Yep, you read it right---"Shackles for Babies". I can hear you---"WHAT!" You are outraged and really hoping this is some sick, twisted practical joke. Sorry to disappoint, but this is no joke. This awful thing is happening to babies all over the United States! The "Shackles for Babies" devices are sold by the finest and well-known retailers and are frequently the "most favorite" presents at baby showers. "WHAT????"
One definition of shackles is "anything that serves to prevent freedom or movement." Using that definition, here are some additional illustrations of "Shackles for Babies":
Perhaps you have some "Shackles for Babies" in your home. Perhaps your child "loves" them. Perhaps you don't think you could live without them. But, please consider some information before you use your "Shackles for Babies" again.
Humans are built to move. Before birth, one of the most important signs of health is movement. Your obstetrician is sure to ask, "How much does the baby move?" They may even have you do a "kick count" to measure your baby's wellbeing. If you report to a healthcare professional that your child is not moving in utero, everyone starts getting serious. You'll likely get an ultrasound and numerous little tricks will be tried in an attempt to wake up that baby and get it moving. Bbbbbbbuuuuuuutttttttt . . . . once that little one enters the world, they are wiped off, swaddled up like a burrito and flipped on their back. They are unable to move their arms, legs or even turn their heads. Hhhhhhmmmmmmmm . . . what just happened? Why is movement so vital one moment and strictly prohibited the next?
Paralysis, paraplegia, quadraplegia, etc.----those are all words that strike fear into the hearts of mothers. We would be devastated for our children to suffer from any of those conditions. Yet we IMPOSE those conditions on our child by strapping them into devices that prevent them from moving. A wheelchair can move much better than an infant swing, but we'd be heartbroken to put our child in a wheelchair. Why aren't we heartbroken to put them into "Shackles for Babies"?
When men sit on the couch watching sports all day, we call them Couch Potatoes. When people laze around in their pajamas in bed all day, we call them Slugs or Sloths. Why would we force our infants into the same conditions we abhor in adults?
Movement is beautiful. People love to watch beautiful movement. During the Olympics, we all re-arrange our schedules to see the gymnastics, track & field, swimming, figure skating, etc. When people run or swim or flip gracefully and skillfully, it is one of the most exhilarating sights. Why would deny our offspring the opportunity to begin that most liberating task of movement?
Babies are born to move---they need freedom in the prone position to learn to use their arms and legs in a coordinated way culminating with independent travel---getting across the room to find out what is in the cabinets, under the plant, in Mommy's purse, etc. They learn independence by moving to satisfy their wants and desires. They learn to use their two eyes together to focus on a single object, and thus LEARN depth perception. Yes, depth perception is LEARNED first by being in the prone position----and not for just 15 minutes a day.
Infants should spend their waking hours in a safe, clean, warm environment in the prone position. Infants can only see a short distance initially---on their backs they don't have the opportunity to learn to use their vision and converge the vision of their two eyes. (Nope, mobiles and baby gyms don't change this---the mobiles don't give them an opportunity to learn and explore their environment, visually or otherwise.) The perfect way for an infant to learn to use his vision properly is to be on his tummy, when the ground/floor is just a short distance away and his toys are nearby. He learns neck control and back strength in a much healthier and functional way.
The natural progression of mobility is to first crawl on your belly (sometimes called the army crawl or commando crawl), then creep on your hands/knees (medical definition is creeping, most Americans call it crawling), THEN walk, hop and run. This development is crucial for vision, respiration, digestive motility, coordination and neurological organization.
Please do not use the "Shackles for Babies" for convenience. These devices cause terrible results in the structure of these infants (look at the pictures and see how misaligned their legs, back and head are). They keep the precious little one from exploring his world. They also isolate the child from other people---who is playing with a baby in one of these devices???? Usually, no one.
Is your house going to get torn up if your baby is free to move? Yes. Is it going to be harder to clean, cook and do laundry if your baby is on their stomach on the floor? Yes. Are their clothes going to get more worn out and dirty? Yes. Are you going to have to be a LOT more diligent about keeping the floor clean and free to small things that might be choking hazards? Yes. Are the results worth it? More Yeses than I have space to type!
