According to the Doctor:
If you’re looking at this website, you already know exactly what a BabyBjörn baby carrier is. So I’m not going to waste our time describing it and how I use it. Instead, I’m just going to focus on explaining the reasons I love it.
It bounces my baby as I walk
I love that when I carry my baby around in my BabyBjörn, he gets lightly jostled and bounced as I walk. Babies love motion (hence their love of swings, jumpers, and dads). And it’s also great for their motor development. Bouncing and jostling babies engages the vestibular system, the system of the body responsible for sensing movement and balance. The sort of vestibular stimulation provided by the Björn can help children to reach motor milestones like sitting, crawling, standing and walking.
It keeps my baby in easy touching range
The BabyBjörn keeps my baby perfectly close and touchable. I caress and kiss his remarkably giant head (one of his best features, I think), and I absent-mindedly twiddle the toes of his little feet as they dangle out of the Björn’s leg holes at somehow the exact right length for my hands to rest. And all of this touching is not only a total pleasure for me, but it’s also great for my baby’s development. Frequent touch from a loving caregiver promotes a baby’s emotional wellbeing, physical health and cognitive development.
Our shared view helps me teach him new words
Up until now you might be wondering why I love the BabyBjörn carrier in particular. Why not another carrier, like the Ergo, that also lets you bounce and touch your baby (and saves you some back pain while you do it)? It’s because unlike many other carriers, the BabyBjörn allows me to carry my baby facing outward. This position gives my baby the same view of the world that I have, offering me tremendous opportunities to talk to him in ways that will grow his vocabulary.
For example, when we’re Björnin’ it together at the grocery store, we’re looking at the same shelves at the same time, so it’s really easy to show things to him – or let him explore them with his hands and mouth (sorry about that, next person to pick up that particular avocado). More importantly, it’s really easy to talk to him in this position. I tell him the names of foods as he looks at them, I describe what different products are used for, and we discuss which items I should buy. All of this talk is crucial for his language development. I know that the more I talk, the more he learns, and having his baby head right next to mine in the Björn helps me remember to actually do it.
According to the Dad:
Our BabyBjörn makes me think of Björn Borg, which makes me think of scraggly hair, which makes me think of Kurt Cobain, which makes me think of the news package that MTV ran about a billion times the week after he shot himself, which included some super bummed-out grungy dude lamenting, “Nirvana’s all I listen to…I mean…them and Screaming Trees.”
Does anybody else remember that dude?
I sure hope things have turned around for him.
