There is so much out there that you 'need' to buy for your new baby... or do you? Here are three articles which take a look into three important ways we provide for our babies - how we carry them, where they sleep and (the often over looked importance of) the feet. Find out what you really need and why, this information can help you make an informed decision when shopping. Most importantly, taking a look at what is the most respectful approach to meeting your babies biological needs.
Slings: An Essential Piece of Newborn Kit
What to Look For When Buying a Sling For Your Baby and You
You... you need a sling that will support your back! Not only do you need good comfortable shoulder straps, but a support strap for the hips. Having both shoulder and lumbar support gives better weight distribution. There are several different designs and variations on the market; Wraps, Mei Tai’s, Pouches and Ring Slings, while some designs might base all the weight on one shoulder they can be useful for short stints in the kitchen for the stronger backed person. There is something for everyone, for any purpose, so it is worth visiting a sling meet or sling library to get fitted up. With a well-fitting sling your baby will not be heavy or uncomfortable to wear – at any age. As your baby grows in weight your strength grows too. If the thought seems daunting at first, remember that you have been carrying around your growing baby for 9 months and at birth have just lost about 3.5lbs (average weight of placenta and amniotic fluid) of what you were carrying. Baby... understand how your baby should sit. Your baby should sit in what is called a 'frog leg position'. The legs are drawn up at the knee, hips are open at about 160˚ and the spine is curved (in the foetal position), this is basically how a baby will naturally sit on an adult’s hip when held. Therefore, the seat of a sling needs to go knee to knee, your baby facing you heart to heart allowing for the back to curve correctly and giving full support to the little limbs. …getting all the touch you can. Being able to have body contact with your baby while she’s in the sling (especially when skin-to-skin is required) therefore slings that have something in between you and your baby such as a harness are only doing half the job. ...the right way around please. It is not advisable to wear babies facing forward on your front or facing outward on the back. These positions do not support the baby’s centre of gravity, spinal development, eye-to-eye contact, comfort of parental smell, and offer no retreat from the stimulation of the ‘new world’ and the rapid information the brain will be downloading. The Benefits Your Baby Gets From Being Carried Being carried is one of the most basic needs of a baby… for your child it is as basic as eating, sleeping and defecating. By meeting this basic need you are also honouring the ‘exterogestation period’ (extero - Latin, exterior, outside; gestatio -Latin, to bear or to carry) of a further 9 months, therefore the full gestation period for a human baby sits at about 18 months long. Most other mammals give birth to their babies when the baby’s brain is 50% of its adult size, and the newborn is able to get up, or get around on its own soon after birth. The human baby is born with 25% of its adult brain size, by the time it has grown to 50% the infant will start crawling – this happens at about 9 months after birth. By the time the human infant is 1 year old it will have 60% of its brain, and 80% by the age of 2 years old. It is thought that the reason for this ‘premature’ point of birth with regards to the full gestation period is down to the fact that about 1.8 million years ago our human ancestors started walking on 2 feet and with that huge change the pelvis narrowed. The combination of this narrowing and the large size of the human head is what determine the point of birth, when it is physically possible. However, a baby’s development also requires that the remaining 9 months of gestation on the outside of the uterus will happen keeping the same conditions as the first half. That is to say; touch and warmth of the mother’s body, movement of the mother’s body, smell and taste of the mother’s body, sound of the mother’s heart, breath and body. “No mammal on this planet, except the human mammal, separates the newborn from its mother at birth and during the crucial and formative postnatal period of brain-behavioral development“ James W. Prescott PhD Brain Development A great deal of research connects movement with brain development. In the first year of life, your baby’s brain will more than double in size. One of the key areas of the brain that grows in this period is that of ‘emotional and social behaviour’. The movement that your baby gets from being carried in the exterogestation period is what stimulates neural circuitry to grow and develop in the cerebellum of the brain. The movement that your baby gets from being carried in the exterogestation period is the key to preventing ‘emotional and social behavioural’ abnormalities that occur when mother and baby are physically separated. Without this body movement babies risk the lack of such development, the brain pathways that modulate pleasure being improperly or incompletely developed. "There are good reasons why infants and children seek to be carried on the body of their mothers and fathers and love to be rocked to sleep." Lothar Wolff (Executive Producer), Rock A Bye Baby, A Time Life Documentary (1970) Decreases Crying Crying is the one and only tool a baby has to communicate that a need is not being met. When a baby is carried, they are having one of their most basic needs met, therefore there is no need to cry for want of touch, warmth or movement. Due to the close proximity, the carrier is there to meet other needs and this develops a sense of trust, security and contentment. "The increased carrying reduces crying behaviour but promotes proximity so that crying is less necessary." Urs A. Hunziker, MD, and Ronald G. Barr, MDCM, FRCP(C), Increased Carrying Reduces Infant Crying Temperature Control It is very important to keep your baby’s temperature at a normal 36C to 37C. The easiest way to do this (especially in the winter) is to carry your baby; a baby that is carried will always be at the correct temperature. Research has shown that a mother’s own body temperature will adjust within minutes to keep the baby at the correct temperature. The Vestibular System Elements of pressure, touch, motion, warmth, sound and the position that a baby gets from being carried give all the right stimulation needed for the vestibular system to develop fully – so what does the vestibular system do? “The vestibular system in the brain does more than just allow us to stand upright, maintain balance and move through space. It coordinates information from the vestibular organs in the inner ear, the eyes, muscles and joints, fingertips and palms of the hands, pressors on the soles of the feet, jaw, and gravity receptors on the skin and adjusts heart rate and blood pressure, muscle tone, limb position, immune responses, arousal and balance.” www.braintraining.com/vestibular.htm Stress Hormones Separation (from the primary caregiver) can cause a baby to have high levels of the stress hormone cortisol and adrenaline circulating through its body. These elements racing around a very small system will cause high blood pressure, raised heart rate and over-stimulation, which can have to following effects; crying, arching the back and vomiting. A staple diet of these stress hormones can upset brain growth and can lead to ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and depression later in life. Studies have shown that if separated after birth, babies will recover almost immediately when they are reunited with their mothers. Their heart rate, breathing and temperature returns to normal and stress hormones return to acceptable levels. Mothering Hormones The close physical contact of touch and movement also has benefits for you the carrier, by releasing oxytocin and prolactin hormones into your system. Carrying produces the wonderful oxytocin, ‘love hormone’, this hormone promotes nurturing, breastfeeding, bonding and reduces depression and psychosomatic illness in the mother. Carrying increases levels of prolactin in the female body to help with milk production. Physical Growth Not only does body touch and movement stimulate brain growth, but body growth too. Being a part of a moving unit develops a baby’s balance and movement, and they will also develop muscle tone, trunk and head control faster than if they were not on a moving body. Touch and movement stimulates the tactile receptors in the skin, promotes respiration, aids digestion and increases cardiac output, which increases circulation. Body movement and touch is especially important for premature and low birth-weight babies. Carrying such small babies has many benefits, including improved feeding, better vestibular systems, faster weight gain and physical responses. “Touch, it turns out, is as necessary to normal infant development as food and oxygen. Mother opens her arms to the infant, snuggles him, and a host of psychobiological processes are brought about into harmony.” Richard Restak, Neurologist Seeing Eye to Eye Eye-to-eye contact is important in ANY communication or learning situation. Eye contact is a substantial part of non-verbal communication and vital to infant/parent bonding. The carrier can respond immediately to cues and signals from the baby. The baby can read and learn in situ through the carrier’s eye contact and facial expressions. Improves Social and Linguistic Skills Babies that are carried see the world from the height of the carrier. They have the best seat in the house for learning about daily actions, social interactions, body language, facial expressions, social skills. They can observe and be included while downloading important information, something that one would miss out on sitting at knee level and arms’ length away, often facing in the other direction from the parent. Bonding, Working as a Unit When a bond is formed with a baby, nurturing can really begin. The desire is stronger than words can express to love, care for and protect the baby, day and night, continually. There are several ways for parent and baby to form this bond, starting with overwhelming amounts of hormones in a natural birth, breastfeeding, loving interaction and carrying. Carried babies experience an enhanced degree of bonding with their caregiver – being carried allows the baby to relax, feel warm, safe and cared for. Carrying can be an important tool for bonding for adopting parents, C-section mothers or those unable to breastfeed. Hands Free You can really get on with what you need to do when your baby is strapped on to you. You have both hands free and a quiet satisfied baby. It’s also great for getting around, up stairs, on and off public transport and in and out of shops. Useful Links Kangaroo Mother Care promote baby wearing as one of the primary needs of a baby www.kangaroomothercare.com Nine reasons not to carry you baby forward facing in a sling www.bobafamily.com/blog/2011/10/11/nine-reasons-not-to-carry-your-baby-facing-out/ A short sling safety film - |
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. My writing is a product of research, reading and first-hand experience.