[this post contains products I was gifted]

I absolutely love wearing my baby. I love the closeness, how when she was tiny it reminded me of pregnancy and how now she’s older it means we can chat to each other and she can see the world. I love how I can keep her close while also being hands free and that wearing her means I don’t need to wrangle a buggy when we’re somewhere busy. Plus there are some really cool slings out there, like this leopard print Amawrap which we were gifted when our daughter was born!

Babywearing isn’t just lovely and convenient, it’s also got some amazing benefits for both babies and parents. As a species humans are adapted to be a carrying species, and being held is essential for baby’s normal physical, psychological and neurological development.

The Fourth Trimester

The fourth trimester is that really special (and really hard) time after birth when everyone is adjusting to their new life as a family. It can be a bit of a blur, overwhelming, hormonal and exhausting, and that’s just for the parents. For babies fresh out of a cosy womb where they’re used to being fed continuously, snoozing when they fancy and being rocked with their mum’s movements being out in the world must blow their minds! Suddenly these little tiny beings need to get used to the sights, sounds and smells of our crazy overwhelming world. It’s no wonder they seem to cry a lot!

One thing that can help the transition from womb to world is babywearing - skin to skin care has benefits for both baby and parent in terms of bonding and attachment. Snuggling up in a sling mimics the womb so baby is cosy and can hear the soothing sound of their parent’s heartbeat. For parents holding baby close can help to stimulate breastmilk production and can also lower incidents of postnatal depression.

What’s really most magical about babywearing in the fourth trimester is that it helps parents respond to their baby’s needs more intuitively and when parents are able to fully respond to their child’s needs their helping them form important neural connections.

Communication & Physical Development

Learning how babies communicate is fascinating, and holding baby close helps parents become more attuned to their baby’s unique gestures and facial expressions so they can learn what baby needs before baby cries. When you meet your baby’s needs they trust you more, their learning is enhanced and they get more confident.

Similarly, when babies are carried they get to know their parent’s movements and actions and this allows them to exercise their vestibular system - the sensory system that’s responsible for providing our brain with information about motion, head position and orientation. In the womb a baby’s vestibular system is constantly stimulated because fetus’ experience almost continuous motion, so it makes sense that babywearing would support the development system too.

A Secure & Confident Child

As babies grow and develop they become more and more aware of their surroundings, but they can also experience a little more overwhelm and anxiety when they’re in new places. It’s not a surprise really, everything is new, loud and much bigger than they are! Babywearing can help take some of the anxiety out of new situations as the baby is nice and close to their parent and hear their heartbeat.

It might sound counter-intuitive, but it’s also been suggested that babies who are carried are more likely to be independent and less clingy. This might be because they felt so safe and secure hanging out in their sling they have fewer worries about the big bad world!

Amawrap were kind enough to gift me the sling features. All opinions however are my own.