Please do not limit your child's opportunity to move during his waking hours. Please let life on the floor be a way of life. (I have an opinion about sleeping hours, but that is another post for another day.) Please do not deny your child the chance to enter into the joyous world of movement. Let them figure out their arms & legs and use them for the purpose God designed them. That is a designer I don't think should be argued with.
Amen and amen! Let me add to your list of "negatives" the increased probability that your child will be mobile at an age when they have barely begun to learn communication, reason, and obedience. When my daughter's firstborn started crawling at 4 months, she moaned, "I’ve been trying to give Joseph all the opportunity and encouragement I could manage so he could learn to crawl, but I found my first reaction was, 'You can crawl!!! Now what do I do?!?!?!?' Suddenly this apartment feels very small."
ReplyDeleteObviously she managed, and is glad, because she's doing the same thing for her second child, born less than a month ago. :)
Which brings me to my second point: You ask why parents would shackle their children. Having just returned from attending the birth of the above-mentioned grandchild, I can say that in the first few weeks parents will do almost anything to keep their newborn happy. Our granddaughter loves to be swaddled and held in-arms, which I think is fine at that age. After all, she hadn't exactly had a lot of freedom of movement during her last month in utero. And the in-arms position brings her plenty of good things to practice focusing on (mama's breast and adoring face, for two). Plus being held close to mom, dad, or grandma(!) has other, priceless, benefits.
But in my experience babies wean themselves from the need to be held close all the time pretty quickly, and it's then that parents need to take care not to get the babies (and themselves) addicted to entertainment devices. Of course, who am I to talk? Our granddaughter has one of the best entertainment devices available: a 19-month-old brother.
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the nighttime hours. I have a few of those myself. :)
I am Donna's friend and a pediatric physical therapist who treats babies ages 3-20 months of age that have been diagnosed with plagiocephaly, brachycephaly, and torticollis. I usually don't post or comment much, but do feel passionate about this subject. So I apologize in advance for stepping on my soapbox. Unfortunately, because this equipment is marketed so well as something that a loving parent needs for their baby, we are seeing some unintended consequences.
ReplyDeleteAll of this equipment along with "back to sleep" has contributed to a dramatic increase in torticollis (tight neck on one side), plagiocephaly (asymmetrical flat, misshaped head), and brachycephaly (flat, wide, head). Incidence of plagiocephaly 20 years ago was about 1 in 3000, usually only in twins or triplets (from in-uterine constraint). Now estimates can be found at 1 in 15, to 1 in 10. A whole generation is growing up with wider flatter and misshapen heads. Watch any middle school football game and I am willing to bet at least one helmet flies off of a head. From CT scans of 5 and 6 month old infants with plagiocephaly, displacement of the jaw (cross bite and underbite) is evident. The ears are shifted out of alignment and research has documented a difference in pressure in the tiny eustacian tubes making a baby prone to chronic ear infection.
I tell parents every day to take their babies out of the "containers" and put them on the floor on a blanket instead. I'm not a fan of swaddling either. I have seen some parents who are tightly wrapping their babies like a mummy even at 7 and 8 months old for sleeping so they can't move. They lie on their back with their arms and legs tightly at their sides. These babies are unable to self sooth and cry unless they are BOUND for sleep. Or worse, they SLEEP all night in swings or carriers. Their heads are FLAT. Their necks are TIGHT and their trunks are WEAK They are not rolling or sitting, let alone creeping or crawling. Some parents decide that to keep the head from getting flatter, they need to get them off of their back. Instead of working on tummy time (because the babies hate it by now), they put them in bumbo seats or exersaucers. Now they are being asked to sit or stand in a piece of equipment without the necessary back strength to hold themselves upright (back strength is developed from tummy time). They slump in the upright equipment and develop severe kyphosis (rounded back) and scoliosis (curved spine). When they try to sit with help, instead of sitting on their little bottoms (pelvis), they sit on the sacrum of their spine. One thing leads to another and before long, we have some serious problems that need to be addressed. After being educated, most parents and grandparents feel terrible because they were sold on all of the cute equipment. It is fun to register for and receive all of this equipment. It is marketed as a NEED. I can't even walk into a buy buy baby store without getting upset.
