Hug your loved ones

Hug your baby close or sing a lullaby for them or even pacify them. Do all these one must carry them first. How about doing all these, along with doing your household chores or doing a bit of official work on your laptop with the benefits of holding them close to you? The idea simply would get a smile on your face and relief for many parents of infants and toddlers and that is what babywearing intends to do at a recent babywearing meet held by Soul carriers in Cubbon Park bandstand in Bengaluru recently.

"I have been an educator for than a year now. The love for babywearing and I wanted to spread the message of how advantageous it is to wear your own baby," said Ridhima Goel.

"People are getting educated and there is a surge in babywearing due to the same. In a way, it was actually very popular earlier. Because this is not new concept per say if you looked at the tribal people, they always used a carrier. The concept has been there as it is not a recent concept. But somewhere in between, it was lost. Now, it is again picking up," she said.

"I was introduced to babywearing when I bought my first ring sling for my son, who was then 5 months old, becoming heavier to carry and my arms were also paining. I had bought a non-ergonomic carrier and tried for few months which didn't work out and ring slings just changed my life. So, having used a ringsling with him and other carriers with him as time passed by, the benefits of babywearing was so obvious," said Rivka Shahani.

"I am just this sort of person when I get benefitted from something and I feel it so strongly that I just wanted to spread the word about it. That is where 'Soul' played a major role in my development and growth as a babywearing educator, wherein the educator scores happened and we were fortunate enough to be a part of. it has just given us a great platform to spread the education that is so needed, especially in this age where constantly we are on the run and we are living in nuclear families more and more and we need all the hands that we can get (laughs). That's where babywearing comes into the picture," she beams.

"I was introduced to the concept of babywearing when I had my first child nearly 8 years ago. I bought a carrier for her and wore her as a newborn. Since it wasn't the right kind of carrier, I didn't enjoy it and eventually had to stop using it. However, when I had my son 4 years ago, I did a lot more research and decided to buy myself a ring sling. It was then when I fell in love with the concept of babywearing," said Chinmayie Bhat, founder of Soul.  

"I only had to wear my newborn son in a ring sling once to be sure that any parent will buy a carrier like this in a heartbeat. A baby carrier can be of immense use when you are a new parent and it will only continue to be an amazing parenting tool as your baby grows up. In a country like India, multiple nuclear families face the challenges of raising a child alone without help or support from an extended family. Everybody knows how valuable it is to have your hands free. I think anyone who uses a good comfortable baby carrier at least once will not think twice about buying it," said Chinmayie.

"The idea of babywearing educators and hospitals to tie up will be a great idea to introduce babywearing to people to a greater extent. Not many parents/caregivers are aware of babywearing and baby carrier brands and educators worldwide should try to change that," adds Chinmayie out of concern.

Ask about the difference between ergonomic carriers and the other carriers and she tells difference.  "Ergonomic carriers are usually baby carriers designed to distribute the child's weight evenly for the wearer and to support the baby well when the baby is seated in a comfortable position. With ergonomic carriers, one can carry the baby comfortably for a longer duration."