What can you do as a Foundations in Babywearing Education graduate?
Dec 17, 2024
Most of the time, when I tell someone that I’m a babywearing consultant, I get a blank stare followed by, “…a what?”
Maybe you felt the same when you first heard the term!
I’ve come to love this reaction, because it’s an opportunity for me to begin intriguing someone about babywearing and what it really is…but I definitely didn’t always feel that way.
When I first told people I would be taking Foundations to train as a babywearing consultant, this question filled me with anxiety - mainly because I wasn’t totally sure either! I knew that babywearing was amazing. I knew that it could benefit families in a variety of different ways. But even though I believed in the practice, I couldn’t wrap my head around this question - what would I actually do?
Since then, not only have I seen the vast opportunities this career has opened up for me, I’ve also gotten the pleasure of seeing the hundreds of creative, practical, and inspiring ways other consultants incorporate babywearing education into their lives. If I’d known this in the beginning, answering that question would have been a lot easier…and more exciting!
So if you’re sitting here trying to figure out how the heck to turn your babywearing passion into something more, let this be your inspiration! Here’s a list of just some of the things our graduates have gone on to do with their training:
1. Private Practice
Lots of our graduates choose to start a private practice, offering private consultations and group workshops. Many also combine babywearing with other complimentary services like lactation consulting, nanny services, or even craniosacral therapy.
2. Work in healthcare/research
If you already work in healthcare, babywearing can be a natural addition to your work. We have graduates who are pediatricians, family physicians, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, OBGYNs, nurses, home health visitors and more! In fact, a team of incredible nurses, physical therapists, and researchers at Banner Health came together to train with our CNBE-H program and implement a babywearing NICU initiative throughout their entire hospital system in Arizona - talk about inspiring!
Interested in working with data? Trailblazing babywearing researchers like Lisa Grisham and Shari Weise (who were pivotal to the development of the above-mentioned program at Banner) are always needed to help provide evidence & support for the practice of babywearing.
3. Join with a brand or retailer
Some of our graduates choose to work with specific brands or retailers. This might look like consulting on babywearing fit for brand photoshoots, working as a babywearing educator for their customers, offering workshops or classes on babywearing in a retail space, or doing affiliate marketing for brands you like and trust.
4. Start a retail store/create a baby carrier
While we’re on the subject of retail, you might even bring babywearing into your very own retail store! We have several graduates who run successful baby carrier or baby product stores - check them out for inspiration!
Nurtured Products for Parenting
Have an idea for a better carrier than what you've found on the market? Maybe it's time to create your own! Some of our graduates use what they learn in Foundations to identify what's missing from the current babywearing options and design a new carrier to fill those needs. Take a look at BabueBaby for an amazing example.
5. Enhance birth worker services
Babywearing and birth work go so well together the ideas practically lightbulb themselves! Whether you work as a birth or postpartum doula, introducing babywearing to your work with your clients is a natural way to use the skills you learn to help families get the most out of babywearing. Check out what this grad has done to bring babywearing into her doula agency.
6. Teach babywearing yoga or fitness
One super creative way to apply your Foundations training is to create babywearing movement classes for the caregivers in your community! Whether you love yoga, dance, fusion fitness, or want to carve out your own special niche, teaching caregivers how to get moving while babywearing can be an incredibly rewarding experience.
7. Run a babywearing group with a carrier library
Do you dream of starting your own babywearing group, or getting involved in your local lending library? Many of our graduates have gone on to play pivotal roles in babywearing groups across the country that are making babywearing education more accessible to local families. Check out Mile High Babywearing’s story for inspiration!
Truly, I could go on for ages about all the impactful, creative things our graduates do to spread the power of babywearing. Once you dive deep into the babywearing ‘big picture’ (like you will in Foundations), it becomes obvious that babywearing education is so much bigger than just showing someone how to use a carrier. Discovering how to combine babywearing with your own passions and your community’s needs? That’s where the real fun (and magic) starts to happen.
