Welcome to the first blog from Rhubarb & Custard. To all those who saw us at the Baby Expo in Cape Town
Many of you reading this might be wondering; ‘Is it a good thing to wear my baby? Will he develop properly like that?’ The answer to these very pertinent questions is unreservedly yes. A huge amount of research has been done, and there have been found to be so many benefits to wearing your baby that it’s going to take me several blog posts to tell you all about it.
Of course, mothers have been wearing their babies for hundreds of thousands of years; probably since humans discovered their opposable thumbs and realised that it would be nice to still be able to use their hands while carrying an infant.
It was not until the late 1970s, however, that modern research into the benefits of baby wearing really started. Dr Edgar Ray Sanabria became concerned about the high rate of neonatal deaths in his home city of Bogota, Columbia. The problem was, that there were not enough incubators for all the premature babies, and the power supply was intermittent, so the few incubators they had were unreliable. Dr Sanabria started the ‘Kangaroo Care’ therapy for premature babies, in which the baby is placed skin to skin with his mother and tied onto her for several hours every day.
He found that the infants experienced more normalised temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate. They gained weight more quickly than their incubated counterparts, and had less chance of infections. More studies revealed that the infants who received kangaroo care had improved cognitive development, lower stress levels, reduced pain response, normalised growth and better motor development. Often, a prem baby in kangaroo care can be released from hospital sooner than an incubated baby.
For an older child, or a healthy, full-term newborn these benefits can be extended by using a pouch sling. But, more about that next time.
