Babywearing and Infant Reflux: Carrying On

Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash

Babywearing has been on my mind lately.

Now, it's been a good six years now since I tried to wrangle my fussy infant into my wrap, and hope he wouldn't cry too much or spit up all over me and himself. It usually ended badly and my patience waned with each session.

This is why it's been on my mind; the Dec. 30, 2019 Consumer Reports article, "While They Were Sleeping: How a product tied to 73 infant deaths came to market and stayed for a decade, as government and industry knew the risks."

Infant reflux is at the core of the Rock N' Play Sleeper story. It's there, because for so many families with reflux babies, from the extremely severe to the "happy spitters," sleep can be near impossible, and the creator of the product had lived through this with their baby. The premise was to help the baby rest and give the parents a break, or so I've read.

I never owned a Rock N' Play or something similar; equally dangerous and desperate I turned to a car seat when I needed to take a shower or anything else that required more than one hand. I've personally spent my time as my children have grown, learning about safe sleep, including where I went wrong and what I could've done different.

This is where babywearing, done safely and properly, truly comes into focus. I wonder to myself: with the knowledge of parents who have babies with reflux today, regarding the correct safe sleep guidelines, and the dangers of inclined sleepers or other help aids, what options remain for the extra helping hand of support when needed?

The Consumer Reports article states: "By early December 2019, major retailers such as Amazon, eBay, Buy Buy Baby, and Walmart vowed to pull all infant inclined sleepers from sale, even those that hadn’t been recalled. And before the end of the year, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to ban the sale of infant inclined sleepers. That bill is now in the Senate."

Will more parents turn to babywearing, or at least give it a better shot that I did back then? I usually ended up holding my baby whenever possible or turning to unsafe (but recommended at the time) solutions. In hindsight I would've made it THE solution to manage work, my two-year-old, and everything else thrown my way at the time.

What is your experience with babywearing and reflux? Will it grow in importance and interest?

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