What's the Most Essential Baby Item? Hint: It's not what you think...

Well, OK maybe you guessed it - it's YOU! You might think it'd say a baby sling or even more specifically a natya BABYSLING but you'd be wrong. Any sling is just a tool - a way to keep your baby close to you so that your baby gets the best possible start in life and so that you can actually
have a life!

Most people who read this will be mums, however when I say YOU I don't just mean mums. A baby needs human contact as much as food - as you may have read in my earlier newsletters experiments have shown that babies actually start to die if they don't receive physical contact beyond minimal handling for basic cleaning, dressing and feeding.

So, although as a mum you're in the best position to give your baby the best possible start in life through breastfeeding, your baby can still thrive even if you don't breastfeed and even if you are not the one looking after your baby. If your baby is held and carried next to someone for most of the day when very young that is going to be hugely beneficial for your baby's social, cognitive and physical development.

So even if you are the kind of mum who wants to look after your baby full time, you still need some time without your baby. I knew that I could happily leave my high need baby with her father when I needed a break, and I also was able to let her go with my best friend and my mother - people who I trusted and were close to and who were willing and able to use the sling - yes - here we go - I had to mention the sling!

In all seriousness, the reason I was able to leave my baby without too much worry(!) was because she was at home in the sling. In a way it didn't matter to her who was carrying her, just that she was in that familiar environment, experiencing the same feelings although with a different 'flavour' as each person walked and moved differently.

I hope that my experiences can help you either in not feeling guilty if you don't look after your baby full time or in allowing yourself to happily spend time without your baby when you need to.

Encouraging dads and grandparents or other carers to use a sling can be very liberating for you as a mum as it's so much easier to leave your baby with other people. And for them it can be lovely to know that they really can look after your baby well. It can also be nice for dads to get a sense of what it's been like for you during pregnancy - although it's much easier to carry a baby in a sling!