While infants enjoy being worn by their parents best, babies will adapt to substitute caregivers better if worn in the sling they are used to. “Home” to a tiny baby is in the sling. Brian, a toddler in our practice, calls his sling “my little house.”
Parents of high-need babies often confide to us that they are afraid to leave the baby with anyone because no one else can comfort these special babies. High- need babies who are accustomed to being worn are more easily comforted by a babysitter who wears them. Barbara, a busy mom whose only hope of survival was to wear her high-need baby, relates this story. “Jason is so happy when he is in the sling that I feel comfortable briefly leaving him with a sitter. I transfer Jason to her while in the sling—sort of like the transfer of a baton in a relay race—and she takes over the wearing. He forgets to fuss, and I feel better knowing his routine is not disrupted.”