Baby carrying answers a physiological need all babies have: proximity and emotional security. Children who are carried sleep better, cry a lot less and have less colic. By meeting the baby’s essential need to be carried, we instil a certain confidence in life. Feeling worried and insecure is one of the main reasons babies cry. They need to feel the presence of others. You are allowing your child to turn from his primary universe, his mother, towards vast and complex surroundings without leaving your security. Having baby against mother’s body allows for better communication of his needs. Being satisfied quicker means no need for crying.

A study published in Pediatrics in 1986 confirms these findings. Among the hundreds of children studied, carrying reduced crying and agitation by 43% during the day and 51% during the night. Baby’s sleep in the carrier is quite noteworthy. Rocked by the wearer’s movement, children can sleep without being disturbed despite a flurry of activity around them.

For children, being carried also means participating in mom and dad’s active social life. They encounter numerous images, sounds and smells by being involved in different sorts of activities all the while being comforted by close parent contact. Instead of being left in a chair or on a playmat, which quickly become boring, baby benefits from the best way of discovering his environment as well as a wonderful awakening of the senses. Active participation helps development and builds self-esteem. Stimuli are essential to a child’s development. Inside the carrier, baby experiences a parent’s skin, voice and smell; he is rocked by the movement of their body, and has a good perception of his environment. How can one still doubt that baby carrying is the best option for their child?

The baby must be positioned with legs spread apart and knees higher than the bottom, his pelvis tilted forward in a frog-like position. In order to achieve this, you can gently lift the knees and the feet upward and slide the wrap underneath the knees. If the child is positioned correctly, there is no need to cover the head. With proper pelvic support, even a newborn can be stimulated so that the neck and shoulder muscles are strengthened. In this case, you can simply cover the head up to the ears. This position results in the proper alignment of the vertebrae and preserves the back’s natural curvature. It also helps with the harmonious development of the pelvis and the hips. By appropriately distributing pressure points under the knees, you avoid putting too much pressure on the groin and the genitals. You also promote better blood circulation in the legs. Older children in a seated position can have their arms completely out of the wrap. Sitting with legs spread apart prevents hip dysplasia and helps with the healing of such problems.

Several specialists in Germany, where the use of the wrap began in the 1970’s, have studied the therapeutic benefits of baby carrying. They have also found that there are more hip-related problems where the use of strollers is prevalent as opposed to societies where children are carried in a frog-like position for the greater part of the day. Baby carrying, especially on the hip where baby’s hip position is optimal, would therefore be an advantageous alternative to a hip brace.

A new problem has arisen since there have been recommendations to lay babies on their backs in order to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome: a cranial deformation known as plagiocephaly leading to the flattening of the back of the head. The portable car seat is practical because you can let children sleep without always having to take them in and out, but this growing practice does not help to prevent such deformities. Many recommendations have been put forth in order to reduce this problem. For example, changing the position in bed and turning baby onto the stomach while being closely supervised. However, carried babies do not have flat heads. By wearing them as long as possible, they avoid lying with their heads down hours at a time.

Baby wearing has long proven itself in neonatology. It is known as the “kangaroo method”. Globally, the utility of this type of carry is not widely understood but it has very positive effects for children and mothers alike. Close contact with a baby, whether premature or full-term, strengthens the parent-child bond which is particularly important if the baby is receiving medical treatment which can tend to dehumanize the relation he has with his surroundings. There are also several medical benefits. Here are a few examples: a vertical position inside the wrap contributes to muscular development because the body adapts to weight-bearing and is free of pressure points brought on by a lying position. Baby carrying promotes the development of the senses – smell, touch, hearing and vision. Having his hands close to his body means that baby can easily put them in his mouth to taste and to soothe himself.