The Babywearing Rage

In the past, it was enough to pop your little one in a stroller to run errands and go about your day, your baby safe and snug in his or her pram or carriage.

It was also a wonderful opportunity to pull back the hood when seeing neighbors and friends and to show off your bundle of joy.

Then, the running stroller came into vogue. New moms who weighed 100 pounds just weeks after delivery were running behind their tots, pushing them hidden under the protective netting through rain, sleet, heat and wind, and making the rest of us feel a bit lazy as we lolled on our porches eating popsicles with our kids.

Babies are the newest accessory now, like a cute pair of earrings or the latest fall poncho.

“Look at me,” these running strollers said. “Working out and being a mommy.”

Now, there’s a new trend for moms and dads: Wearing your baby.

Babies are the newest accessory now, like a cute pair of earrings or the latest fall poncho. Wearing your baby says to everyone else, “I’m efficient, I celebrate other cultures, and physical bonding is a priority for me.”

Celebrities such as Gwen Stefani, Kate Hudson and Giselle Bundchen have worn their kids, and so have a few celebrity dads, such as Orlando Bloom and Ryan Reynolds, for example, proving they are more than just Hollywood eye candy by strapping their babies to their chests.

Enthusiasts of baby-wearing say the physical closeness is good for both parent and child, and that parents are also more efficient. They can wear the child rather than push a cumbersome stroller around while completing daily chores.

Enthusiasts of baby-wearing say the physical closeness is good for both parent and child, and that parents are also more efficient.

Actor Ryan Reynolds sparked an uproar when a photo of him wearing his baby daughter circulated online after his wife, actress Blake Lively, posted it to her Instagram page. Fans who viewed the photo were worried the baby was facing the wrong way and couldn’t breathe. In the photo, the child’s face is facing Ryan’s chest, and her feet are sticking way out of the bottom of the carrier.

“Poor baby looks so uncomfortable and unsafe. Please have hot hubby read the instruction manual,” wrote one fan on Lively’s Instagram page. “Guys, I’m stressed, the position isn’t ergonomic enough for the baby,” another commented.

The baby-wearing community is an active and growing one. Whole Facebook groups are organized around the trend, including Babywearing on a Budget. Its posters share pictures and even ask for comments on which sling would look best with which outfit. Communities like the “Petaluma moms” meet regularly to share best practices, swap slings, wraps and ergonomic carriers, and talk about other parenting topics, too.

Communities like the “Petaluma moms” meet regularly to share best practices, swap slings, wraps and ergonomic carriers.

The Sonoma County Babywearing Enthusiasts page has over 700 members, and Babywearing International, an information, research and best practices group, states on its website, “Medical professionals agree that infants thrive through touch; “wearing” your baby is another way to meet this need.”

The slings and wraps are hot items on the baby products market. The San Diego-based Tula company releases new products every couple of weeks, usually on Sundays at three in the afternoon. Once the product goes live, they sell out in mere seconds.

A baby wrap can cost as little as $22 through various retailers, while an ergonomic baby carrier, worn on the chest, can retail for over $120.

“I think it’s an attention-getter for the parent,” says one Worcester, Mass., father of three older children.

Aisha Alvarez of Santa Rosa, mother of a 15-month-old son, told the Petaluma360.com that “snaring one into an online shopping cart and checking out before someone else grabs it is a remarkable feat fueled by a huge adrenaline rush.”

Some parents who have been around the block a few times beg to differ on the subject of wearing your baby. “I think it’s an attention-getter for the parent,” says one Worcester, Mass., father of three older children. “It’s kind of creepy. It reminds me of the guy in the movie ‘Mad Max’ who had a little guy attached to him.”

Perhaps baby slings and wraps are our subconscious nod to simpler times and simpler cultures. Many cultures have been wearing their babies in slings for years, mainly so they could continue to work while caring for an infant. Women used to work in fields and perform many other manual labor jobs while their little ones were snug at the chests.

According to the website Slingbabies.com:

• Mexican people use the Rebook, which is a square of woven cloth tied over one shoulder with          the baby usually on the back. It’s sometimes called a Chalk, depending on the length.
• Peruvians have a Manta, which sits over both shoulders like a cape, and baby sits high on the mother’s back.
• Guatemalans use Parade, similar to a Rebook.
• European mothers used a mixture of pouches, wraps and short cloth carriers.
• Alaskan/Canadian people have the Amauti, which is a very thick arctic jacket with a baby ‘pocket’ in the back. The baby even fits under the over-sized hood.
• Indonesian mothers use a Selendang, which is a long ornate wrap.
• Aboriginal mothers used to keep their babies in carriers made of bark, similar to the cradleboards used by Native Americans but without the cloth covering.

Whatever the reason, parents will probably continue to tote their little ones on their bodies for the foreseeable future – or at least until the next trend comes along.