Inuit mother carries her child in an amaarngut, Greenland. (From:Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers)

The origins of the child carrier.
It is not only in the human world that infants are carried. Many animal species carry their young for a short or long period of time. It is one of the most obvious forms of motherly behaviour in many mammals. Why do some carry their new born young with them wherever they go? This is possibly related to the consistency of the mothers milk. Research shows that mammals with low-protein milk feed their young very regularly and with short breaks between feeds. Mammals with high protein milk do the opposite. Rabbits, which have high protein milk, feed their young only once every 24 hours for four or five minutes per feed. The young can survive for long periods without the mother. Primates, including humans, have a low protein mother milk. For this reason they have to feed their young regularly. The feeds last for between ten to thirty minutes. To enable the mother to feed her young so regularly she has to take them with her wherever she goes. A new born monkey, ape or human cannot walk and therefore needs to be carried. Young apes grab onto the fur of the mothers belly and as fifth handhold they use a nipple. Young human children have to travel in a carrier.

In human biological evolution the clutching hand and the fur disappeared. Humans needed to develop a device to enable them to carry their children around in. Carrying the child in the mothers arms was not considered practical because the woman needed her 'hands free' to do the daily chores. Simple carriers made of animal hide or tree bark are therefore some of the very first examples of human material culture.
(From: Lieve lasten-Kit publishers)

Carrying in Western and non-Western countries.
Babies and toddlers have been carried by their parents since the dawn of mankind. Over the world many various types of carrying cloths and devices have been evolved. The form and function of these carriers has been influenced by the culture and climate in the different parts of the world.

The child carrier appears to be a new phenomenon in the west. Child carriers have actually been used in Europe since antiquity. In western Europe people associated carrying shawls with tramps and travelling folk. This does not mean that children were not carried but that people just did not use carriers. In the Sixties, baby carriers started to become more widely used. An increasing number of parents in the west now carry their children in a child carrier. Instead of using a pram they carry their newborn babies close to them on their bodies. The increase in the use of child carriers in western culture is striking. The child carrier obviously fulfils a certain need. More and more people are becoming aware of the benefits of carrying children. It is practical and children thrive on it. In this way, the west is gradually adopting an important element of non-western culture: the child carrier.

Egyptian mourners carry their children at a funeral. (From: Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers).

In non western cultures the various ways of carrying children have been common property for centuries. The child carrier is sometimes an important part of the baby's layette. It can be a status symbol and can contain symbols which are designed for protection or which express a good wish for the child's future.
That child carriers have been used since antiquity is to be seen in scenes from the days of the pharaohs in Egypt. The famous fresco by Giotto in the Arenakappel in Padova dates from the early 14th century. Here can be seen how Maria, sitting on a donkey, carries Jesus in a carrying shawl. There is evidence that the child carrier was used way back in the prehistory of mankind. It was possibly one of the very first necessary devices to be developed by mankind. In the west people have only recently rediscovered the benefits of this method of transport.

Looking back through the history of mankind it becomes obvious that carrying children plays an important role in the development of the human species. Our babies are no "nestlings", our children belong in our arms! For protection, for social interaction, for feeding and for freedom of movement.
(From: Lieve Lasten- Kit Publishers)

People carry children all over the world.
Around the world, from Greenland to Tierra del Fuego, from Siberia to Southern Africa, from Alaska to Australia, babies and young children can be found travelling around with their parents. Everywhere in the world, people have developed their own methods of carrying. The climate and natural environment influence the method of carrying. A Inuit mother does not lie her child in a cot at minus 30 C, it would then freeze to death. She carries her child on her back in an amaarngut made of seal fur. Her own body heat keeps the child warm.

Inuit on the east coast of Greenland. White is an important colour for them. (From: Lieve Lasten-Kit-Publishers).

The child carriers are made of materials found in the local surroundings. In Canada and Siberia, people make a carrying cradle of birch bark lined with soft fur. Further south, where the climate is milder, people make straw carrying baskets, often with a screen above the child's head for protection against the sun. In the tropics the mother carries her child in a airy shawl or sling.
There is much diversity in carrying cradles, baskets and slings. In areas where the winters are cool or cold (with the exception of extremely cold regions), where the temperature in the coldest month is below 10 C, babies spend much of the day and mostly the whole night in a carrying cradle. In areas where the winter is mild, children spend most of the day in a carrying shawl or sling and sleep at night by the mother. (There are also exceptions to this norm).

Different cultures.... Different ways of carrying.
Children are carried in various ways. On the back, on the front, on the hip or in the clothing. Carrying a child on the back is done in various ways: with support from a forehead band, with one strap over one shoulder or with a strap over each shoulder, in a cloth over the shoulders tied on the front, in a cloth over one shoulder and under the other tied on the front or in a cloth which is tied under the arms on the front. If the mother carries the child on the hip then she usually uses a cloth or sling. When the child is carried in the clothing, then the item of clothing is fitted with an extra wide back, hood or pleat in which the child finds a cosy place.
(From:Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers).

Working and carrying.

	Sao Bin, Yunnan province. A Bai couple is on the way to market in Sao Bin. The man carries the child on his back, the woman carries the basket of goods. (From:Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers)

In most cultures where carrying children is part of the daily routine, the child is laid in a carrying cradle or in a cloth tied onto the mothers body when she resumes her work. The carrying cradles are usually hung in a tree or laid to rest against something while the mother is working. Children which are carried in shawls stay with the mother during her work. During breaks she will put the child on her lap or lay it next to her on the ground. As long as the child is dependant on the mother it stays in her close proximity. The time spent in the carrying cloth decreases in the course of the child's first year. The American researcher Chrisholm discovered that the children of the Navajo in North America spend on average sixteen hours per day in the carrying cradle in the first three months. Around the time of the first birthday, the average was nine hours. As children grow older and sometimes have to make way for new babies, the grandmother or older sisters often take over the care and carrying of the child.

In contrast, in the west, children are mainly carried in the mothers spare time, on the way to the crèche or whilst shopping. A child is seldom carried during household chores and a women carrying her child in a shawl whilst teaching or working behind a computer is a totally unheard of phenomenon.
(From: Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers)

Young woman with child in a tsompirontsi with decorative bones. (from:Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers)

Who carries the children?
There are few statistics on this subject. Neither is there actual information about the distances covered. One of the few investigations on this subject was done by Woodrow W. Denham. He researched the carrying of children by the Alyawara, a tribe in central Australia, who still live partly as hunter/gatherers. Of the 510 cases in which children were carried, in 507 cases it was by a woman or girl. From the age of five, girls begin carrying younger children.. Remarkable is that the very youngest are carried by the mother in a wooden carrier on her hip. Older toddlers are carried on the hip, on the shoulders or on the back. The carrying is done mainly on the long treks to find food.
(From; Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers)

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