Babywearing Benefits: Enhanced Bonding

Babywearing increases the opportunities for close contact between parent and child which leads to a more secure bond.

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“We had a rather difficult start to parenthood. With a difficult labour and birth and then our daughter being admitted into the special care unit soon after birth I didn't really get the chance to bond with her as I'd hoped. For the first few days I felt really distant from her - I was staying on the maternity ward while she was in special care for a week.

A week after we got home we went to a breastfeeding support group and took along our stretchy carrier - with a bit of help from a lady there we finally understood what to do with it and our babywearing journey began.

It was amazing the change it made. Babywearing helped me to bond with my daughter in those early days and our connection has grown ever since. It also helped my husband to connect with her. Lydia McNeeney

• Children who are carried develop a more secure attachment to parents, and securely attached children and adults live happier, less conflict ridden lives (1,2).

“When we pop him in a sling, that sleepy dust covers him and the screams stop, the eyes droop, the body relaxes and he melts. My husband and I both wear him, sometimes there is a fight to see who gets to do it. It's not only a coping mechanism but a bonding mechanism." Danielle C

“Babywearing has given me so much more bonding time with my babies. I'm a single mother of twin babies and babywearing makes it possible to give holding time to both. To let one sit and cry while I attend to the other is unbearable for me and I know that kind of stress isn't good for their development. I'm beyond thankful to have discovered babywearing." Melissa G

• Babywearing can lessen the likelihood and impact of post-natal depression in mothers, which helps to develop a healthy and lasting bond between mother and child (3).

“I've been wearing my wee man for a few weeks now. I really struggled with PND and as he is a high needs baby who has really bad reflux and has had to go to hospital 3 times in his 10 weeks, he will only sleep on me and made me feel trapped in the house.

I thought that wearing the baby would be so difficult I was reluctant to try, but I was surprised by how intuitive wrapping became and by wearing him, he has become so much more content and settled and my mood has lifted to my previous self! It has also been fantastic for my husband as he thought that his son was rejecting him as he cried every time he picked him up." Lana

• Babywearing boosts production of oxytocin in parent and child, which is essential for developing a secure bond (4).

“Babywearing has enabled me to have great communication with my grandchildren- I feel it has enabled us to develop a very special bond." Carol K

“Babywearing has given us the ability to deal with all the ups and downs of life. It's helped us to bond; many hours spent together with each of our babes has brought us together in several ways and given us the gift of sharing so many special moments with our children we wouldn't otherwise have." Katheen L

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1. Whitborne, Susan Krauss: “The 4 Principles of Attachment Parenting and Why They Work" in Psychology Today 2013, July
2. Anisfield, Elizabeth / Casper, Virginia / Nozyce, Molly / Cunningham, Nicholas: “Does infant carrying promote attachment? An experimental study of the effects of increased physical contact on the development of attachment." In Child Development, 61, 1990, S.1617-1627
3. Bigelow, A., Power, M., MacLellan-Peters, J., Alex, M. and McDonald, C. 2012: 'Effect of mother/infant skin-to-skin contact on postpartum depressive symptoms and maternal physiological stress', Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, 41: 369–382
4. Uvnas-Moberg, Kerstin 2003: "The Oxytocin Factor: Tapping the Hormone of Calm, Love and Healing", Da Capo Press Inc