Green Options

Can’t get that baby to sleep through the night?

Want those full 9 hours of sleep you remember?

Pump your baby full of Enfamil’s “Restfull” formula! It’s,

Specially designed to help babies feel full longer and sleep better…[It] thickens gently in baby’s tummy and digests slowly.

Because didn’t you hear? Formula-feeding is apparently,

A natural way to help keep your baby feeling satisfied.

Ri-ight. Because as a natural parent, when you’re not forcing your baby to sleep through the cry-it-out method, certainly you’re hoping to find something that will stick in their bellies. Or even better, something that will magically “thicken” in their bellies.

I would looooove to be a perfect, attachment parenting, unschooling, chemical-free, organic, natural-living warrior for the environment kind of mom.

Sometimes I’m pretty good. I hang cloth diapers on the clothesline. The girls and I cook homemade play dough on the stovetop, and scent it with food coloring and essential oils. We eat husk cherries straight from the garden. I sew sweet summer party dresses for the girls from thrifted pillowcases, and sew myself a matching skirt.

Sometimes, though, I am very bad. Have you heard of that True Mom Confessions book? Here’s my version, Eco Child’s Play style:

You know the benefits of babywearing. You know some guidelines for babywearing. You know how to use the pouch. You know how to use the ring sling. You know how to use the wrap.

Now we’ll talk a little bit about the mei tai.

 The mei tai is most accurately pronounced “may tie,” although since the words come from a language with some phonemes that are different from English, a completely accurate pronunciation in English is unlikely. And don’t fuss at people who pronounce it “my tie,” either–you know they mean the carrier, not the cocktail.

Okay, so we’ve talked about the Benefits of Babywearing. We’ve noted some General Guidelines for Babywearing. We’ve also so far discussed two types of native-style baby carriers, the pouch and the ring sling.

Next up? The wrap!

Remember that we’re evaluating each carrier based on its own pros and cons. Each carrier has its own style for wearing your baby, each carrier looks very different, and each carrier may feel very different on your body and to your baby.

All the possible styles of carry are this: cradle front, vertical front facing in (baby’s legs are frogged up as a small infant and spread to fit around your waist as an older child), kangaroo front (a vertical carry facing out, in which baby sits in the carrier and tucks her legs in front of her), hip on either side, piggyback. These mimic ways in which you might carry a baby in your arms, and thus tend to be pretty comfortable and ergonomically correct.

So far we’ve talked about the benefits of babywearing, some general guidelines for babywearing, and the pros and cons of the pouch.

Next up: the ring sling.

The ring sling tends to be the go-to babywearing carrier for most babywearing parents. It’s very adjustable and fairly versatile, but its learning curve is less than some of the other baby carriers we’ll be discussing.

The ring sling is, basically, a long length of fabric with two sturdy rings sewn into one end.

Once you know the benefits of babywearing and some general guidelines for babywearing, you’re ready to start figuring out which kind of native-style carrier will work best for your body, your lifestyle, and your baby.

Each kind of carrier has its own pros and cons. Each kind of carrier has certain styles of wearing your baby that it’s the best at, and certain styles that it’s not well suited for.

Your job is to do your own pro/con analysis, deciding which disadvantages you’re willing to put up with to gain certain advantages, and deciding which styles of wearing you’re most likely to use with your baby and which you’re not.

The list of all possible styles of carry are as follows: cradle front, vertical front facing in (baby’s legs are frogged up as a small infant and spread to fit around your waist as an older child), kangaroo front (a vertical carry facing out, in which baby sits in the carrier and tucks her legs in front of her), hip on either side, piggyback.

Here’s what the pouch can do:

The day that I found myself at Bloomingfoods shopping for groceries, with my preemie infant nursing, hands-free, in her sling, and my not-quite-two-year-old (I know–scandal! And yet they play together soooo well) sitting in the shopping cart, and I was actively CHECKING OUT with the cashier at the time, I knew that I was basically the most awesomest mother. Ever.

We talk a lot about babywearing here at Eco Child’s Play, and for good reason. Babywearing, or the act of wearing your baby on your body for a good part of the day, generally (although not always) in a native-style carrier, has a lot of real benefits for all kinds of kids and all kinds of parents.

As a babywearing instructor here in my community, I’ve had a lot of practice teaching parents about babywearing and helping them learn the right ways to carry their babies, and I plan to share all my wealth of knowledge here with you.

First up–benefits of babywearing:

Guilt. Augh, the guilt.

Many of us practice some form of natural parenting. Many of us choose breastmilk, cosleeping, babywearing, and whole foods for our babies and families.

But lately, I’ve noticed that something is lacking with a few vocal members of the attachment parenting community. Empathy. Yep, that’s putting yourself in another’s shoes.

You don’t have to agree. You don’t have to sanction. But it’d be nice if some APs would understand that it’s not as easy as popping a baby on a breast or in your bed. Life is not the same for everyone out there. Our experiences are different. Our reactions are different.

And until the Attachment Parenting community isolates the elitists, it will be hard to gain ground.

A growing number of children are experiencing mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and aggression.  Many experts this increase in is due to lack of “deep connectedness” to parents and the larger community.

Attachment parenting offers a solution, and the founders of Attachment Parenting International Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker have recently published a fantastic book on the subject backed by research.

Attached at the Heart: 8 Proven Parenting Principles for Raising Connected and Compassionate Children teaches parents:

· Important facts you need to know before and after having your baby
· Strategies to strengthen the emotional bonds with your child
· How to be a more conscious parent with your children
· New information to help you make informed decisions
· How raising our children with empathy and respect can positively affect society

No other parenting book is as comprehensive in its scope, from an overview of attachment theory and current child development research to practical strategies for everyday situations. Attached at the Heart is a vital blueprint for change that begins at home.

I’m alive!!!! I didn’t think I would make it, but I did!

Exhausted Mom by Halfmoon Jewelry, Flickr, under a Creative Commons license

I have an eleven month old little girl named Emerson who, in spite of the nurses at the hospital saying “you’ve got a sleeper”, turned out to not be much of a sleeper.  There are worse stories, but mine is a good example of mixing mom’s intuition, dad’s motivation, and a great deal of research to figure out the best path to sanity.

Our Story

Month 1

Emerson started as a fairly typical baby. She slept for two hours at a time around the clock, waking only to latch on for her fill. I co-slept with her in our bed and my husband slept in an extra room so that he could get enough sleep to deal with life (don’t worry, we slipped nookie in here and there). She almost never cried the entire first month of her life. I thought the situation was quite blissful, particularly because I took the age old advice of “sleep when your baby sleeps” to heart. Clearly something in the mommy brain prepares us for waking up to feed a baby every two hours…but only up to a point.

I was really upset when I read this article from Consumer Reports – Five products not to buy for your baby! Along with Baby bath seats, Crib bumper pads and Sleep positioners were listed two products near and dear to advocates of attachment parenting: Co-sleepers and slings!