Advantages of carrying a baby:
  Mien mother and child. The Mien live in the border region between Northern Thailand and Laos. (From: Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers)

Introduction
Basic needs...
Being carried fulfils a baby's basic needs; physical contact, safety and security. You can carry your baby in a carrying shawl from birth. In this way, the carrying-shawl-phase or the in-the-arms-phase begins, which lasts for approximately nine months, ending when the baby can crawl and move itself away from and back onto the carer's lap.
The carrying shawl phase means that the child receives as much physical contact as possible (preferably 24 hours) from its mother or other adult carer. People are often worried that in this way a child will become too dependant on its mother. The opposite is actually true. It is the natural impulse for every child to self-develop and to eventually become independent.
A baby instinctively knows what it needs and how to ask for it. The more natural the response to these needs, the sooner the baby dares to venture into the outside world itself.

 
Richly decorated "ba's," each with at least six tiger teeth and many leopard teeth. The edges are decorated with old Dutch coins. A styled human figure is portrayed on every beaded "aban". Such "ba's" are intended for children of the highest social class, the "deta'u". Lepo Tau Kenyah, Kalimantan, Timor, Indonesia. (Lieve Lasten-KitPublishers)
 

We instinctively know that babies want to be carried. When a baby cries we spontaneously pick it up and rock it. Research shows that babies which are often carried feel better than those less often carried. Why is this? After nine months in the womb it is difficult for babies to get used to a quiet and motionless cot. The Dutch midwife Lisette Thooft calls this feeling 'skin hunger'.

In a large part of the world mothers carry their child around with them all day long. Here in the west this is difficult to imagine. We question whether it is good for the back and neck of the baby, but there is an increasing number of women who do decide to carry their babies close to them. Scientific research shows that they are doing this right in more ways than one. Here in western society you often hear the advice "leave the baby to cry for a while". "You'll spoil the baby if you keep on taking it out of its bed, and it'll grow up to be a spoilt child". Therefore many women leave their baby to cry until it falls asleep, with pain in their hearts. In the non-western world the mother carries the baby close to her all day in a carrying shawl (on the back or hip), until the baby learns to crawl and can discover the world itself. The baby feels safe, being so close to its mother and seldom cries.

When you carry the baby so close to you, the child becomes increasingly self secure and independent because it has felt safe and secure from the very beginning. Many people think that a much carried baby will grow up to be a spoilt brat. That is of course untrue, you cannot spoil a baby too much. On the contrary, a baby desperately needs movement, warmth and love.

Advantages of carrying a baby:

Baby-carrying is easy...!
You don't have to lug carrycots or prams around... a carrying shawl is easy to put in a bag.
You get your household chores done easily whilst other mothers complain about how impossible this is. You are not tied to the house for the afternoon sleeps or bottles, you take your baby with you wherever you go. You save a fortune on child minders and baby sitters and have instead a wonderfully happy, satisfied and independent child. Or as Jean Liedhoff suggests "if mothers realised the advantages of baby carrying, not only during the carrying phase but in the following twenty year period that the child lives at home, then parents would decide to carry their baby if only out of pure self interest."

  Carrying basket Kenya, Lang Moh, Baram River, Sarawak, Malaysia, 1975. (Lieve Lasten-KitPublishers)

Social aspects.
Social aspects play an important role when carrying children. A child receives its first impressions of the surrounding world via its mother. In her presence, the child gets to know its new environment. After birth, the child continues to feel its mother's rhythm. Movement is part of the perception world of the child. The mothers scent, voice and warmth are also soothing. Separating mother and child is negative for the child's development. This was made obvious in the twelfth century when Frederik II, king of Germany, king of Sicily and emperor of the Holy State of Rome (1194-1256) conducted an experiment which was reported as follows by his chronicler Salimbene; he wanted to discover which languages and in which way children would talk if they grew up without hearing any spoken language. He therefore gave a number of foster mothers and servants the instructions to feed, bathe and change the children in complete silence. In this way he wished to discover which language the children would begin to speak: Hebrew, the oldest language, Greek, Latin, Arabic or the language of their biological parents. He never found out, as all the children died. They could not survive without being lovingly spoken to and without the affectionate attention of their foster mothers.
(From; Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers)

The carried baby is a part of real life.
The baby is close to the mother, feels all her movements and is automatically rocked when she moves. Older babies can look over the mothers shoulders to see what she is doing. Being carried lays the foundation for later experiences. The baby passively takes part in the actions of the one carrying it and this passive participation is the basis for later active participation, which begins with shuffling, crawling and eventually walking. A baby which spends most of its time lying in a motionless cot or looking up at the sky or the inside of a pram will have missed many essential early experiences. Due to the need of the child to participate in daily life it is also important not only to sit and watch the baby or to keep asking what the baby wants, but that you, on the contrary, lead an active life yourself. It is inspiring and stimulating for a child to play a natural part in our lives...

Physical contact.

It is common knowledge that young children which grow up with a lack of physical contact and affection, experience the negative consequences. The American child psychiatrist Rene A. Spitz, after conducting research in various children's homes, came to the conclusion that young children who spend a lot of time alone and receive little attention from their carers, fall behind in their development. They portray restless, inhibited behaviour. They do not learn to feed themselves properly or to be potty trained.
(From: Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers).

 
The child is carried in a bag made of non-tanned antelope hide, Kameroen, Africa. (Lieve Lasten-KitPublishers)
 		 

Babies need a lot of physical contact. When a child is carried close to the body then this need is fulfilled. Research shows that babies which are frequently carried cry on average 45% less than those who are not. When a baby is carried, both the parents and the baby learn to understand each others signals more quickly. This in turn leads to less crying and the baby learns to trust its own signals. This sets the foundation for healthy self confidence and avoids "taught helplessness", which is stimulated by not reacting, or late(after hesitating) reaction to the first signs of unhappiness and the following crying. By receiving immediate response to its signals the baby learns to trust its parents, which has positive influence on social interaction both in and outside the family.
A frequently carried baby spends less time on negative experiences. This is a healthy foundation for its aspirations in later life. In addition this gives the child more time to learn about the events in the family and in the outside world, from a safe and secure base.
If there are other children in the family then the baby can easily grow into the family from the comfort of its carrier. Having to divide attention between children and sibling rivalry is less frequent because the baby is a natural part of the family from birth.

Movement.
Just how important movement is, alongside attention, is shown by a study carried out by the university of Louisiana (United States). Two orphaned monkeys grew up, one in a cage with a swinging fake mother and one with a motionless fake mother. After ten months the monkey which had grown up with the swinging mother portrayed normal behaviour, and in contrast the other monkey was shy and scared.
(From: Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers).
  Carrying bag, East Anatolia. (Lieve Lasten-KitPublishers).

Newborn babies are not complete after nine months inside the belly, they need another nine months on the belly. Here the baby hears the heart beat, the breathing and the mothers voice. It feels her body heat and moves with her. The child feels safe and secure.

The babies recognise the situation and this has everything to do with the organ of equilibrium.
We use this to move left and right, up and down, forwards and backwards. This system is found behind the ear-drum. Babies which are carried move in all directions. The mother keeps the baby in balance, just as in the womb.
As the baby is almost constantly moving, the organ of equilibrium is constantly stimulated. Babies are born with an especially sensitive organ of equilibrium. They seem to actually anticipate these movements. They can not experience them in a cot.

A frequently carried baby discovers its own limits.
The child learns, from its safe position close to its mother, about all of the mothers actions. It sees her normal daily routine and learns to take part in it with confidence. You do not then constantly feel as if you have to protect the baby but it learns itself what is expected of it and can judge the possible dangers much better. We here in the west have often been taught the opposite: the baby should first be laid apart and alone in the cot, in the pram, in the car seat, so that when it begins to crawl we have to constantly follow it and consequently overprotect it….letting go is an art.

