Baby Wearing

Everyone,

This morning I was able to take Pirate on an outing. Just me and him. I rarely get to spend time with each kid by themselves that it was a real treat to be with just him. And only have one baby to look after and hold on my lap. I love that.

Someone in my twin group set up a meeting to talk about baby wearing. What is baby wearing? According to wikipedia, baby wearing is "the practice of carrying a baby or a child in a sling or other carrier."

My friend Lolli showed me how to put Butterfly in a sling when she was very young. She discovered it with AJ (who is just 8 days younger than Butterfly) and passed on her knowledge. Butterfly spent probably 60% of her time strapped to me while we were out and about. We used to go on walks every night and she was always in her sling. It made it easy to travel with her. We used to go to Utah a lot more with her and it always made it easy to deal with our bags with my hands free. I think she probably used the sling for the last time when she was almost 3. Juice carried her somewhere...I think we were on a hike.

When I was told we were having twins, one of the things I was excited about was being able to wear one baby in the sling and hold the other. I never thought that I could wear both babies at the same time! I wish I had gotten a picture of me with both the boys in my sling in the front but I didn't.

Still, I was able to carry both babies (one on the front, one on the back) a lot once they got big enough. I don't even have a picture of that anymore because it's in the pictures I lost when my computer crashed.

This morning I went to the meeting to let the other mother's know that it can be done. I even made a friend who has boys just the same age as mine. We're going to have a play date soon. It was fun to see all the different wraps and carriers and slings, and see who prefers what. My favorite is a moby wrap that Lolli made for me special. Juice even has his own sling. We STILL wear the boys all over. Here's a list of all the places we've been with the kids in the wrap.

- blueberry picking
- aquarium
- countless museums downtown
- the beach
- the inauguration
- airplanes
- hiking
- the county fair
- sledding
- the Renaissance Fair
- Philadelphia
- all over really

I never leave home without at least one of the wraps in my bag. The boys are bigger that I don't have to wear them in the wrap a lot but if someone is unhappy, it's easy to put them in the wrap and continue on with our day.

The benefits of baby wearing are many.

• Mothers' progesterone (mothering hormone) is increased through physical contact with the infant, leading to a more intimate maternal bond and easier breastfeeding and better care, thus lowering the incidence of post partum depression.
• Infants who are carried are calmer because all of their primal/survival needs are met. The caregiver can be seen, heard, smelled, touched, tasted, provide feeding and the motion necessary.
• Infants are more organized. Parental rhythms (walking, heartbeat, etc.) have balancing and soothing effects on infants.
• Infants develop socially. Babies are closer to people and can study faces, learn languages faster and be familiar with body language.
• Independence is established earlier.
• Attachment between child and caregiver is more secure.
• Decreases risk of positional "flat head syndrome" caused by extended time spent in a car seat and by sleeping on the back. Sleeping on the back is recommended to decrease the risk of SIDS. Cranial distortion resulting from non-vehicular time in car seats has shown to be more severe than in children who develop plagiocephaly from back-lying on a mattress.

It was fun to talk about all these things with the other twin mommas this morning.

One other things that was really fun this morning was to be alone with Pirate. He is SUCH a boy. He loves cars and the big machines they have out to clear away all the snow. He loves to be near me and pays attention to everything.

We stopped for milkshakes and he loved it. He even made sure I had a taste of his and was so pleased with himself. What a cutie.

Safire