Babywearing Works!

Lessons from Katy No-Pocket

By Maria Blois, MD

One of my daughter’s favorite books is a charming little story called Katy No-Pocket[1] about a mama kangaroo that is distraught because she does not have a pocket in which to carry her baby. “All grown-up kangaroos take awfully big hops and little kangaroos get left far behind unless their mothers have nice pockets to carry them in,” she laments. She cries and cries and finally decides to ask other animal mothers who do not have any pockets how they carry their babies. She gets a variety of answers: mama crocodiles carry their babies on their backs. She tries this and her baby cannot hold on and falls off of her back. Monkey mamas carry their babies in their arms, so Katy tries this method, but her arms are too short for this to work well.

Finally, she asks the wise owl who merely replies: “Get a pocket,” and goes right back to sleep. Katy thinks this is a wonderful idea, so she sets off to the City to find “that sort of thing.” Once there, she comes across a man who seems to be ALL pockets (he is wearing a multi-pocket apron). The kind man hears about Katy’s predicament and offers her his apron. Katy is overjoyed. He ties the apron to Katy and she “pops her baby into a very comfortable pocket and hippity-hops home faster than ever before because, of course, she doesn’t have to wait for her baby.”

I love reading this story to my children. Frankly, I see myself in Katy. In fact, we are all a bit like Katy No-Pocket in our design – we all lack a “pocket” for our babies – which we sorely miss. Katy No-Pocket, in her wisdom, has essentially discovered one of parenting’s best kept secrets: the art of babywearing, the practice of carrying our baby in a soft carrier close to our body as we go about our daily business.

Like many new moms, once Katy tries babywearing, she is sold. After all, who can argue with a happy baby and two free hands? But beyond the convenience aspect, babywearing has even more benefits. Babies are brilliant. They are born knowing exactly what they need in order to thrive. They are content being carried precisely because they need to be carried for optimal growth and development. Studies consistently show that babies who are worn close to their parent’s bodies cry less, are more calm and content, sleep more peacefully, nurse better, gain weight better, enjoy better digestion and develop better.

Babywearing also benefits parents. It enhances parent-baby bonding, is practical and stylish, facilitates breastfeeding, helps working parents reconnect, and makes transitions from one caregiver to another easier. All new parents should be given the opportunity to practice and learn babywearing as yet another tool in their parenting tool box. Babywearing works for parents and for babies.

To learn more about babywearing, please refer the book by Maria Blois entitled: Babywearing: The Benefits and Beauty of This Ancient Tradition. You may preview the book at www.drmariablois.com.

[1] Payne, Emmy. 1944. Katy No-Pocket. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books.