Carried babies cry less.
According to paediatricians in Montreal, the carrying of children close to your body has a positive affect on the crying behaviour of babies. In their research, two groups of mothers and babies between four and twelve weeks were compared and it appeared that those children which were frequently carried cried less. According to experts, children which are often carried generally give a contented impression. They are highly alert and show interest in their surroundings.
When awake, they absorb the environment in which the mother performs her daily routine. Their senses are stimulated because they are constantly given the chance to see, feel, smell, hear and taste.
(From: Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers)

Ninety nine mothers carried their baby for an extra three hours a day and another group put their child in the cot to listen to a mobile. At the moment when babies are expected to cry the most, at six weeks, the carried babies cried 43% less in the daytime and 51% less at night. The carried babies in a Canadian study did not sleep moor than the rest but were calmer. By carrying a baby we stimulate the sense of touch and the organ of equilibrium. Babies which are carried often have a head start over babies which lie constantly in a cot.

A carrying shawl can also be used to help babies which cry a lot. Even if your baby keeps crying it is comforted by being in a carrying shawl, can hear reassuring noises such as your heartbeat and voice and is rocked by the movement of the person carrying it. Overstretching, which occurs when the baby stretches out completely with a hollow back, is a sign of stress. This occurs in newborn and young babies and can be worsened if the baby has to lie flat. The foetal position can often help. (Adults also often sleep in the foetal position.) Vertical carrying is not advised in this case (with exception of the so-called kangaroo method, when well supported). Overstretching can be prevented by using a carrying shawl.

Research shows that babies which are carried for more than four hours a day cry less than babies which are carried for less than two hours a day. Carrying therefore decreases the time spent crying. This is due to the fact that a baby usually cries for the following reasons:

  1. an urgent need is not fulfilled, for example the baby feels the need for physical contact, breast feeding, a clean nappy, etc. In this case, the mother who follows her intuition/feeling will easily respond to these needs. A baby which is continuously put back in its cot says, by crying: I want to be in your arms! In contrast, a baby in a carrying shawl learns to express its need to its ever present mother or father through non-crying body language.
  2. the baby experiences a feeling of insecurity and tension because it cannot place what is happening around it., Just imagine: a child in a buggy in a busy street sits facing forwards, strapped in so that it cannot turn around to see the reassuring face of its mother. The child is overwhelmed by colours and forms, by noise, by car fumes, by countless impressions which invade its unprotected senses without it consciously being able to screen off, digest or arrange the information. An excess of experience streams into the child's soul, but these are snatches, fragments, shocking things, which only create confusion. In the evening, the child needs more than a good fit of crying to unload.
    Imagine this: the same busy street, the child is sitting in the carrying shawl, safely against the familiar body of its mother. The child experiences the rocking rhythm of the walking mother, the warmth of her body, her scent, her voice. This security acts as a sort of buffer between the child and the busy sea of sensory impressions in the outside world. The child can look around with curiosity but can also retreat back into the carrying shawl. In this way it can absorb many impressions and experiences which can be digested from a safe position.
  3. the baby cannot use up its own excess energy. This is another essential function of the baby carrier: giving the baby a way to exert its own excess energy until it is able to do so itself. In the months preceding crawling and walking, whereby the baby expends its own excess energy, it stores up energy from food and light. This gives the baby an unpleasant build up of muscular energy and it cries, kicks and stamps to free itself of this feeling. The baby therefore needs constant contact with the energy field of an active person, who, through their activities, is able to discharge the unused energy of themselves and the baby. This explains why the carrying shawl baby is so remarkably relaxed and cries so little, because it does not have to wrestle with an unpleasant build up of energy. In other words: you can quickly calm a busy baby down by running, jumping, dancing or whatever, as long as in doing so you use up your own excess energy. The more activity the better!

 
Woman in Tadzijkistan working with child on her back. The bottom part of her top is wrapped around the child and the ends tied together on her chest. (From: Lieve Lasten-KitPublishers)
 		 

Carried babies learn better.
Children learn by making connections. A baby which is not carried but which is, in its buggy, overwhelmed by impressions which it cannot place and which constantly feels insecure with the situation, learns a lot less and instead needs a heavy burst of crying to unload. In contrast, a baby which is carried finds itself in a state of safety and calm alertness. This is precisely the state in which a baby is at its most receptive for learning and interaction with its surroundings. Therefore carrying is one of the bests ways to stimulate a baby's natural intelligence.

