October is World Babywearing Awareness Month

Yesterday, October 8, 2012, marked the first day of International Babywearing Week, a campaign that aims to “celebrate, promote and advocate the many benefits of babywearing. [It] is also an occasion to focus media attention to this beautiful and beneficial practice.” The whole month of October, in fact, has been deemed World Babywearing Awareness Month.

In an article published on PRWeb.com, Ann Marie Rodgerson, the president of Babywearing International Inc., explains the theme behind this year’s International Babywearing Week, “Carrying On Traditions:”

 “It’s a chance to look at traditional methods of carrying children, and look at the new traditions we are creating in our own families… Anthropologists have posited that a baby sling was one of the first tools developed by early humans to care for children while hunting and gathering. There is a long history of babywearing around the world, but in modern societies it is seeing a renaissance as parents see the convenience and comfort babywearing brings.”

In the Philippines, the Filipino Association of Babywearers (or, simply, F.A.B.) was created last year to help promote babywearing and encourage families to support the babywearing lifestyle. The women who founded it, Buding Aquino-Dee, Jen Tan, Jenny Ong and Eliza Santiago-Ypon, also happen to be active breastfeeding advocates and are certified breastfeeding peer counselors under L.A.T.C.H.

What is Babywearing?
Babywearing,  defined as “the practice of wearing or carrying a baby or child in a sling or other form of baby carrier,” has actually been practised around the world for hundreds of years. Although some people may think that babywearing is a “new fad,” this is actually not the case.

I actually realized this when our family and I visited places like Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, and I would get these questioning looks when people would see our toddler in the ring sling we used. It seems that there is a need to explain this practice and the benefits it gives, especially in the more developed countries of Southeast Asia.

[previous|page|next]

The Benefits of Babywearing
It has been proven that babies who are worn cry less, are able to learn more, experience less colic, and are easier sleepers.

In fact, studies done by American paediatricians John Kennel, Marshall and Phyllis Klaus, who wrote the book Bonding: Building The Foundations Of Secure Attachment And Independence, show that “even three hours per day of babywearing reduces infant crying significantly, and at 13 months, babies who have been in soft carriers regularly are significantly more likely to be securely attached than babies who are carried in hard carriers.”

So why NOT try babywearing? Just like me (and my husband — YES, babywearing is for dads too!), you’ll personally discover how convenient and advantageous it is, not just for Baby, but for the whole family.

The Different Ways to Wear Your Baby
There are many ways to wear your baby. Here are the more favored choices:

1. Ring Slings
A ring sling is made up of a long piece of fabric with two rings (the material of which is usually either nylon or metal) firmly sewn on one end. The other end of the fabric, known as the “tail,” is threaded through the rings, making the inner fabric like a “pouch” for Baby. The tail is adjusted to change the size of the pouch, depending on the size of the wearer and the baby.

I was not able to wear our first child much, but with our second, she was in the ring sling one month after she was born. Personally, I like the adjustability of the ring sling, which means it can fit wearers of different sizes, like my husband, who is a bit beefy in size. Also, the tail doubled nicely as a nursing cover when I needed to breastfeed our baby-now-turned-three-year-old. (We have just recently weaned her as I am currently pregnant with our third child.)

2. Baby Pouch Slings
Baby pouch slings, also known as baby pouches or tube slings, are made up of a simple length of fabric shaped like a tube, which is folded in such a way as to form a pocket or pouch for the baby’s bottom.
 
The advantage of baby pouches is that they are the simplest to use — because they have no rings or buckles, you just slip Baby in and off you go. I was able to purchase one baby pouch locally last year, and it was much easier to use with our then-two-year-old.

3. Baby Wrap Carriers
These kind of carriers consist of long narrow pieces of fabric that are used by wrapping the entire piece of fabric around the baby’s and the babywearer’s bodies, securing the baby by tying up the ends without any special fasteners like rings, buckles or snaps.

The fabric can be wrapped around the wearer’s body in many different ways and used in many different positions. What is good about the wrap is, it can fit all sizes of Baby and wearer alike. Some people have even used the Baby Wrap Carrier to carry baby twins at the same time, using only one Wrap.

There are numerous other types of carriers available out there, and although most can be quite pricey, they are good investments in the long run. Locally, the more well-known babywearing brands available are Next9, SaYa, Indigo Baby, Bailey Wrap, Tickled Moms and Eden’s Ruxpin. All of these brands are proudly mompreneur-owned.

[previous|page|next]

Babywearing: A Family Affair
Babywearing is a great way for Baby to bond, not just with Mommy, but with Daddy as well! In fact, more and more husbands are joining their wives in the babywearing trend.

One such husband is Indonesian Paulus Wanandi, who shared his babywearing story on The Babywearer.com. Paulus found out about babywearing as a “great way for fathers to bond with their babies” from The Baby Book by William and Martha Sears.

After trying out babywearing when his son was merely a day old, Paulus became “a converted babywearer,” and testifies that babywearing not only “promotes bonding,” but also is “practical, convenient and safe.” He also shared about how babywearing had enhanced his relationship with his wife, and how it helped him feel “empowered” as a father. With that in mind, it is no wonder then that even celebrity dads like Brad Pitt have taken to wearing their little ones!

In the Philippines, one need only to look at the F.A.B. community page on Facebook to see that babywearing is truly for both moms and dads (and perhaps, sometimes, even Lolo and Lola, too)! Indeed, worn babies don’t just equate to happier babies, but happier mummies AND daddies as well!

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babywearing
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/babywearingweek/prweb9961910.htm
http://www.wrapyourbaby.com/kinds.htm
http://www.quirkybaby.com/all-about-babywearing.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_sling

Photo from babyslingsandcarriers.com