Babywearing, the age-old tradition of carrying your baby close to you in a wrap, sling, or carrier, has been practiced across cultures for centuries. Modern parents are now rediscovering the benefits of babywearing, making it an essential component in the parenting world. We’ll highlight the many advantages of babywearing, not just for the baby but also for the caregiver. The snuggle is real!
What is Babywearing?
Babywearing is the practice of carrying your baby or toddler close to your body in a wrap, carrier, or sling. An age-old tradition celebrated in cultures around the world for centuries, babywearing offers multiple benefits: It promotes bonding, supports your baby’s healthy development, and makes parenting (a little bit more) convenient. Embracing babywearing can be a game-changer for many new parents and help tiny humans adjust to life outside the womb.
The Benefits of Babywearing
Babywearing is a super convenient way to spend time close to your baby. It promotes bonding, encourages healthy infant development, and can help the whole brand-new parenting thing feel more manageable. Let’s dive in.
1. Carried Babies Cry Less
A classic study published in Pediatrics found that wearing your baby for three hours a day significantly reduced infant crying frequency and duration—43% overall and 54% during evening hours (4 PM to midnight).
Why? Babywearing facilities proximal caregiving, which is associated with lower infant distress levels across all cultures. Proximal caregiving prioritizes physical contact between parent and child, responsiveness to upset, and breastfeeding on demand (all made more convenient when wearing your baby in a carrier).
2. Strengthens Bonds
Babywearing promotes bonding and strengthens a secure attachment between caregivers and their little ones. The physical closeness of babywearing fosters responsive parenting—it’s easier to identify and respond to your baby’s cues, whether they’re hungry, tired, or simply in need of a diaper change.
Bonding and attachment have a lasting impact on your baby: Optimal social, emotional, and cognitive development depends on a secure attachment between an infant and their caregiver.
Safe, stable, and nurturing relationships buffer children against chronic stress and build resilience. Children who were securely attached as infants tend to demonstrate:
- Stronger self-esteem and self-reliance.
- More independence and willingness to try new things.
- Perform better academically.
- Form stronger interpersonal relationships.
- Are less likely to suffer from anxiety and depression.
Infants with a healthy and secure attachment to their primary caregiver grow into adults with higher social intelligence, who have an easier time building and maintaining stable romantic relationships, and who are less likely to struggle with mood disorders like depression and anxiety.
3. Allows for Hands-Free Parenting
Need to get stuff done? Babywearing allows you to keep your baby close and secure while having two free hands. Snuggle with your little one while managing household chores, chasing an older sibling, walking your dog without wrangling a stroller, or meandering through a grocery store.
Maybe one day the laundry will do itself, but until then, #wearallthebabies
4. Facilitates Kangaroo Care
Babywearing facilitates kangaroo care—or skin-to-skin contact between a baby and caregiver—that typically involves placing your minimally dressed baby upright against your bare chest. This method of care, prevalent in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) for premature infants, has gained recognition for its numerous benefits (for you and your baby!).
- Stabilizes heart and breathing rates.
- Regulates body temperature, especially for preterm infants.
- Encourages longer and more regular sleep patterns.
- Reduces infant stress and pain.
- Improves digestion.
- Encourages physical growth and weight gain.
Whether you have a preemie or a full-term baby, babywearing and kangaroo care are simple yet powerful practices that nurture you and your little one.
5. Promotes Breastfeeding
Babywearing and breastfeeding naturally complement one another. Wearing your baby every day can positively (and substantially) impact nursing and help you achieve your breastfeeding goals:
- Research has demonstrated that babywearing can help nursing mothers significantly improve breastfeeding outcomes at six months postpartum.
- Skin-to-skin contact increases oxytocin and prolactin levels, the hormones that establish and maintain your milk supply.
- Babies have subtle ways of indicating hunger, from smacking their lips, rooting, or becoming progressively more alert. With your baby close in a carrier, you can quickly identify these cues and nurse before your baby starts showing more obvious signs of hunger, like fussing or crying.
- If nursing in public is a concern, carriers can afford discretion and privacy (and keep your baby from getting distracted!).
Remember, if you nurse in a baby carrier, return your baby to an upright position once they’re done feeding, and ensure their chin isn’t tiling down to their chest.
6. Reduces Symptoms of Colic and Reflux
Colic and reflux are common concerns of new parents, often causing considerable distress and sleepless nights for the whole family. While babywearing won’t cure colic or reflux, it can be an excellent tool for managing their symptoms.
Babies with reflux often benefit from being held upright—gravity will help keep your baby’s stomach contents from traveling back into the esophagus. The slight pressure on your little one’s tummy also helps with burping (trapped air can exacerbate discomfort).
The gentle motion of walking or swaying while using a carrier will also calm your colicky baby and prevent overstimulation. And the close physical contact fosters a sense of security, which might help reduce your baby’s stress and discomfort during a colicky episode.
7. Improves Maternal Health
Studies demonstrate that using a baby carrier daily can effectively reduce symptoms of mild postpartum depression and stress. Why? A few factors contribute to an improved maternal mood through babywearing:
- Skin-to-skin contact causes the release of oxytocin, or the “love” hormone. This feel-good hormone promotes positive feelings and encourages bonding with your baby.
- Carried babies sleep more, and duration of infant sleep has a profound impact on maternal mood. In the world’s most unsurprising news, when babies sleep more, mothers report higher levels of happiness and lower levels of stress and anxiety.
- Babywearing is a relatively low-effort way to comfort and bond with your baby—and you get to do it passively. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and over tired, babywearing allows you to be a snuggly safe haven without exertion or anxiety.
- Resuming “normal” activities with a newborn can be tough. Babywearing makes it easy to participate in those daily chores or hobbies you enjoyed before becoming a parent.
8. Helps Prevent “Flat-Head” Syndrome
Frequently worn babies are at a lower risk for positional plagiocephaly, or “Flat-Head” syndrome. Positional plagiocephaly occurs when an infant’s head becomes flattened on one side due to prolonged pressure. It typically happens when babies spend an extended period lying on a firm, flat surface, like a crib or bassinet. A baby’s skull is soft and more malleable than an adult’s, and consistent pressure on one area can lead to a noticeable flat spot.
Babywearing affords a variety of nap positions, limits pressure on the back of your baby’s head, and reduces time spent napping in the crib or bassinet.
But remember, always follow the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) safe sleep policy when your baby is napping outside of your carrier:
- Always put your baby down on their back for sleep, both at nap times and overnight.
- Use a firm, flat surface that meets Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) guidelines (any crib, portable crib, bassinet, or play yard on the market in the US adheres to these guidelines).
- Room share with your baby for the first six months.
- Keep soft objects, loose bedding, and crib bumpers out of your baby’s sleep environment.
Babywearing is more than just a trendy parenting tool. Its benefits are deeply rooted in biology, psychology, and (most importantly?) sheer convenience. Whether you’re a new or veteran parent, consider babywearing as an investment in your little one’s well-being and your own peace of mind.
Finding What’s Right for You
Albee Baby is the oldest family-owned specialty baby shop in the US, and we pride ourselves on providing our customers with the best assortment of baby products anywhere, at fair prices, always. We’re committed to being an inclusive resource for parents and hope you feel empowered to find the right baby gear for your family. Still have questions? Feel free to contact our baby gear experts at 877.692.5233 or [email protected].