It’s not often that we hear about ghost stories with infants as the protagonists, I’ve heard a couple (the disembodied crying baby or weirdness with baby monitors), but usually, if it’s a halfling ghost, it’ll be a child. But that wasn’t the case in Needham, Massachusetts in 1839– Just past […]
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Today we’re looking at baby carriers in William Hogarth’s The March of the Guards to Finchley from 1750. The March of the Guards to Finchley, depicts a fictional troop of buffoonish British troops in Tottenham Court Road, in London, on their way to fight the Jacobean forces in the uprising […]
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
In 1913, breastfeeding was highly recommended by medical professionals due to the high infant mortality associated with cow milk substitutes. But how were new mothers educated about breastfeeding? The recommendations might surprise you. Boracic acid, anyone?
Estimated reading time: 26 minutes
Learn how the Aymara tradition of carrying their babies is reflected in their concept of time and language– and how infant carriers built empires.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Human feet are unique in the ape family, made for walking instead of grasping. For our babies this means two fewer grasping limbs to help cling to their mother, which means that during the evolution of bipedalism, infants had a harder time hanging on. How did our ancestors survive?
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
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 […]
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes