So it seems that new mums don’t quite have enough to worry about yet. To add to our concerns, an expert in Australia has announced that by carrying babies facing forward, we might be causing them long-term psychological damage. In fact, according to Professor Catherine Fowler, mums who do are “cruel and selfish”.
She’s opened a can of worms here, though, as other experts have rallied around forward-facing buggies and baby carriers, refuting her claims. Particularly, as Professor Fowler reckons it’s not just newborns that should be kept parent-facing, but all babies up to the age of a year. So while very young babies could potentially be over stimulated, by the time your tot is a few months old, she’ll be dying to see what’s going on around her.
“Imagine if you were strapped to someone’s chest with your legs and arms flailing, heading with no control into a busy shopping centre – it would be terrifying,” Professor Fowler.
But the opposite view is that babies may get bored and lack stimulus if they face their parents at all times.
“Parents have enough to worry about without feeling guilty about which way they push their child in a stroller,” said midwife Robin Barker.
The research Professor Fowler relied upon was a 2008 study by the University of Dundee that found that face-forward buggies could affect child development as babies could find it more difficult to get their parents’ attention.
But as many new buggies now offer the ability to change your buggy from front to rear-facing as you want, the concerns are more likely to worry frazzled parents.
We tend to agree with Robin, if your baby is loved and fed, it doesn’t matter which way she sits in her buggy or carrier. What do you think?
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