premature-e1441161963359

NEWBORNS NEED TO BE HELD

Being born into a new world is a major shock for baby, but adapting to it is a challenging and drawn-out process. After living and moving within the fluid of his mom’s womb and resting on the soft womb tissue, when baby is born the sense of emptiness and change in pressure, as well as being in a still and firm bed that limits his movements, will be extremely disturbing for him. The environment in the womb automatically balances baby’s system throughout the 9 months he spends in his mom’s womb, and birth temporarily disrupts this balance. Nevertheless, the earlier you introduce the afterbirth support system to your baby, the sooner your baby will adapt to life after birth. This is why newborns are only comfortable in your bosom or while breastfeeding and start crying as soon as they are put to bed. Keep this in mind and don’t listen to criticism coming from left, right and center, that “The baby is getting too used to being carried in the bosom”. Keep on carrying your baby where he’s supposed to be in the days following birth, that is, close to your body. Using a carrier to carry your baby also frees your hands and arms (I’ll be demonstrating this as I tie the baby to my body). As you can see, baby is resting on my body, but I can also freely sit and stand as well as get on with chores. And even if you are out and your baby is hungry, you can breastfeed comfortably by sitting down somewhere convenient… (I’ll be demonstrating this later). Mom’s rhythmic walking reminds baby of his life within the womb because he felt this for 9 months, whereas now he’s feeling it outside the womb and this calms him down. The heartbeat, its rhythm and the familiarity of mom relaxes baby when his ear rests on mom’s chest. Another biological regulator is being chest to chest or tummy to tummy in the baby carrier; this enables baby to feel mom’s breathing rhythm and the regular rhythms have a balancing effect on the irregular rhythm of the baby. As carrying baby in your bosom helps to develop middle ear balance, it will help baby to stay in balance during mom’s movements left, right, upward, downward, back, and forth. The baby carrier ensures a continuation of the baby’s balanced life in the womb and constantly reminds the baby that movement is continuing.