Born to Be Worn {Guest Editorial}

• By hhk
• May 27, 2014
• No Comments

Britni Morley is the owner of Wrap Me Tender, a babywearing education service and retail store based in Northern NJ.  Today she joins us to share the evolutionary basis for babywearing.  Break out your wraps folks!  

When you’re done reading, go check out Britni’s website www.wrapmetender.com and Facebook page!

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This past winter, I completed my training with The Center for Babywearing Studies to become a Certified Babywearing Educator.  It was an amazing experience and I was able to dig even deeper into the fundamentals and benefits of babywearing in order to teach expectant and new parents even more about the wonders of babywearing.

One of the most interesting things I learned was a flashback to biology class.

Why are human babies ‘born to be worn?’ When looking at other animal young, we notice some vast differences:

Altricial young (ex: dogs, cats, some birds) are born with their eyes shut, are born without fur or down, born unable to walk, eat high-fat food to sustain them while mother is gone, and they typically do not cry or pee or poop while mom is gone and they are left alone (to avoid predators).

Precocial young (ex: ducks, horses, cows) are born with their eyes open, born with fur to regulate their body temperature, can very soon follow their mother around and “leave the nest,” eat a lower-fat food because they are with mother and can eat more frequently, and they will cry if separated from their mother.

Human babies don’t fall into the above categories- they are really a mix of both. They are classified as “secondarily altricial.” Human babies are born with their eyes open, they are born without fur to regulate their temperature, eat food low in calories and easy to digest and have small stomachs, they cannot walk at birth, will cry when left alone, will poop or pee whenever!

It is easy to see, that human babies are meant to be kept close to mom or caregiver- they need temperature regulation from our body heat, they need to be close to their food source to eat often, they cannot walk as other animals do- so they need to be carried, they are not instinctually meant to be left “in the nest” because unlike dogs or cats, they would cry and “attract predators.”

So, when your baby seems to want to be held for endless hours- do not stress! It is completely normal and your baby is just doing what nature intended. But, our arms can grow weary of carrying baby, so that is why babywearing is so essential. It gives everyone in the new parent-child relationship everything they need!  And that equals happier parents and happier babies…and isn’t that what we all want? Babywearing for the WIN!

Sources:

Our Babies, Ouselves by Meredith Small

Center for Babywearing Studies – www.centerforbabywearingstudies.com