying a 5-26 lb. baby facing towards parent or away to view the world. Comes with a removable weather protector that converts to a shoulder sling to cradle the little one. Also has padded shoulder and back harnesses with wide, adjustable straps for comfort. Retails for about $39.99.
3. Snugli Comfort Supreme - A division of Evenflo, Snugli has been around for 35 years. This carrier features a special lumbar support pad so the weight of the baby does not cause too much discomfort for the carrier. Designed for infants from 5-26 lb., it allows for rear (towards parent) or forward-facing positioning. Sells for about $49.99.
4. Graco 3-in-1 Infant Carrier - Parent can either use it on their bellies or on their backs. Features adjustable leg and arm openings for baby, a padded head bolster, detachable infant head support and adjustable belt clips. The padded lumbar pad also doubles as a zippered storage pouch for small items like keys. Retails for about $49.99.
5. Infantino 6-in-1 Carrier - Made for infants up to 35lbs., this carrier not only lets the caregiver use it as a forward or rear-facing front carrier, but it easily converts to a backpack carrier, chair attachment or grocery cart seat attachment. It also fits in most infant car seats and includes an instructional video. About $19.99.
© 2000 Felicia C. Hodges
Felicia Hodges is a freelance writer/editor from upstate New York.
Originally appeared in Black Family Digest magazine Winter 2000.
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