Baby Sling Carrier, Sling Soft Baby Carrier, Infant Sling Carriers
Study Shows Parents Can Breathe Easy When Using a Baby Sling Carrier
Some people are just plain passionate about the importance of using a baby sling carrier. Two New Zealand sisters, Emma and Julien Lewis, went so far as to found a nonprofit program to promote their use, the Third Arm Baby Sling carrier project. These women should know what theyre talking about. Between them they have had seven children and claim to have been "carrying babies, toddlers and small children constantly for 14 years!"
Besides everyday activities, the Lewis sisters have done stage performances, gone camping, and traveled the world with children safe and secure in a baby sling carrier.
There is wide consensus that the use of a sling carrier enables moms and dads to be more productive throughout the day without sacrificing physical closeness with their children. In addition, baby sling carriers make it possible for the child be engaged and partake in the experience, the beat, and the rhythms of life.
Putting Parents' Concerns to Bed
Despite rave reviews, however, some parents have worried that transporting a child in a baby sling carrier might interfere with its cardiorespiratory functioning. Research from the University of Cologne, in Germany, claims parents can put those fears to rest.
German researchers studied two-dozen preterm and a dozen full term infants. Doctors monitored babies' oxygen saturation, pulse, nasal airflow, breathing, and overall movements, comparing cardiorespiratory function while the newborns were lying in a pram versus being transported both upright and lying down in a baby sling carrier.
The study's results showed that a child transported in a baby sling carrier was not at risk of any changes across all measures studied. Doctors concluded that the use of a baby sling carrier "is not associated with an increased risk of clinically relevant cardiorespiratory changes in term and preterm infants."
Now parents as well as children should have no trouble taking a nice deep breath!
hildren's Hospital, University of Cologne, Koln, Germany. waltraud.stening@uni-koeln.de
OBJECTIVE: Parents in industrialized societies make increasing use of infant slings to carry their infants. This study was conducted to determine whether infants who are carried in slings are at risk of experiencing clinically relevant changes in cardiorespiratory measurements. METHODS: In a 3-period crossover trial, 24 preterm and 12 term newborns were continually monitored while being carried horizontally or vertically in a sling or lying in a pram. Oxygen saturation, heart rate, nasal airflow, abdominal breathing, and movements were recorded. RESULTS: Infants who were carried in slings were not at risk of clinically relevant changes of oxygen saturation or heart rate. The 90% confidence interval of oxygen saturation in both infant sling positions remained within a +/-2% interval around the average oxygen saturation in the pram. However, a significant decrease of oxygen saturation was observed while infants were carried in a sling with a mean oxygen saturation of 96.3% (standard deviation [SD]: 1.8) in the vertical and 96.1% (SD: 2.0) in the horizontal sling position compared with the mean oxygen saturation in the pram (97.1%; SD: 1.5). The degree and the incidence of desaturations and bradycardia did not change while the infants were carried. Both types of episodes were seen only in preterm infants. CONCLUSION: The use of carrying slings is not associated with an increased risk of clinically relevant cardiorespiratory changes in term and preterm infants.
The American Chiropractic Association offers these tips:
- Only transport very young infants in a sling.
- Your baby can become uncomfortably hot inside the sling, so be aware of the temperature around you.
- Make sure your baby's breathing is clear and unobstructed by the sling's material.
- Don't run or jog while carrying a baby in any backpack style carrier. An infant's body is not adjusted to the cyclic pattern of running and jogging, a motion that can damage your child's neck, spine or brain.