Warning: Baby Wearing Leads to Orangutan-like Behavior in Toddlers

It’s true. The verdict is finally in. Baby wearing (or wearing your baby in a baby carrier) leads to orangutan-like behavior in toddlers. I’ve provided a photo as evidence. Of all of the primates, I’m leaning more toward orangutans than anything else, because they’re:

• Gentle
• Loving
• Copper-haired (like my daughter)
• Very good climbers
• Securely attached to their mothers
• Very social

As you can see, my daughter is quite a skilled climber. She climbs up my back, holds on gently to my shoulders and neck, and uses the back of my pants (or in this case, skirt) as a standing ledge. It’s so adorable. It may seem uncomfortable, but it’s not.

See, the years I spent baby wearing my daughter, Ayla, created a strong level of comfort with each other. We move fluidly together and can anticipate each other’s body movements. The evening that this picture was taken, Ayla stayed on my back the entire time I made dinner. That means, she stayed there gracefully attached to my back as I bent down to get dishes out of the dishwasher, food out of the fridge, and walked around the kitchen. Neither Ayla nor I experienced any fear of her falling or letting go. If she reached for something, I could anticipate it before she did it and I was able to almost instinctively, reach my arm around to hold her in place as I continued along with my tasks.

Ayla may just be a strong, graceful, child with well developed muscle strength and fantastic motor control by nature. It is worth noting, though, that all of these traits are highly encouraged and developed by wearing your baby regularly the first year.

The picture is comedic, but what the picture represents is an impressive testament to the benefits of babywearing our youngsters.

Note: While Ayla was a baby, our carrier of choice was the Moby Wrap.