Babywearing: It Does a Body Good

Could there be reasons to carry an infant for extended periods? Reasons that are good for your client and their physical body?

Yes!

Extended carrying for 20+ minutes is a wonderful exercise for the caregiver. If a baby is screaming…maybe not so wonderful in the moment, lol. There are ways to increase enjoyment, maximize physical benefits, and reduce bodily harm.

Contextually, I recommend you work with your client directly as a trained babywearing consultant, as this information is not specific to all situations.

A caregiver who is carrying a 6-month-old infant for the first time and a caregiver who’s been carrying the infant for the entire six months are at different places, and these nuances are best dealt with individually. A trained babywearing educator is best suited to assist in the proper care/fit for the dyad.

Yet, there are some general points to be made, so let’s dig in.

The use of a baby carrier means your client will be able to extend the amount of time they carry the infant. In-arm carrying is a daily part of infant care, and the short stints of moving the infant around are excellent for both the caregiver and the infant but lack the bonus of the extended time.

Research has shown that although extended time in a baby carrier doesn’t replace tummy time, it makes an excellent compliment to tummy time (Norholt et al. 2022) - especially for babies who don’t love being on the floor! In fact, many babies will practice the same movements they’re working on in tummy time while in the carrier.

Babywearing is a Weight-bearing exercise

What many trained babywearing consultants don't realize, or maybe just forget to share, is that babywearing can be a great form of exercise for the wearer. In fact, babywearing can be considered a type of weight-bearing exercise that offers a host of health benefits, especially for lactating parents (Colleran et al. 2018).

Weight-bearing exercise is any activity that requires you to support your body weight against gravity. Activities like walking, jogging, and weightlifting are all examples of weight-bearing exercises. By adding weight to the body through babywearing, your clients can turn everyday activities like moving through the house, cleaning, or running errands into effective workouts.

Consider it this way: adding their baby’s weight to their daily movements is adding functional, weight-bearing exercise to their day - which has been shown to be important for bone mineral density and overall health (Marino & Becker, 1970) - all without any extra planning on their part! This last part is especially important considering some researchers found that the two most common perceived barriers to postpartum exercise were lack of time and lack of childcare (Evenson, Aytur, & Borodulin 2009) - with babywearing, there’s no need for extra time or childcare!

Babywearing increases cardio output

Many parents enter parenthood with less-than-ideal cardiovascular health. This can have an enormous impact on their health and wellness, including their risk of chronic disease later in life. Many birthing parents experience the effects of poor cardiovascular health continuing into the first few weeks after they have given birth, when they may not be receiving the same kind of regular medical care that they did prenatally (Khan et al., 2023).

Professionals who work with parents during this critical time, such as trained babywearing consultants, have an opportunity to introduce accessible and realistic options for physical activity, and this is where babywearing comes in.

Extended babywearing is a great way to help caregivers improve cardio output during the postpartum period and beyond. With an added load, such as that of a baby in a carrier, ordinary activities require a bit more effort from the body (Pierrynowski 1981) - even casual strolls around the neighborhood will demand a bit more out of the wearer’s heart and lungs than if baby was in a stroller.

Over time, this increase in effort will help to improve their cardiovascular health, which can not only set them up for a host of long-term health benefits but will also improve their everyday quality of life by making it easier to keep up with their growing child(ren).

There’s just no way around it…our babies want to be held. It’s in their biology! But prolonged periods of in-arm carrying can strain your body day in and day out (Havens et al. 2020), can throw off the caregiver’s stability, flexibility in their hips, and can even affect their pelvic floor!

Encouraging your clients to incorporate extended periods of babywearing as a means of improving their own health and quality of life is a great way to show the benefits of incorporating babywearing into their lifestyle holistically, rather than just using it as a convenience item for errands here and there.

Babywearing isn’t just for snuggles. It’s not just another baby transport item. It isn’t just another product to be purchased. You can help your clients realize that babywearing is about so much more than that.

It does a body good.

References

1. Colleran, H. L., Hiatt, A., Wideman, L., & Lovelady, C. A. (n.d.). The effect of an exercise intervention during early lactation on bone mineral density during the first year postpartum. *Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 16*(3), 197-204. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2018-0232

2. Marino, A., & Becker, R. (1970). Piezoelectric effect and growth control in bone. *Nature, 228*, 473-474. https://doi.org/10.1038/228473a0

3. Ranjan, P., Baboo, A. G. K., Anwar, W., Kumari, A., Pradhan, B., Maharana, S., & Venkataraman, S. (2022). Physical activity, yoga, and exercise prescription for postpartum and midlife weight management: A practical review for clinicians. *Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of India, 72*(2), 104-113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13224-022-01627-w

4. Havens, K. L., Severin, A. C., Bumpass, D. B., & Mannen, E. M. (2020). Infant carrying method impacts caregiver posture and loading during gait and item retrieval. *Gait & Posture, 80*, 117-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2020.05.013

5. Evenson, K. R., Aytur, S. A., & Borodulin, K. (2009). Physical activity beliefs, barriers, and enablers among postpartum women. *Journal of Women's Health, 18*(12), 1925-1934. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2008.1309]

6. Norholt, H., Phillips, R., McNeilly, J., & Price, C. (2022). Babywearing practices and effects on parental and child physical and psychological health. Academic Journal of Pediatrics & Neonatology. https://doi.org/10.19080/AJPN.2022.11.555876

7. Khan, S. S., Grobman, W. A., & Cameron, N. A. (2023). Cardiovascular health in the postpartum period. *JAMA*, 330(21), 2115-2116. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.19192

8. Pierrynowski, M. R. (1981). Mechanical energy analysis of the human during load carriage on a treadmill. Ergonomics, 24(1), 1-14.