http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/12/28/news/200backroads.txt
published on Sunday, December 27, 2009 8:33 PM MST
By RACHEL HERGETT Chronicle Staff Writer
Cindy Maxwell answered her door last week with her 14-month-old son Titus tight against her front, sleeping snugly in a colorful Sakura Bloom ring sling.
Titus snored away with his mom rubbing his back, oblivious to the world around him.
This, Maxwell said, is one of many reasons she is a steadfast supporter of the concept of babywearing, which is exactly what the term says: wearing or carrying a child in a sling or other carrier.
“You don’t have to do anything to comfort them, or entertain them, or appease them, because they’re already comforted,” she said.
Maxwell, 26, carried son Corban, 4, in a Bjorn front carrier and a framed backpack, but was not entirely comfortable and only carried him on occasion. Then, when she had daughter Jaelle, 2, a friend lent her a stretchy wrap, and she was hooked.
Maxwell started the BabyWearers of Bozeman in June 2008, a group that meets monthly to help each other with certain types of carriers and discuss their shared interest in the practice. She also does private consultations for parents interested in learning how to use different types of carriers effectively.
BabyWearers of Bozeman also has a lending library with around 60 different carriers for mothers (or fathers) to test.
“They can try out not only the type, but different brands within that type,” Maxwell said.
That way, parents are able to find which type of carrier — everything from slings to stretchy and woven wraps — works best for them and feels the most comfortable.
Aside from more abstract benefits, wearing a baby is practical for people’s busy daily lives.
“The number one thing that I tell parents is that they have hands free,” Maxwell said.
Parents are then able to go about their daily lives — doing laundry, cooking, playing with (or, as Maxwell said “chasing around”) older children — without having to constantly shift a baby in their arms or on their hip with no external support.
Dr. William Sears and Martha Sears, a registered nurse, who run www.askdrsears.com, tout babywearing in their pediatric practice.
According to the site, social development is actually expedited because parents have more communication with their child. And the children learn about the environment around them, too.
“Sling babies spend more time in the state of quiet alertness,” the site states. “This is the behavioral state in which an infant is most content and best able to interact with his environment.”
Other sites, including a couple Maxwell moderates and accessible through links on Maxwell’s blog, have a multitude of information on babywearing practices and benefits.
While some parents worry about attachment to parents, wearing a child for a while each day is shown to make them more independent.
“Babies who are worn are more independent at an earlier age,” said Maxwell, who wears Titus five or six hours a day. “They are free to be independent because they don’t want their mother’s comfort. They already have it.”
The only problem Maxwell can see with babywearing is the stigma sometimes associated with it. In the United States, the idea is most closely connected with down-to-earth mothers, or “hippy” culture.
“They don’t see it as being hip or mainstream,” she said.
But for Maxwell, and many mothers around the world, being in constant contact with their children has nothing to do with class or stigma.
“It’s all about just bonding with your baby,” Maxwell said.
And in about 30 more weeks, she’ll have a fourth child to bond with.
“I have one more baby to carry, then that’s probably it,” Maxwell said.
BabyWearers of Bozeman meets at the Bozeman Birth Center at 10 a.m. on the second Wednesday of every month. From more information, visit the blog at http://bwbozeman.com/ or e-mail info@bwbozeman.com.
Rachel Hergett may be reached at rhergett@dailychronicle.com or 582-2603.
