23/08/2017
Baby Wearing The fourth trimester of Pregnancy.
The first period with a newborn baby is time of extreme changes in the parents life.
It is associated with an individual prehistory, bodily exhaustion & many major & minor surprises, moments of joy & worries.....
It is also a precious time when everyone is getting to know each other.......
A precious time that goes too fast......
“Parents carry their children – and give them a foothold in life” Ulrike Höwer
About Carrying & Being Carried
Carrying:
Is affectionate body contact & promotes healthy development of the child
Makes everyday life easier for parents & gives their child security
Fits the nature of a human baby & is the basis for satisfying his physical & mental requirements
Is more than a technique, it is also a positive sign for a life with children
Why do we carry our children?
This can be answered in one sentence........
Because it meets a childs requirements for continuous nearness & bodily contact
We then ask ourselves whether this is a basic requirement or whether we just want to spoil our children due to an ultra-maternal instinct.......
Babies are most satisfied when they experience bodily contact & movement
The fourth trimester of pregnancy : inside but outside.....
Being carried, feeling bodily contact is a basic requirement of our children because they are naturally carried children...
It’s as simple as that, but also as difficult, because we have great difficulties finding nearness once again,
& living it after all those years of propaganda preaching infant care at a distance.
It’s about time we started taking our childrens basic requirements seriously again!
Children cannot do anything else apart from having these requirements ..... It’s part of their nature!
We are more likely to have success working with nature than working against it!
To be moved & to be moving
Bodily contact & movement are messages delivered by security & nearness.
No child can develop normally without them.
Children just flourish better through bodily contact & movement
The child feels completely secure & accepted, all his senses are being stimulated.
“Infants take all their knowledge from their everyday life without their parents having to act as teachers, to do this they need love, security, peace & well-being, dialog & play, suitable nutrition...... Because babies live in a sensory world. (Geo series “better learnine” part 3 issue 12/2004)
Children want to be cradled, rocked & touched! It quietens them & stimulates them.
They are more even-tempered & happier, & additionally, they have a little more self-confidence & are cleverer with every intensive bodily contact due to sensory stimulus & positive body feeling.
“If small children do not feel secure & good, they take almost nothing in” (better learning Part 3 issue 12/2004)
How do children like to be carried?
What is really important during carrying and why?
There are 3 fundamental criteria which define correct carrying:
1 Secure tying of sling
2 Squad-spread-position
3 retain optimum body temps
Will my sling carried baby be too hot/cold in different seasons?
We requlate each others body heat
In Winter:
Carry your baby under your jacket (their are a range of jacket extensions available for this purpose)
Do not over dress your baby
Keep an eye on your baby particularly feet & head
A lot of it is common sense
In Summer:
The sling is a replacement for 1 layer of clothing
Making sure babies/children are not in direct sunlight & protected against sunburn.
“All civilised cultures put their children down”, I really don’t think that our children are that heavy, we can pick them up again”. Franz Renggli (physchoanalyst who specialises in both work & research in the area of prenatal psychology)
Children are something which should be close to our hearts!
A lot is being published these days about infant care & upbringing........
However, will it be possible for us to encourage parents to listen to the voice of their heart once again?
The following questions might help.
Let us imagine that there is an oven in our childrens soul.
This oven warms our children from inside.
But the oven needs to be fed with a special fuel: moments of love & devotion.
How do I need to treat my child to fill up the oven so that it is really warm?
How do I have to organise living together with my family so that I can look back on this special time with pleasure & fulfilment?
