Attached to You: Babywearing

Now I am not sure if any celebrities are doing it, but I feel like babywearing has really picked up the last 2 1/2 years. When Ruth was born I started wearing her in a baby sling to keep her close to me during the day. I wore her at the grocery store, church, even around the house. I've noticed many more people wearing them now. I wear Marie in the sling even more than I did Ruth, because of the important factor of having two hands free to help the Big Sister while comforting the Little Sister. If I see a pregnant woman watching me as I wear the sling I make a point to stop and let her know the amazing benefits to babywearing.

Here is a full article by Dr. Sears - Babywearing

Here is my summary -
1. Sling babies cry less - "Anthropologists who travel throughout the world studying infant-care practices in other cultures agree that infants in babywearing cultures cry much less. In Western culture we measure a baby's crying in hours, but in other cultures, crying is measured in minutes. We have been led to believe that it is "normal" for babies to cry a lot, but in other cultures this is not accepted as the norm. In these cultures, babies are normally "up" in arms and are put down only to sleep – next to the mother. When the parent must attend to her own needs, the baby is in someone else's arms."

2. Sling babies learn more - "Sling babies spend more time in the state of quiet alertness . This is the behavioral state in which an infant is most content and best able to interact with his environment. It may be called the optimal state of learning for a baby. Researchers have also reported that carried babies show enhanced visual and auditory alertness"

3. Sling babies are more organized - "A newborn has an inherent urge to become organized, to fit into his or her new environment. If left to his own resources, without the regulating presence of the mother, the infant may develop disorganized patterns of behavior: colicky cries, jerky movements, disorganized self-rocking behaviors, anxious thumb sucking, irregular breathing, and disturbed sleep. The infant, who is forced to self-calm, wastes valuable energy he could have used to grow and develop."

4. Sling babies get humanized earlier - "Another reason that babywearing enhances learning is that baby is intimately involved in the caregiver's world. Baby sees what mother or father sees, hears what they hear, and in some ways feels what they feel. Carried babies become more aware of their parents' faces, walking rhythms, and scents. Baby becomes aware of, and learns from, all the subtle facial expressions, body language, voice inflections and tones, breathing patterns, and emotions of the caregiver."

5. Sling babies are smarter - " Environmental experiences stimulate nerves to branch out and connect with other nerves, which helps the brain grow and develop. Babywearing helps the infant's developing brain make the right connections. Because baby is intimately involved in the mother and father's world, she is exposed to, and participates in, the environmental stimuli that mother selects and is protected from those stimuli that bombard or overload her developing nervous system. She so intimately participates in what mother is doing that her developing brain stores a myriad of experiences, called patterns of behavior."

So, know someone who is expecting or has a newborn? Check out this ring sling.

Parents of Invention - Ring Sling

Or how about a sibling that might need a sling so they can imitate mommy

Baby Doll Sling