Every time I see a baby - particularly the tiny ones in a push chair I want to cry. Why? Because I am an avid believer that babies NEED to be carried, to smell their mama (or papas), to hear their mama's heart beat (let alone her voice), to feel her warmth, to feel held like a baby feels in the womb, to be jiggled up and down. Alot of this has now been researched and shown to help colic, to help settle babies and so on. Saying this I didn't need research I just needed to listen to my instinct and I encourage you to listen to yours. When I put our wee son in a push chair it felt the weirdest and most un-natural thing I had done with him, yet when I wore him it felt right, totally right - for both of us.
My inspiration for carrying our son everywhere came from travelling in Guatemala some years back and I am not exaggerating but we never heard one baby cry - and every single one of them was being carried. Not a push chair in sight. And there were an awful lot of babies around!
For our sons first 18 months I carried him everywhere and he never minded being taken anywhere from supermarkets, to a noisy pub (not my usual hangout I hasten to add!) to a country walk - literally everywhere. What surprised me was that in the places that I'd least expect a positive response, people would come to me constantly saying how wonderful and what a lucky chap he was.
So I encourage you to carry your babies for as long as you can - there are great baby carriers out there - my two favourite were the Manduka and the Sleepy wrap because they fitted my body the best, but try them out and find the one that works for you. I am convinced that this helps to make a happy baby and happy mama and papa.
