Why Baby Your Baby?

Recently, I have noticed a resurgence in parents afraid of “spoiling” their children, in particular their infants by holding their child too often in a baby sling carrier. This certainly isn’t anything new. In the early half of the 20th century, the majority of child care experts discouraged parents from excessively holding their babies, warning that by doing so, they would not prepare their children for the harsh and cruel world that awaited them.

However, in 1946 Dr. Benjamin Spock released his popular book “The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care.” Dr. Spock was one of the early proponents of mothers caring for their babies by using their own judgment to determine what was best for their baby.

Today there are still many who warn new parents that excessively holding their baby will spoil the child. These people are known as “regulators.” Regulators believe that the child needs a disciplined routine to develop. Another group of people are referred to as “facilitators”. The facilitating parent acts reactively to the child’s physical or emotional cues of distress.

In 2001, A. Scher from the University of Haifa, Israel, conducted a study to determine which method of parenting resulted in a stronger bond between the mother and child. Overwhelmingly, babies whose mothers used a facilitating approach to parenting displayed more “attachment” to their mothers than infants whose parents used a more regulating approach.

So what does this mean for a new mom or dad? It simply means that holding your child and appropriately caring for your child when they begin to cry, results in a relationship of trust and security with your baby. Building this sense of trust with your baby will actually foster your baby’s confidence to explore and interact with others. So relax, and worry more about what your baby wants and less about the way your peers and associates say.

The author operates a website about baby slings.