Hestlings Hemp Organic Sling Carrier

I’m not a huge fan of strollers, especially for newborns. I prefer the idea of wearing your baby until he/she is big enough to walk to encourage bonding. Babywearing comes in many forms, from wearing a cotton (preferably organic) sling to strappy number such as the Baby Bjorn. It really depends on personal preference: Blake’s not comfortable with the sling style because he thinks it puts the baby at risk of suffocating, which is understandable. Whichever style we go with though, it’s important to buy only organic fabrics for the newborn for both environmental and respiratory reasons. The chemicals in non-organic fabrics, such as the hefty amount of pesticides, insecticides, fungicides, and synthetic fertilizers used in production, damage the environment and are toxic for a baby to breathe.

Benefits of babywearing:

Baby Bjorn Active Organic Baby Carrier

• Mothers’ progesterone (mothering hormone) is increased through physical contact with the infant, leading to a more intimate maternal bond, easier breastfeeding and better care. Thus lowering incidence of postpartum depression and psychosomatic illness.
• Infants who are carried are calmer – all their primal/survival needs are met: caregiver can be seen, heard, smelled, touched, tasted, fed (breastfeeding mother) and motion necessary for continuing neural development, gastrointestinal and respiratory health and to establish balance (inner ear development) and muscle tone, is constant.
• Infants IQ and brain mass are measurably greater. When primal needs are met, babies spend more time in a quiet state of attentive alertness, ideal for learning – rather than in a panicked survival mode.
• Infants are more organized; parental rhythms (walking, heartbeat, etc.) have balancing and soothing effects on infants.
• Infants are “humanized” earlier by developing socially; babies are closer to people and can study facial expressions, learn languages faster and be familiar with body language. {Very important for any spawn of ours because those who know us know we may not be the most natural of people-people.}
• Developmental milestones such as learning to walk, talk and toilet train are reached earlier.
• Contrary to western cultural myths, independence is established earlier.
• Aggression is diminished.
• From: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babywearing]

There are many types of eco-friendly babywearers on the market that are around $100, but I think my favorite is the Baby Bjorn Organic ($99) because it is guaranteed free of any hazardous substances.

I’ll get more into strollers in another post. 🙂