Babywearing As an Evidence-Based Intervention for Young Mothers

Background: Young mothers, and mothers who are at higher risk for child maltreatment and neglect, are more likely to experience difficulty bonding with their baby compared to other mothers: Their babies are more likely to have a difficult temperament (e.g., born premature, have prenatal exposure to substance use) and they are less likely to have the resources (e.g., social support, financial support) required to cope with heightened infant crying and infant sleep dis-regulation. Infants who have not developed secure attachments to a parent are at an increased risk for abuse and neglect. Currently, there are few interventions available that specifically target mother-infant bonding. The goal of this paper is to highlight the potential use of babywearing (holding or carrying a baby in a cloth carrier that is worn on the body) practices as an effective intervention to improve the health and well-being of infants and young mothers.

Methods: The Mother Baby Bonding Study is an ongoing community-based intervention study. Seventy-two mothers aged 15 to 25 years (M=19.2 years, SD=2.3; 47.8% White, 40.6% Hispanic; 40% <=11^th grade) participated in parent programing from Healthy Families or Teen Outreach Pregnancy Services. They were randomly assigned to an intervention condition (recieved an infant carrier with babywearing instruction from a Volunteer Babywearing Educator) or a control condition (received a baby book set). Mother’s in the intervention condition were told to babywear at least one hour every day. Mother’s in the control condition were told to read to their babies. Mothers were assessed in their homes when their babies were 2-4 weeks of age (W1) and were followed up 3- (W2) and 6- (W3) months later. Retention from W1 to W3 is currently 85% (W3 data collection will be completed by August). Mothers were assessed on measures of attachment, breastfeeding, parenting confidence, and overall health and well-being (e.g., depression, anxiety and stress). At W3, mothers and babies participated in the Still-Face Paradigm (2 minutes interaction, 2 minutes still-face, 2 minutes reunification). Videos were coded for observed mother-infant attachment.

Results: Mothers in the intervention condition babywore approximately 4.2 days a week (SD=1.4), 77 minutes a day (range=16-200 minutes), and 5.9 hours a week (range=1.3-16 hours). In comparison, at W3 40% of the control mothers babywore; 25% babywore daily. Preliminary results using repeated measures ANOVA indicate that mothers in the intervention condition had fewer symptoms of depression (η_p² = .03), stress (η_p² = .05), anxiety (η_p² = .06), had fewer headaches (η_p² = .09) and sleep disturbances (η_p² = .08), and had fewer bonding problems (η_p² = .01) compared to mothers in the control condition. Effect sizes were small to moderate.

Conclusions and Implications: Babywearing is a cost-effective and culturally relevant practice across many cultures. For the practitioner, video data will be presented from the 6-month follow-up to highlight observed markers of mother-infant attachment problems. Preliminary results hold promising policy implications as Babywearing is an effective tool, particularly in vulnerable populations, at promoting infant attachment, enhancing mother well-being, and ultimately reducing child maltreatment.