Trees Make the Best Mobiles by Jessica Teich

Author:Jessica Teich
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780312303259
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

if it ain’t broke,

don’t fix it

baby gear

Car seats and carriers that double as easy chairs, bouncy seats, battery-operated swings, jumpers, walkers, stationary walkers known as “excersaucers”—these are just some of the contraptions in which we park our babies. We tell ourselves, “If I could just get him to sleep, or at least keep him busy, I could get something done.”

When we’re not putting our babies in devices they can’t get out of on their own, we’re placing them in postures they can’t get into on their own, like sitting. How many times have you seen a small baby propped up with pillows, looking like a cross between an elderly convalescent and a sand castle at high tide? “But he gets bored lying on his back,” a new father may complain. Did the baby whisper in his ear, “Please, Dad, I need a new perspective on life”? Is it the baby who is bored or the parent?

Most of the books new parents consult say that babies learn to “sit up,” or are able to sit unsupported, between six and seven months. What they mean is that your six month old, if deposited on his bottom, can keep himself erect for thirty seconds or so before you have to yell “Timber!” Children who are regularly placed in the “locked and upright position,” before they can attain it on their own, sometimes get hurt when they topple over and feel frustrated when they can’t resurrect themselves. Few babies can go from lying down to sitting up on their own until they begin to crawl. Until then, a baby needs a lap and arms to support him while sitting. In short, he needs the contours of a “human chair.”

Your three month old’s neck has about as much strength as a strand of linguine. If you’re putting him down on his tummy, he may very well need a “new perspective,” one that encompasses more than the weave of the rug beneath. When not being held or carried, young babies are most comfortable lying on their backs. This position affords them the greatest mobility, not to mention a better view. Once your child has learned to roll over—you may want to teach your dog this, but not your baby—he’ll be game to spend some “quality time” on his belly.

Many of us complain of backache after a long trip in an airplane seat. But none of us knows the long-term effect on infants of sitting for hours each day in molded plastic car seats or carriers. Only use a car seat when it’s absolutely necessary: when your baby’s in the car. An eight month old spending as little as twenty minutes a day in stationary walkers may suffer long-term consequences. Physical therapists are seeing more and more children with sway backs and pronated or flat feet. Many of these children will grow up to develop knee, hip, and back problems. While “safer” than jumpers or walkers, which have been linked to numerous accidents, excersaucers force children who can’t stand on their own yet to do just that.

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