Babywearing & Prematurity - Anaïs' experience

This is a question very often asked by parents of premature babies.

Can I use June 22 with my little baby?

The answer is a THOUSAND TIMES YES!

June 22 is used by many parents of premature infants and also in neonatology departments.

Babywearing for premature babies even has a name:

THE KANGAROO METHOD .

A brief return to the origin of the method.

Faced with the lack of incubators in Colombian maternities, Dr. Rey Martinez developed this concept of babywearing with premature babies in the 1970s.

He starts from a simple observation, these babies have vital needs:

- regulate their body temperature because being born in advance they find it difficult to do it alone

- feed (facilitates breastfeeding)

- finish their maturation

Studies even show that the risks of infections and contaminations decrease with this method because the baby benefits from the positive bacterial flora of his parents.

Who better than a mom to tell us about her experience?

Today we give the floor to Anaïs, mother of a 3-month-old girl born in 34 SA.

Can you introduce yourself in a few words?

My name is Anaïs, I'm 27 soon. Not married yet, I'm waiting for the dad's request impatiently haha!

We live in Haute Savoie. I have been a mother of a little girl for a little over 3 months.

Tell us how you experienced your pregnancy and especially how did your delivery go?

I lived the most beautiful of pregnancies, it was for me, the most beautiful period of my life. I loved being pregnant! Everything went very very well.

I gave birth on my 34th birthday . Baby was in a hurry, no risk of early delivery, no one suspected it! And especially not me!

One morning I woke up and my water broke. My delivery was the most beautiful day of my life, so magical, so perfect!

I believe this tiny 3.5 lb baby knew what she was doing. She even breathed directly on her own!

When your daughter was born, what happened?

When she was born, as she was breathing on her own, they left her on me for 20 minutes before taking her to neonatology. Her dad was able to follow her.

There, the anguish began for us . Baby in an incubator, with a probe to help her eat, a catheter in the umbilical cord, electrodes... jaundice, blood sugar tests at each feeding, regular blood tests... Very difficult to see her so small baby with all these machines.

I know that we were very lucky that baby was autonomous in terms of breathing, there are premas babies who need a lot more help... but it was still very difficult for me, and what I experienced most badly was the support we had there...

Initially, we could not take it as we wanted. It was very hard, I felt like my baby was being stolen from me, a part of me was being torn away.

When did you first hear about babywearing?

I heard about babywearing long before giving birth, on behalf of Babyatoutprix.

I had also put a June 22 scarf on my birth list :-)

Were you advised on babywearing and skin-to-skin maternity?

The day after the birth, a nurse asked me if I wanted to take my daughter skin to skin , it was so difficult for me not to have “physical” contact with her.

This nurse helped me a lot and told me to take my daughter as much as I wanted skin to skin.

Skin to skin, especially for premature babies is very important. This helps them regulate their temperature, it's super reassuring for them! And it's comforting, for us too. We don't realize it but it gives them a lot of strength and energy to fight every day.

Besides, the pediatricians told me many times that it was good that we did so much skin-to-skin treatment and that it had helped her a lot.

Carrying and skin to skin allow baby to hear the heart of his mom or dad, it's very soothing for him!

In neonatology there was a carrying instructor who explained to me that you could carry baby as much as you wanted and especially as much as he needed . No guilt to have on “we carry too much baby”. She goes around the families of premas babies to talk about babywearing.

Moreover, childcare assistants offered mothers to take their babies in a sling. They took over if the parents wished when they had to go home or work.

It is very positive for the development of babies.

What do you like about June 22?

I admit that when you don't know, when you've never carried babywearing, I was afraid of not being able to install baby in the sling, to tie the knots etc... afraid of dropping baby, of not not feel safe with the scarf.

But then with the June 22 scarf, everything is super simple. There are even tutorial videos to explain, we just have to follow :-).

I find that the scarves are super pretty and it's still super important I think. A real fashion accessory hihi.

They are very accessible, no need to be a pro portage at all.

(The neonat babywearing instructor had shown me other knot techniques that were complicated).

The designer is always good advice if you need anything!

In addition, being able to choose the material of the scarf is great. Once back home, we always have 1000 things to do and the fleece scarf allowed me to continue to do skin to skin, in a scarf, while going about my business and as it is a winter baby, keep her warm outside!

 

Dad also carries home. Tell us a bit about how it goes and how he feels when he carries his daughter.

So yes, the dad has done as much skin-to-skin and carries our daughter as much as I do.

He had to go back to work, as soon as he gets home he carries our daughter. I think what he likes more is to put it in a scarf when he cooks!

We really like going for walks in the mountains, on the beach or going to see the horses. The stroller is not practical and sometimes impossible to take it: with the baby sling can follow us everywhere :-)

If you had one piece of advice for parents of premature babies, what would it be?

Carry your baby as much as possible! It's only good for them, and for you too!

Do not listen if you are told that you wear it too much: false! There is no “too much”!!!

When she wants to be posed, she makes us understand!

And trust yourself, don't blame yourself!