In some ways, I’m not the best spokesperson for babywearing. I don’t even like the term. It’s a little too “cute,” and makes it sound like I’m using my baby as a fashion accessory. “What are you wearing to the party?” “Oh, jeans, a cute top, my baby.” But, poor word choice aside, I still get a lot out of “wearing” my baby.
Babywearing and Attachment Parenting
For a lot of people, babywearing is part of a parenting philosophy rather than a practical choice. Philosophical babywearing is generally associated with a style of child-rearing known as attachment parenting. Popularized by Dr. William Sears, attachment parenting has several fundamental concepts, and one of these is babywearing.
Sears cites several advantages to babywearing:
- It reduces crying and colic
- It increases learning (because the baby is less fussy and thus more alert)
- It promotes parent-child bonding
- It makes life easier for parents
- It allows for “breastfeeding on the go”
For these benefits and others, many parents choose to babywear.
Babywearing and the Practical Parent
Personally, I don’t utilize any one “parenting style.” I have some ideas about parenting, of course, and then I also consider my kids’ temperaments, situations, and so on. So for me, babywearing wasn’t about practicing attachment parenting. Instead, it was about convenience.
My second child is 4.5 years younger than my first. Although I was content to sit around all day holding my baby, it wasn’t an ideal situation for my son. Tired or not, I had to get out and about with him. And, I tended to need my hands free. So…out came the baby carriers. I used quite a few. One was a wrap style carrier that kept my infant daughter tight against my body. We called it the magic carrier because she literally never fussed in that thing. If she was cranky, I wrapped her up and we were good to go.
I also used a tie on mei-tai carrier, which folded up small enough to toss in the diaper bag. I used a sling once or twice, but my little one preferred the other kinds of carriers.
In any case, once I mastered using the carriers, errands and time with my son became a lot easier. As an infant, my daughter didn’t love the stroller, but she would hang out in one of my carriers indefinitely. With my hands free, I could grocery shop, work around the yard, prepare meals, and build Lego creations with my oldest.
Toddlerwearing
My daughter is now almost 2, and I still use my mei-tai. It was a life saver this winter when the snow was too deep to navigate with the stroller. I still had to walk my oldest to the bus stop, so I put my daughter in a back carry and we trudged off through the snow. I also use the carrier to run errands. She will now ride happily in the stroller…if we are outside. But in a store, I get constant wiggling, reaching, and fussing. If I carry her on my back in my mei-tai, she generally just sucks her thumb and looks around.
Babywearing has no doubt made my life easier. Even if you don’t follow attachment parenting, babywearing can be extremely practical. That’s certainly why I did it—babywearing just made logistic sense. We still use a stroller, of course, and I don’t baby wear just for the sake of doing it. Nonetheless, my mei-tai has gotten a lot of mileage the last two years.
