Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Babywearing and sling safety

You may have heard the updates in the news lately regarding safety with certain types of slings such as "bag" type slings. There have been a number of infant deaths which is causing a bit of an uproar regarding baby wearing in general. I thought I would post some relevant links for those who are interested, and concerned about baby-wearing.

Here is a great article which helps clarify what you need to watch out for when wearing your baby, and that baby wearing in general is not necessarily dangerous. You need to make sure that your infant's face is not covered and visible to you at all times.

The above article links to this one which has helpful images (for those visual learners!!) that explain the potential dangers of bag slings. (Note, it was written in 2008.)

Here is a recent CBC news article which warns against the baby being in a C-like position, curling from head to toe, and how that is dangerous.

And here is a special report from Mothering magazine with many different links on this topic.

On a personal note - I love wearing Charlotte and although my pregnant belly is getting in the way a bit now, it is a wonderful way to "wear" her with her weight distributed evenly and lots of support from the wide cloth over my shoulders. I never really mastered the over the shoulder sling and found them uncomfortable for longer periods of time. I think that it is tragic that babes have suffocated in slings and grieve for those families. It is great that the general public is becoming more aware of the dangers, although important not to realize that not all baby-wearing is dangerous. Here is a picture of Charlotte and I at the lake last summer! I look forward to wearing our new babe in the same wrap this summer :)

1 comment:

  1. So good of you to post about this! I hope lots of mom's read about it. I've been following a bit of it myself. Crazy to think a child could suffocate while being on his/her mother.... what a nightmare!

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