Traditional baby carrying (baby wraps, “ tonga ” of South America, mei tai, podaegi, African kangas ...) had been existing since immemorial time and in all cultures and this because of simplicity, comfort and ergonomics (the baby keeps a natural position) and of effectiveness of it.
We know today that a new-born is not any more a simple “belly” which shouts, eats and sleeps. Indeed babies, and this since their birth, need many contacts. They need to be touched*.
The more they have stimuli, the more their brain will develop quickly. These reassuring contacts thus give them confidence in what surrounds them and in their own capacities (sensory).
Babycarrying precisely allows this contact. Babies feel warmth, smell, hear voice and heart of their parents and are dangled to the rhythm of their steps. All this reinforces the bond baby/parents and therefore creates a deep attachment. The parents feel themselves much more trustful because they immediately meet the needs for their babies especially in the first months.
This implies many other benefits and advantages.
Babies who are carried accept a quicker answer to their needs so they cry less, fall asleep easier and longer.
Babies who are carried can suckle at pleasure because it becomes easy and discreet for their mum everywhere they go together.
Babycarrying allows the baby to be an active participant in when his parents move.
Babycarrying reduces colic and dysplasy of the hip. Babies who are carried have a solid sense of self-esteem and independence.
To finish babycarrying gives feeling of ease on both sides. Babies can grow happily and parents remained serene.
* “ an infant who wakes up starts to cry only when, after having emitted a short sound to point out himself, he does not perceive any sign of presence on behalf of his parents (Morath, 1977). This need for presence or a sign of presence on behalf of the person who takes care of him expresses more often than the parents cannot include/understand him because nothing worrying seems to surround the infant. But what worries it is silence and loneliness, which is nothing abnormal and of distressing for small nidicoles birds. The infant is not nidicole by nature, as Portmann (1944/69) suggests it, but our company made of him nidicole “cultural” (Peiper, 1950, 1955, 1961). ... The capacity of the infant to continue to sleep deeply in spite strong movements and of a noisy entourage proves the reassuring effect of the changes of position which announce the presence of the person who takes care of him. That explains the behavioural predispositions which watch the small marsupial whose life depended during all the evolution on the species on the presence on his/her mother.”,
Extract of the thesis of doctorate prepared by Dr. Evelin Kirkilionis, University of Freiburg
In connection with the foetus :
“… thus the future human being, this being in, lives in a state of plenitude where all is ensured, all is there, all is with him and in him. it is in a perfect and constant world where all is for him …”
“… for a newborn, it will be necessary for him to acclimatize himself to the life in another world. his body adapts easily […] but the spirit of the foetus, which knew original totality from where it is resulting and of which it is abruptly torn off, its fear (or its revolt “shouts”) of losing its original world …”
“… it is the mother who will found a continuity, a coherence between the two worlds. it can show the way, […] and it is the sensitiveness which will open the doors. The directions indicate a presence. By the mother by skin to skin, the newborn will find the touch, envelopment, the smell, the tastes …”
Extract drawn from the text “the glance of incipient” written by Dr. Marc Pilliot Paediatrician - President from CoFAM (clinic Saint Jean of Roubaix “Friend of babies” label in May 2002)