Carried babies develop better motor activity.
They are also advanced in their speech development. This is because speech development is closely related to motor development and the sense of balance, both are stimulated to the maximum in the carrying shawl.

Sitting in a carrying shawl is especially beneficial for the development of the hips and legs. From an orthopaedic point of view this can sometimes even replace the need for leg braces.

A child also sees the world from an adults perspective. It doesn't constantly have to look up to taller people but is at eye level with its mother and other carers. This makes contact more equal and enhances the child's self esteem.

Ideal for the relation between father and child.
The baby carrier is also an ideal opportunity for fathers which are often out of the house ( who are above all not intended by nature to give breast feeding) to get to know their child better and to develop a strong inner bond.
It is not always easy for a father to build up a bond in the first three months. The child then has intense contact with the mother. Carrying the child gives the father the chance to enjoy things together with his baby.
  Woman Blackfoot with child. (T.J.Hileman,1925)

When the baby is also carried by the father it is not either better or worse for the baby, but it is different: a different walking pace, a different heartbeat, a deeper voice, the security of a completely different person. The baby enjoys this new way of being stimulated, just as the father undoubtedly enjoys this way of making contact with his child.

Potty training.
Another aspect of childcare which is directly connected to carrying children is potty training. Here again, the climate is important.
In warm climates, where a child is carried against its mother without a nappy, the mother feels slight, restless movements when the child needs to defecate. In colder climates people sometimes lay a layer of dried moss or pulverized cedar bark in the cradle. These layers are frequently replaced so that the child stays more or less dry. In some cradles in Afghanistan there is a hole in the mattress and in the bottom of the cradle. A device in the form of a pipe is strapped against the child's body during defecation and transports the faeces through the hole in the cradle. Boys have a pipe with a round end and girls have a pipe with a oval end.
(From: Lieve Lasten-Kit Publishers)

This all seems very primitive to our society, but there are enough people, even here in Europe, who bring their children up to be potty trained from birth and who do not use nappies. (Read the book "Infant potty training" from Laura Boucke and the book "Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of natural infant hygiene" from Ingrid Bauer). For them carrying their baby is also ideal.

The mother can let go more easily.
A child which is carried during the first nine months of its life is such a contented, independent child, with such a secure base, that it can easily let go of you. Raising the child in a natural way can also help the mother to gradually let go of her child more easily. A mother who follows her natural instincts to the full and who acts on them, for example by 24 hour contact and breast feeding, a mother who has experienced motherhood to the full, will, when the baby reaches crawling age, be able to let go of it and enjoy the independent being which it is becoming.

 
The Ebira-women in Okunchi weave on vertical weaving looms, West Nigeria, 1922 (Lieve Lasten-KitPublishers)
 		 

Carrying, a natural process.
Carrying is a natural process which is gradually reduced in time.
The amount of carrying needed reduces as the baby grows older and develops new motor skills. Once babies can crawl they will want to be carried less. From the moment that a baby learns to crawl the mother takes a back seat: you take as little initiative possible with a crawling baby but you stay constantly available. If the child falls, for example, it will go to its mother to be comforted, which she does unconditionally, until the toddler happily resumes its explorations. In this way, the baby plays an active role in the relationship. It reports to you when it is tired, hungry or needs attention. The need to be carried changes into the need to crawl. The carrying shawl has become a comforting place to rest in.

The need of older babies and toddlers to be carried, even from the age of three, is often still strong. This is not only because they are tired of walking but also due to the fact that even toddlers feel the need for physical contact. With a baby carrier, for example a carrying shawl, the task of caring for your child is made lighter. Overexertion is uncommon when a child is frequently carried, the parent's muscular system adjusts as the child gets heavier.

© Copyright Jacqueline Jimmink and BambiGioi