Beth Roche, Certified HypnoBirthing Practitioner, teaching mothers
and birth companions techniques for safe and satisfying birthing through guided imagery, visualization,
and special breathing..
Babywearing
Baby's are so precious to us that we would do everything we can
to make them feel safe, loved and secure. One thing that I discovered
when my little one was newborn was "babywearing". It was
such a fantastic way to give me special close time with my baby
as well as free my hands up to do all those little things that need
doing sometimes - like the washing, and making a cup of tea, etc.
It was fantastic not to have to put my little one down, and rush
around whilst he cried, aching for my touch. There is loads written
about babywearing, though much of it is still internet based.
I found it quite tricky at first to get all the tying correct as
the leaflet was good, but I felt that I could do with someone to
show me what I was doing was right. There are some great resources
out there, including Sling Meets, where other babywearers meet and
share different wraps and slings, and help each other to learn new
tying methods and make our babies really happy.
Benefits
of Babywearing
For You
Allows you to get on with things, whilst not having to put your
newborn down into a lifeless and comparitively cold environment
of a crib / moses basket
Gives you a great opportunity to bond well with your baby
You can go on buses, up and down stairs, escalators, weave through
hangers of clothes etc. with ease and minimum of fuss. (I only realised
how different life is whenyou have a big bulky pram with you when
I went out with my friend who had a pram. She spend so much extra
time going the long way round, and then much of the time she ended
up carryig her baby with one arm and pushing her pram / cum shopping
trolley with the other - doing neither of them very effectively
and getting a very sore back in the process!)
You get cuddles all the time
You don't have to listen to your baby crying or grizzling whilst
looking for a suitable place to sit down with them.
You don't need to plan your trips out around your babies nap times
- they can nap and go!
For those of you who like a walk in the countryside, there is no
need to get one of those all-terrain and quite unweildy 3 wheelers,
you can just wrap and go! And stiles are not a problem either!
Your Baby
"Premature babies benefit greatly from being held and studies
have shown that ‘kangaroo care’ is an important factor
in reducing mortality rates in premature babies. Close contact helps
them to regulate their body temperature, breathing and heart beat
and makes them feel more secure." (askdrsears.com)
Because young babies tend to love being held, they cry far less,
if at all when carried much of the time.
Your baby will benefit from seeing the world from your oint of view.
My little one Evan is very sociable, and I believe this is largely
due to the attention he got whilst being carried around on my tummy
or back all those months.
There are loads of benefits and very well explained on some of the
website links below.
Learn How to Wear Your Baby
If you are interested in learning how to wrap your baby, whether
you are still pregnant, have a newborn, an older baby or even a
toddler, then there are loads of ways of learning how. If you are local to me then why not give me a call. I hold a sling library, and offer demonstrations of a variety of carriers for newborns right through to toddlers. I have:
Stretchy & Woven Wraps
Soft structured carriers - Ergo & Wilkinet
Asian Inspired Carriers - Mei Tai's
To arrange a demonstration / consultation, please email me today. Presently I loan out my carriers to my HypnoBirthing clients, but can do so to non-clients for a small deposit. I recently had a few additions to my library for free from Sarah at Natural Connection, who holds a wide variety of babywearing products, and is a really lovely lady.
Below are some useful websites which can help you
to get started, choosing a good wrap or sling and actually putting
one on with your baby.
Bedsharing is often presumed to be unwise and is a taboo subject. However, when done consciously and following UNICEF and NCT guidelines it can be a wonderful bonding experience, as well as removing many of the usual headaches associated with babies and sleep. Here is my story:
When I had a newborn on my hands I have to say that nights were tough. I'd sit up in bed when evan wanted a feed, this could last up to 30 minutes and happen 4-5 times a night. In the morning he wouldn't go back to sleep unless on my tummy. Needless to say I was exhausted and found things really tough. After a while I did some digging and found lots of information about sharing the bed safely with a baby. I decided that it was worth a try, as I really needed to get some more rest if I was going to keep going. My husband and I spoke about it, and along iwth the research I'd done we decided it was best if we did it with me in the middle and the boys on either side, with me lying curled around Evan on my side. Feeding lying down took a bit of getting used to, but having more sleep didn't! I found that I would fall asleep whilst he was sleeping.
I loved the fact that I didn't need to get out of bed in the middle of the night, or worry each time I put him down that he'd wake up again and need another half hour of feeding! The best bit though was being able to meet Evan's needs without having to sacrifice sleep, and enhancing our bond together.
As time went on it things changed and moved on (and backwards) as with most babies, but we would manage to get through the night without crying, even though he still woke a fair bit! As Evan got older and began rolling, etc. We did a bit of reviewing, thinking about our bed being 3 ft off the ground didn't feel right. We decided to put the mattress on the floor, this worked well for a while but we did feel a bit squeezed in a double bed, so we invested in a Super King mattress. We love it, and so does Evan.
Some people ask me what we do in the evening before we go to bed, and we have a little hammock for him to go in, which he sleeps fairly well in, but comes in with us once we go to bed. Other things people seem concerned about are how we fit in any marital passions, and I simply reply, we are inventive!
About a month ago, Evan still woke frequently at night and we felt the need for a change in our nighttime routine. I while before I had read about a gentle sleep training method for over 1's. Dr Jay Gordon advocates this method which we did to some degree. Now Evan sleeps between 11 and nearly 6, in which time he doesn't feed. It has worked really well for all of us, and over the week where we made the transition gave my husband a taste of my life with a newborn!
All the stuff I've read about co-sleeping suggests that when done consciously with the right precautions it is safe and actually helps to prevent SIDS. We have decided to continue co-sleeping until our son asks or seems to want his own bed. It is likely that we will make that transition very slowly too, so have a mattress in our room before he makes it to his own room! Like with all my parenting decisions I try to trust my instincts and follow what I feel is best for my son and our family. Sleeping with my baby is a trully wonderful experience, and one I'm really pleased we decided to do.
