So What's the Big Deal with Babywearing?

Many of my friends have been encouraging me to start "blogging," and I've been putting it all off, as I'm not the most computer-savvy and it's not like I'm loaded with extra time. But, I've thought about it and I've finally decided to give it a try.

I think I'll be blogging about all kinds of things that are important to me-- my kids, family, life, babywearing, breastfeeding, pregnancy, and all the other little lovelies that go along with these topics.

I'm going to start it all out today with my passion, babywearing.

So, what is the big deal with babywearing? It's all over Hollywood these days. Open any current celebrity magazine and you're bound to see photos of some young starlet toting her precious little one around, not in her arms, not in some high-priced glitzy stroller, but in a sling, a Mei Tai, a soft-bodied baby carrier of some sort. There's Julia Roberts, Madonna, Angelina Jolie (of course), Marcia Cross, Gwen Stefani (rumored to be carrying another one!), Kate Hudson, Brooke Shields, and lest we forget the dads, there's Brad Pitt, Gavin Rossdale, Liev Shrieber . . . .the list goes on.

I do it myself, have done it with all three of my kids, and love it! So I'll tell you what the big deal is, in my opinion. There's nothing better than snuggling a warm, sweet smelling little one (baby or toddler) in your arms, gazing into their adoring eyes, talking softly into their little ears, taking them everywhere that you go, making them an integral part of every part of your daily life. And the best part of it is-- I'm not breaking my back doing it! My little one is well-supported in my favorite silk sling, yes, silk-- hey, I want to look good, too-- my hands are free to do whatever it is I want to do, I can breastfeed on-demand hands-free anywhere that I need to (and I have a convenient breastfeeding cover-up at my disposal--the tail of my sling), need I say more?!

Forget about all the real health benefits that go along with babywearing. And there are PLENTY of those. (I'll talk about some of those down the road). I just really like the convenience of being able to do whatever I want whenever I want, have my hands free, and have my sweet little ones up close to my face, not somewhere dangling down by my knees in a heavy carseat "carrier" (you do know they're not really carriers, right?) or, again, down at my knees, facing away from me in a stroller so we can't ever really communicate well. I just can't see the benefit of those devices, bummer for those babies and kids who are strapped into them for every excursion their parents go on.

Anyway, that's the big deal with babywearing. It's convenient, it's great for babies and their parents, it can be very stylish, too, and it keeps me hands-free!

Check out all of MY babywearing goodies at www.babysosmart.com!

http://babysosmart.statesmanblogs.com