From Baby Toting to Babywearing
Dr. Sears claims credit for coining the phrase ‘Babywearing’ in the 1980’s but did you know interest in infant carrier cultures had been growing in popularity since the 1950’s?
Medieval Babywearing | European Infant Carriers
With the talk of which culture has the exclusive rights to this or that, some have wondered if people of European descent should use infant carriers at all. To which I can only groan (and share this post).
Big Babies
It’s not just that human babies are helpless at birth, it’s that they’re so huge, at least when we compare them to the size of other apes’ newborns. Fortunately we have all kinds of technology to help us carry them around. But how far back in history were our evolutionary ancestors dealing with these big babies?
Birth and Carriers in Indonesia
Learn how the peoples of Indonesia incorporate their infant carriers into their postpartum traditions.
The Cost of Carrying
This work is part of my project, The Evolution of Babywearing, which explores the evolutionary origins of the infant carrier and how it has shaped humanity as we know it. Many moons ago at a family gathering, a relative was complaining about her baby’s fussing, “He won’t let me put […]
They See Me Riding
Why is it that some mammals can just leave their babies in a den or nest, while others carry theirs around (or have them cling on) through out the day?
The Beng Babies of the Côte d’Ivoire
Learn more about Alma Gottlieb’s book “The Afterlife is Where We Come From” on the culture of infancy involving reincarnation and carrying among the Beng.
Infant Care in Taira, Okinawa | 1950-60’s
A lot has been said about Okinawan culture in the Attachment Parenting community, let’s set the record straight: from the moms who return to work after a few months maternity leave, to the siblings and grandmothers who strap the baby to their backs as they go about their days, and the hard-knocks school of weaning.
