Kangaroo Care

[ysabetwordsmith]

 ... raises the survival of underweight infants by a huge amount.  It's good for healthy babies too.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

This was one of the traditionl child-rearing techniques mentioned in _The World Until Yesterday_ by Jared Diamond. Other interesting ideas alloparenting, teaching through games, providing comfort as soon as a baby cries, having children make toys, and carrying the infant so they are seeing the same things as the carrying person.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>This was one of the traditionl child-rearing techniques mentioned in _The World Until Yesterday_ by Jared Diamond.<<

Almost all cultures carried their children in wraps or frames until recently, because without something to put the baby in, women couldn't work, and everyone worked. A baby-carrier was probably among women's first inventions.

>> Other interesting ideas alloparenting, teaching through games, providing comfort as soon as a baby cries,<<

I remember being in an Amish store last year, and a young woman's baby began to cry. Instantly she picked him up -- and he stopped crying. He just wanted to be held.

Most places, I see parents pushing a cart with a shrieking child in it, not paying any attention to the baby while they shop. Which is probably why it's crying.

>> having children make toys, and carrying the infant so they are seeing the same things as the carrying person.<<

Yeah, I made a lot of my own toys. It's an introduction into how to make things, a useful life skill.

[shipperslist]

I babywore my son for almost 2,5 years. Everyone who’s into babywearing knows this. In fact, I don’t understand how this is news at all!

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Some cultures don't do it, so it's news to people in those cultures. I knew about it from African and Native American sources, plus prehistory.

Re: Well ...

[shipperslist]

It used to be more rare 13 years back but it's gotten more mainstream. I still wish to burn all baby björns (insert here a long rant about forward facing position forcing the baby's back into an unnatural position, and don't even get me started on the stimulus exhaustion) but that's just my hippie self showing.

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I strongly favor equipment that allows positioning the baby in multiple poses. This includes those made from a simple strip of study fabric, which serve from newborns to as long as you can lift your preschooler.

Re: Well ...

[shipperslist]

I'm very much into long woven wraps and... I really have no idea what they're called in English but in Finnish they're "square wraps."
Pretty much the only thing I really miss from the baby/toddler years are breastfeeding and babywearing.