YES.
Yep! Babywearing is an essential life skill that is a combination of science, art and culture. And yes, it is safe, but..
OK, before you freak out. Take a deep breath and calm down. I’ll walk you through with this one.
Babywearing is SAFE.
Babywearing offers a lot of security to the baby.
First, when a baby is carried, you do not need to worry it being suffocated with pillows (especially for small babies) or falling down the bed (especially babies who are already crawling or starting to learn how to walk).
Babywearing is safe, especially now more than ever, with the current pandemic, such that carrying prevents babies from touching fomites thus prevents them from being exposed to unwanted microorganisms around.
It also prevents them from being too close or too exposed to other people especially strangers.
Toxic air is heavy air, thus babywearing is safe because babies are less exposed to fumes or particles that may negatively affect their health.
Babywearing is safe because when the baby is strapped on the parent’s body, there is no way they will be snatched away from us—it’s a ‘kidnap-free’ option for parents especially when out and about in a busy place.
Yes! Babywearing offers a lot of security..but babywearing, too, is UNSAFE.
Babywearing becomes unsafe when we use our slings incorrectly.
Just like any other gear or baby item, it comes with its own risk when used inappropriately. For example, a baby spoon is a usual item commonly found in a household with a baby BUT it is also unsafe. How? Or when? That innocent little item is a choking hazard when left alone with a small child with no supervision. When a child learns to walk while holding a spoon, and trips off may sludge down its throat—who knows as to the extent of damage it may cause?
For a sling, it becomes an unsafe baby item when we fail to follow safety guidelines. To date, our hallmark for safe sling use is published by the UK Slings Consortium—the TICKS.
T-tight
I-In view at All Times
C-close enough to Kiss
K-keep chin off the chest
S-supported back
These guidelines ensures that the airway is clear, free from suffocation or has less chances for positional asphyxiation, and less fall hazard.
Babywearing becomes unsafe if we jump into advanced skills in a public place without practicing it first in our house with a spotter, a mirror or a front-facing camera. Advanced skills are skills that require more practice than the usual or basic carrying routines, such as back carries. In cultures where babywearing is part of their mundane activies, back carrying newborn babies can be done easily, but for others, it requires a lot of practice first and best done with a doll or a pillow.
Babywearing becomes unsafe when the sling we use has already signs of wears and tears, broken buckles, torn straps, and so on—it poses a great risk for fall when these straps or buckles give in.
Babywearing becomes unsafe when we use inappropriate slings with respect to our child’s age and size. A toddler-size carrier is too big for a newborn baby, for an instance. True that we can save a lot of money if we buy a bigger carrier but the slack of loose carrier may cause our baby to wobble or ‘sink’ thus may pose airway and fall hazards.
Any carriers with long tails like wraps and meh dais can cause us to trip and fall if we fail to be mindful where these tails land while we finish putting on our sling, or maybe we move around so much while we put on the carrier and trip on the tails. It can also be unsafe when long tails land on dirty surfaces which can harbor a lot of microorganisms, then be placed near our babies.
Babywearing becomes unsafe when we do activites that poses danger to the baby. In a nutshell, any activity that requires safety gears like harness or helmets means that the activity is a serious danger-danger..Moreover, we should also include activities like cooking, sleeping, etc. Front carries and cooking is not really complementary as our baby may catch hot splatters by accident. And though I know we are tired with this whole parenting thing, but sleeping while babywearing poses danger especially with babies who hasnt achieve yet good head and neck control.
Babywearing is unsafe too when we take in alcoholic beverages or medications that may cause us to feel dizzy or asleep as we may doze off or worse, fall, with the baby on our body.
Babywearing becomes unsafe is we use too many clothing layers for babies on a warm or fair day. Note that the carrier is another added layer of clothing to the baby. Too much layers may cause babies to overheat, thus pose distress and great risk for dehydration and even SIDS.
My point is—safety depends in our mindfulness as babywearers.
How do we ensure then that we are doing safe babywearing practices? Simple. We follow safety guidelines—TICKS. We always check for any airway obstruction, trip and or fall hazards.
This is also where us, carrying professionals, come into the scenario. Nope, we do not know everything, we are far from perfect, but we are trained how to match specific carriers for you and your baby to ensure utmost comfort and safety. We are trained to teach you how to use your slings correctly. yes, there are millions of video tutorials on the web but nothing beats one-on-one support. Each of us is unique and as trained babywearing professionals, we respect that and we take all those in consideration—your anatomy, current lifestyle, medical condition, budget—so that you will get to maximize the use of your carrier in a safe and comfortable way.
Remember, you can never put a price on your child’s safety.
Plus, a small price to pay for a consult is a lot cheaper than buying a not well-fitting carrier or using a carrier incorrectly that may cause discomfort, injuries or even death.
click here if you need any help with your baby carrier
http://bit.ly/BWSmartConsult
Is this making any sense? Let me know your thoughts!
As always,
#babywearsmart
Babywear Smart 