BABY
WEARING - ANCIENT WISDOM EMBRACES THE PRESENT
Barry Pittard
Increasing
numbers of parents are breaking the mold of cultural habit, and
humbly learning from the wisdom of age-old cultures.
In the book Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape
the Way We Parent, anthropologist Meredith Small writes, "In
most cultures - and over most of human history - babies spend almost
all their time carried in a sling on the side or back of adults.
In these positions, babies see the world as adults do; the rhythm
of adult walking is also physically soothing."
Baby wearing in a sling significantly extends the in utero experience,
producing a far calmer, more secure child. Once again, there is
a oneness of baby and mother. Research at Tulane University finds
that, "Baby slings offer the single most successful method
for optimal neurological development in infants." A writer
in the Times Literary Supplement of London sees the wearing of the
baby sling as possibly a greater step forward for humanity than
the microchip.
A
pram or a cot can separate; a baby sling unites, as baby snuggles
close to your body. Our western material values separate individuals
from each other. Much education neglects the heart; our troubled
bodies and minds separate the spirit. Likewise, we separate ourselves
from some of the deepest human bonding needs between parent and
infant. For a baby in a sling, mother's breastmilk is easy to seek
and find. A parent (including fast-growing numbers of fathers) is
all the more likely to hold baby, because her or his hands are free
for other activities.
Mama & child,
Sacred
Valley, Peru
In
our own culture's non-wearing of babies, are we, then, missing some
of the deeper joys of bonding? For example it is known that babywearing
stimulates levels of the mothering hormone prolactin. In not following
the babywearing practice of so many old cultures, are we seriously
depriving our children of one of the greatest of benefits to childhood
development?
A baby's brain grows phenomenally - from 25% of its adult weight at
birth to 50% at six months and 90% at one year. Ever since the classic
studies of childhood bonding of half a century ago (John Bowlby, Mary
Ainsworth, et al.), the incredible importance of the first year (yes,
the first year!) of an infant's life to the quality of the remainder
of life has been well noted. Do our childrearing practices truly honor
such findings?
In touch with the natural rhythms of life, tribal and other more communal
peoples knew - from experience! - the value of baby wearing. A state
childhood experts call "quiet alertness" replaces crying
and fussiness. A sling distributes the broad weight from shoulders
and hips, aligning the baby's center of gravity close to the wearer.
Many scientific studies now show how a carried baby receives the exact
essentials of pressure, motion, pleasure, warmth, security, sound.
These
are crucial to the development of the vestibular nervous system.
This system relates to the cranial and spinal nerves, the sense
of kinesthetic equilibrium, development of motor skills and calming
deep-pressure touch and stimulation. Baby-carrying stimulates optimal
development of the cerebellum of the brain. This is the only part
of the brain that continually increases in cells as the baby gets
older. Voluntary muscle tone - as related to posture, balance, and
equilibrium - is similarly controlled by this vital part of the
brain. All motor activity, from hitting a tennis ball to fingering
a violin, depends on the cerebellum.
Research further shows that carried babies sleep comfortably and
for longer periods of time. They often are better able to complete
their exterogestation period. Sling use tones muscles, increases
cardiac output which increases circulation, promotes respiration
and digestion. Infants experience reduced rate of wind and colic.
Neck and shoulder muscles are stronger, there is less head lag,
and infants walk on their own by ten months. In marked contrast,
the average North American walking age is eleven and a half (or
more) months! The standing/stepping reflex present from birth, with
which infants push themselves up and grab the adult, is retained.
Such advanced motor development is typical of the carried baby.
Parental sounds are most important - voice timbre, heartbeat, breathing...
The resultant state, called "entrainment," assists a baby's
heartbeat and breathing, which can be fast and irregular, especially
in newborns, premature babies, and distressed and crying infants.
Babywearing encourages the form of deep sleep known as the "quiet
sleep state," so vital to brain maturation.
Sling-worn infants are at the center of activity - a precondition
for the development of empathy, and esteem of both self and other,
rather than a laying of foundations for lifelong egocentricity.
This has profound spiritual implications. From a sling, a baby can
see, hear and touch far more effectively. This creates greatly enriched
environmental experiences. Owing to more secure attachment to the
parent, the period of infant dependency is shortened. One of several
sling carrying positions is reclining, looking at the parent's face.
Researchers have found that the human face, especially in this position,
powerfully stimulates interpersonal bonding.
The highly influential "The Baby Book" by Dr William and
Martha Sears (parents of eight children!) has a whole chapter on
babywearing. Here are just some of the many points the Sears make
babywearing: it frees a parent's hands to care for older siblings.
Some babies, particularly those who are tense or tend to arch their
backs, breastfeed better while moving. Proximity to mum encourages
babies to eat more frequently. A 1986 study of 99 mother-infant
pairs (reported in Pediatrics) showed that carrying babies at least
three hours a day reduces crying and fussing 43% during the day
and 51% at night. The development of mutual reading of cues is encouraged
and speeded. Speech development is greater, due to more environmental
experiences and conversations. The "state of quietness"
so enhanced by babywearing is the optimal behavioral state of learning
...
Our mechanistic culture does anything but allow us to get in touch
with our natural endowments. Far too often, we, as children, learnt
to be awkward and fearful of physical intimacy and closeness. Writing
in Midwifery Today magazine (Issues 41&42), American midwife
Jennifer Rosenberg, says "We need to reclaim the wisdom of
carrying our babies, and share it with our clients and our children."
"I want a world of truth, not the hardness and the glitter
A world that loves its colors and cherishes its youth.
I want a world of faith, all the broken and the bitter
Held inside our hearts 'til it's whole again
And I never loved so hard, never dreamed so wild
'Til I saw the future in you my child."