So please, young parents. Put your babies on a quilt on the floor. When they begin to roll and crawl and creep around the room, instead of becoming frustrated, cheer your baby on and celebrate their achievements. If you have a wood or tile floor put a rug or mat down. There is not a good reason to deny your baby floor time. My sister had a baby this month and from day one put him on the floor. She was surprised to see him independently roll from his back to his side at 4 days old. That is what babies are supposed to do. They can't if they are strapped into things or swaddled all the time. When my daughter has babies of her own, I am buying her a QUILT for the FLOOR. No mobiles either. My grand babies will be allowed to look around and move to discover their environment. If you are still reading, thank you for listening to my rant.
Some additional thoughts about the evolution of equipment. 20 years ago car seats did not clip out of cars into strollers. We had to unstrap the baby and carry him when we got to our destination. No one carried a baby in an infant carrier. Now there is no need to unstrap the baby for hours as they lie contained in the carrier. I remember going to church as a young mother and sitting on the front row of chairs in sunday school with the other young mothers. We all spread out our baby quilts and put our babies on the floor. Or we carried them in our laps. Or stood up in the back holding and bouncing them to keep them quiet. Now I see young parents sitting on church pews their babies beside them in a carrier on the pew. Some even feed them a bottle while the baby lies strapped in the carrier. For hours.
ReplyDelete20 years ago we did not have bouncy seats. If we had to put the baby down do do a load of laundry we put them on the floor. On a quilt.
20 years ago, our swings had noisy cranks on them. After 15 minutes, the swinging would stop and it would need to be re cranked. A sleeping baby would wake and cry. Swing time was over. Now the swings plug into the wall and silently (or with soothing music) rock for hours and hours. No need to wake a sleeping baby!
I have already expressed the importance of tummy time. But believe it or not, putting a baby on their back on the floor is MUCH better than strapped in a piece of equipment that is on an incline. Look at any baby in a piece of equipment. Gravity pulls the head to one side. This is not a cute position - it leads to the terrible problem of torticollis and plagiocephaly. Also, look at where the pressure is being applied to the head. The baby lies with his chin tucked to his chest with the carrier pushing up on the lower occiput (bottom of the back of the skull). This leads to a tall , wide, flat head with a sloped forehead (cone shaped head). On the floor even on his back, the pressure is not on the lower occiput, and the baby is free to move his head from side to side, develop essential trunk muscles as he rolls from side to side, pulls his feet up to his hands, etc. None of this can be done strapped in a carrier.
Everyone has different opinions on back to sleep. The American Academy of Pediatrics still recommends back to sleep and SIDS has decreased by 50%. I don't want to debate this issue. Just keep in mind that after sleeping all night on their backs, infants are being strapped into equipment that is on an incline ALL DAY LONG. I think this is even more damaging than lying on their backs on a flat surface without the restraint of straps or excessive swaddling. I think I am done now!
I love the comments and the extra reasons to use tummy time. I have a four monthold and he is on his tummy all the time. I am suprised when I talked to my sisters about thier babies being on thier tummies the response is not very often and he'll crawl soon enough. There is a misconception about what tummy time is for. Most mom's think it is for getting them ready to crawl or strengthen thier necks and backs for crawling. Even at the doctors office there is no explaination for what tummy time is for, just if we are doing it. Thanks again for reinforcment
ReplyDelete@Julie -- when my daughter finally got up the courage to tell her pediatrician that her son slept on his stomach, his reaction was, "Of course. Look at the shape of his head, look at how physically advanced he is -- this is no back-sleeping baby!" He had apparently known for a some time. Don't ask, don't tell. Officially, he had to tell her that babies should sleep on their backs. But he knew the difference.
ReplyDeleteBut even a strict adherence to "back to sleep" leaves many hours when kids could be free, but aren't.
We are big fans of limiting the usage of the baby prisons, our 11.5 year old gave it the name. I tried to use a bouncy seat with our oldest but he just wouldn't have it so we didn't bother buying it when the 2nd was born almost 9 years later. Quilts & tummy time have always been big for us. All three of our children have preferred to sleep on their bellies. I'd lay them on their backs to sleep and they'd roll to the belly. Or they would lay on my chest, while I laid on my back, to sleep.
ReplyDeleteWhen they started creeping at a young age we encouraged it. I guess that's why, according to others, they all creeped and walked early. Our youngest is now a pro at walking she is 11 months and she's been walking for 2.5 months.
