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Support Your Local Babywearers (and let them support you)

Hands-on help is hands-down best for learning to wear your baby.  If you lived in a culture in which babywearing was the norm, you probably wouldn’t need to be taught.  You would have learned it while learning to speak the language.  You would have carried your baby siblings around since you were eight years old.  You would have the equipment to hand, and the skills would come naturally.

For those of us born outside of such a culture, experiences vary.  Some people take right to it.  Some people find it awkward and need coaching.  It is VERY common to wear your baby in semi-comfort, until you meet with a more experienced mom who shows you a few simple pulls and cinches, or a slight positioning adjustment, and Voila-babywearing is suddenly as comfortable and convenient as you were told it should be!  And Ta-da-your reluctant baby who cries in the carrier now sleeps soundly or rests contentedly in the carrier!

So that help is invaluable.  That’s why I am collecting the contact information for live, in-person, local babywearing groups around the world.  Not only are their services invaluable, but they are usually free, cooperative mom communities that can enhance your life by giving you a wonderful support network and a close-knit group of friends (just as if you lived in a village).

Most states in the US have a few groups, so that travel to one is conceivable.  But there are some empty spots in the US where it is quite a drive in any direction to find a group.  And the best scene is to have one in your own city so that you can be a regular part of the meetings, contributing, learning and having fun regularly.  That’s why my next blog post will be about how it’s really not so hard to Start Your Own Babywearing Group!