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My kids are in elementary school now but I thought this was a huge issue when they were babies with friends. So many kids seemed to live in their carriers or other "containers". I only had mine in when I had to...I guess I just didn't see the point in lugging around gear to put them down in. But I held my kids a lot. or put them down to play when they were old enough. Regardless, one of my kids has gross motor delay and one has attachment issues (adoption) so it didn't totally cure all that. Its just...I don't know...weird to me to not carry, hold, wear your baby.
One more hippy mom thought I was cruel because I had a large area fenced in for my babies to play in when I couldn't have my eyes on them. She called it the baby cage. But I mean, it was massive for a play pen (5x10ft at least) and we had dogs and a pool and I had to be able to take my eyes off them sometimes. So maybe I am being just as judgmental about baby containers.
Maybe it was just me as a parent. My babies weren't very fond of their containers. I had fussy babies if I left them in there for any length of time. My first two were really early crawlers and walkers. I'm always shocked to see a parent with a 9 month old or older baby who will stay in a car seat. My kids were walking by then.
When "baby wearing" became a fad, all the other "containers" followed. Kids need belly time, time to just lay on the floor and explore, etc. Just more paranoia in parenting really. Yes, there are times when you need to have them secured in a chair or whatever, but not all day long.
When "baby wearing" became a fad, all the other "containers" followed. Kids need belly time, time to just lay on the floor and explore, etc. Just more paranoia in parenting really. Yes, there are times when you need to have them secured in a chair or whatever, but not all day long.
Baby wearing isn't a fad - it was and is the norm in many, many other countries.
My kid hated any kind of container at all, including the baby swing. He screamed bloody murder if I put him in anything at all. I finally found a motorized swing that he would sleep in for a short time, but I pretty much couldn't let go of him (he didn't like the floor any better) for the first six months of his life.
I don't think the problem is the containers - I think it's the parents who lock the kids in them just so that they don't have to do anything with them. I saw lots of women walking around with screaming kids in carseats, and I knew someone who left her kid locked into a highchair for hours at a time instead of getting a babysitter. It's not the containers, it's just the same crappy parenting that has always been around and will always be around, especially for lower-income and less educated people.
When "baby wearing" became a fad, all the other "containers" followed. Kids need belly time, time to just lay on the floor and explore, etc. Just more paranoia in parenting really. Yes, there are times when you need to have them secured in a chair or whatever, but not all day long.
Proper baby wearing is not a container. It's described in the second link as a way to promote bonding between parent and baby.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoonBeam33
Baby wearing isn't a fad - it was and is the norm in many, many other countries.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mnseca
My kid hated any kind of container at all, including the baby swing. He screamed bloody murder if I put him in anything at all. I finally found a motorized swing that he would sleep in for a short time, but I pretty much couldn't let go of him (he didn't like the floor any better) for the first six months of his life.
I don't think the problem is the containers - I think it's the parents who lock the kids in them just so that they don't have to do anything with them. I saw lots of women walking around with screaming kids in carseats, and I knew someone who left her kid locked into a highchair for hours at a time instead of getting a babysitter. It's not the containers, it's just the same crappy parenting that has always been around and will always be around, especially for lower-income and less educated people.
Totally agree. The object isn't the problem, it's the people who abuse them. I have and have used containers for my kids, but they spent very little time in them. They were/are only in their car seats in the car. I wore or carried all my babies in stores, restaurants, parks, etc. I had a bouncer and a swing for when I needed to do something, but they were never in there for more than 10-15 minutes at a time.
It makes really sad to see babies in car seats sitting on the floor at places pretty much being ignored while the parents and older children interact with each other. I am glad there are studies now showing that spending all this time contained does have long term negative effects on babies.
I despise those Bumbo seats. The babies look squashed and uncomfortable and I can't imagine it really helps them do anything that babies without them haven't been doing naturally for eons.
A blanket spread on the ground and the baby in the middle. Tons of nice exercise possibilities and fun.
I am all for a "container" to help a parent out when they need to do other things as well as tending to the child. I used high chairs obviously for feeding but also to keep the kids with me in the kitchen while I cooked. I used swings to do some cleaning and help the child calm down. But most of the time was spent on the floor. I firmly believe every child needs this to develop and if you childproof the area you shouldn't have problems.
I also used strollers but only up to 1 year of age, when the kids could walk. After that there was no stroller, it would take pretty long sometimes, and sometimes I would have to carry them as they got tired but it was worth it. They are learning to walk! Let them! I find it so unsettling when I see a child close to 5 years in a stroller. Of course they are exemptions, if you are going on a long shopping trip or to an amusement park a stroller could be a big help, but to walk around the neighborhood or a walk to the park? no.
None of my kids liked or enjoyed containers at home, and I generally wore them as babies when out and about, for convenience - but I've become really non-judgmental about other peoples' parenting styles. With my first child, I was all but embarrassed to be seen with a stroller instead of a wrap. By my third, I was like... whatever works.
That said, I don't until this day understand why people lug around car seats with wide awake infants in it. (If it was a sleeping infant, I can see not wanting to wake them up by unbuckling, but mostly that's not what we're talking about here.) I'm not even talking about securing it into a stroller / travel system. I'm talking about full on lugging / swinging a heavy seat in one arm and a packed diaper bag in the other hand. Especially for barely-postpartum mothers - or, on the other end of the spectrum, mothers of huge, heavy babies. It looks comfortable for absolutely no one involved. Even if it's convenient to have a clean place to set the baby down once you get to your destination, it just seems like such a hassle. I see this a lot less now than I did when I first became a parent, but we also lived in a very low SES area at the time, and now we live in a higher one where you mostly see Ergos and such... so it may be a function of that. Or maybe it's the times have changed. I don't know, honestly.
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