What about baby-wearing? Is that a shackle? I read somewhere (sorry, I don't remember where!) that African babies walk sooner than Western babies, with the possible explanation that they get lots of vestibular and other stimulation from being carried on their mother's backs much of the time. Baby-wearing moms claim developmental benefits as well as emotional ones. Are both floor time and baby-wearing good and you need a balance, or is baby-wearing bad?
ReplyDeleteBaby Wearing---I must honestly say, I am not a fan. I have lots of Attachment Parenting friends who will "boo" this response. African babies walking sooner doesn't win any points with me either----did they creep/crawl? If they didn't then they are highly likely to be disorganized in the midbrain/pons and suffer from lack of visual convergence, poor visual tracking, inadequate auditory processing and a host of other neurological problems that will limit their abilities in life. If I had to point to a continent I wanted to emulate, Africa would not be the one.
ReplyDeleteSo, before I list my problems with baby wearing, I will acknowledge that there are a ton of different slings, carriers, etc out there. You need not write to me telling me that a particular product is different and better---I am writing about the practice as a whole.
1. Babies are developing a hip socket by being in the prone position or on a mother's hip---those 2 places are the best for that. It may not seem like a big deal, but once you see children who have hip dysplasia, you will understand that it IS a big deal.
2. When babies are being "worn", they are not learning how to use their arms/legs for mobility, which is a BIG reason for having arms/legs. We don't know how much time babies need for learning this lesson, so let's give them as much opportunity as possible.
3. Babies are NOT meant to be convenient. When we put them in any device that is "convenient" we have a tendency as parents to focus on the other tasks at hand. It is easy to almost "forget" about that baby in the sling/carrier/cuddler/whatever you want to call it, and just go about our business. And HOURS can pass by with that child hanging off their parent, when it was perhaps intended to be for a short time.
4. Please HOLD your baby. I'm sure YOU do, but again, I'm speaking as a whole here. People have stopped holding their children. They put them in the sling, in the infant carrier, etc. etc. etc. and don't hold them. It's inconvenient and will slow you down at times, but do it any way. Holding your baby is another important reason for having arms.
5. Infants need to develop NEAR POINT convergence. When they are worn facing away from their parent (or whoever), they are not having the opportunity to focus at near point. That's why the floor is so handy, it's so close to their face and it holds toys and other things to look at so nicely.
6. While I am certainly an advocate of bonding with your baby, I am also an advocate of children learning independence right from the start. I believe this is the foundation of self-confidence (I've seen a mini-controlled study about this within my own family, but that is another blogpost). If your child is constantly "tied" to the parent, how are they going to explore the household and make a big mess? How are they going to get the "practice time" it takes to master physical skills (which lead to MANY sensory and cognitive skills)?
7. I remember times in the lives of my children when they just seemed to "need" me constantly. They would be right at my heels, perhaps whining, and it seemed as if they were glued to my hip. That's when I knew I needed to STOP doing other things, sit down, and hold my child. We needed rocking time or story time or some kind of TIME with just us. I'm glad I didn't just strap them on and keep going about my business. I don't think it satisfies the need nearly as well. (And please remember that I have EIGHT children, am involved in my church and my community. No one should ever tell me I don't understand about being busy. ;)
Soooooooooooo, those are my thoughts and feelings on the matter. I hope this helps!
Loved this! I personally babywear when going out instead of the carrier so my baby is close to me, but when at home she is in my arms and lap, and she spends happy time (when she isn't upset about me leaving her alone) on the ground or our bed...she has already been rolling from her back to side and vice versa...she also loves to be on my chest and hold her head up and look around, focusing on me and my face and daddy's when he is nearby...this is awesome, sis Bateman! :)
ReplyDeleteAs a pediatric OT, I know that most people are only worried about "when they will walk" or "are they walking". Thanks for pointing out the importance of creeping/crawling!! When else are we able to strengthen our shoulder, wrist, hands, arches in our hand (as well as trunk, etc) in that way? Many dr. act like skipping the creep/crawl isn't a big deal, but it is! The movement helps with reading, writing, fine motor skills and so much more. I hate it when I see kids that are in those shackle devices all day. So sad.
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