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How to wear your baby to work

nature.com

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Re: How to wear your baby to work

#11

Post by jedberg »

chrisin2d wrote: post #7

I have thought about how it would be societally healthy for parents to bring their babies and infants to work. In modern times we treat child-rearing as a private matter to be hidden from public adult life, but it’s long been a communal matter. Admittedly, I’m not great with kids: I don’t have the instincts yet. But I can recognize that childcare isn’t something that someone can schedule as a 4-hour bloc to be one-an…

I think the pandemic has helped in this regard. It seems to be pretty acceptable now to have a quiet kid sitting in your lap for a meeting, or taking a quick second to answer their question.

I hope this trend continues past the pandemic.

Re: How to wear your baby to work

#12

Post by dleslie »

I've had two babies while working from home at my current gig, and both of them spent plenty of time strapped to me while I bounced on a yoga ball and wrote code.

I went with a sling/wrap, and could easily snug a bottle under it for them to nurse on while I worked. (I'm a man, making me ill-equipped to do so otherwise).

Re: How to wear your baby to work

#13

Post by peterwoerner »

k2enemy wrote: post #2

> Fast forward three years to the birth of my second child earlier this year, and I am a senior postdoc and the president of our local babywearing group. I started wearing number 2 to the lab two weeks after she was born, because I was planning to apply for faculty jobs, and I was worried that taking time off would weaken my applications. Nothing to do with baby wearing (which I am a huge proponent of) but this sound…

Your conclusion is very true. And academia has a way of putting the pressure on the young workforce (until tenure at 40ish) to work long hours for not much money.

And while this is true, it is also worth pointing out that many parents don't want to pause their adult/career goals for 3-6 months because of a new baby. I recently had my first child and while she was little (now 10 months) she would sleep/sit on my lap while I wrote code/ran numerical experiments. I had paternity leave, but I needed to keep working on something because I have an active mind. Now I only worked 4ish hours a day instead of my usual 8-10 (and on side projects instead of work), but I wanted to continue working. My wife who does graphic/web design consulting continued after the birth because it feels good to do adult things. And she didn't stop just because the baby was born she just dropped to 5ish hours a week which has slowly crept back up.

Re: How to wear your baby to work

#14

Post by prionassembly »

The article doesn't deliver what the title promises.

I'm going to be a dad in mid 21 and want to carry the child with me a lot. I've seen people use entire plastic products they attach to their upper torso that seem great, as (1) I'm not confident on my knot making skills (and I have a lot to learn already) and (2) maybe that stuff distributes the weight around better?

But: maybe slings built out of whole cloth like the one shown in the picture are better somehow for parental attachment, and the structured kangaroo carrier is halfway a stroller. Maybe that's not even the tradeoff and there are other health and hazard considerations (e.g. sometimes I get hyperfocused enough that I can forgo lunch; should I carry my child on my chest rather than my back so I'm better aware of her status?)

I want to know a lot about this subject and don't even know what questions to ask.

Re: How to wear your baby to work

#15

Post by vondur »

prionassembly wrote: post #14

The article doesn't deliver what the title promises. I'm going to be a dad in mid 21 and want to carry the child with me a lot. I've seen people use entire plastic products they attach to their upper torso that seem great, as (1) I'm not confident on my knot making skills (and I have a lot to learn already) and (2) maybe that stuff distributes the weight around better? But: maybe slings built out of whole cloth like…

I used the Baby Bjorn harness to tote my son around when he was an infant. He really liked it, and I was able to shop and get things done with him. I liked it.

Re: How to wear your baby to work

#16

Post by jacobolus »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #3

Being a father I cannot comment too much on wearing baby to work. (I would be inclined to say that mothers, even scientist mothers, should be given sufficient parental leave, and that this should be adjusted for in all hiring processes.) But I did frequently wear both our babies in a sling during lots of other activities. Hiking, cross country skiing, strolling around town, doing small projects around the house, or j…

One additional tip: if you hold your baby by the thighs and let them learn to balance their torso upright for a few minutes a day starting at about 5 months, within a month or two they should have enough strength/balance to sit up on your shoulders.

Personally I found carrying a baby on shoulders a heck of a lot more convenient and comfortable than carrying them on my chest. Also then the whole time you are walking around the baby is further strengthening their muscles and improving their balance.

Re: How to wear your baby to work

#17

Post by butwhydotjpg »

mschuster91 wrote: post #8
k2enemy wrote: post #2

> Fast forward three years to the birth of my second child earlier this year, and I am a senior postdoc and the president of our local babywearing group. I started wearing number 2 to the lab two weeks after she was born, because I was planning to apply for faculty jobs, and I was worried that taking time off would weaken my applications. Nothing to do with baby wearing (which I am a huge proponent of) but this sound…

> Still a postdoc after three years and going in to the lab two weeks after giving birth? We are producing way too many grad students. No, you're lacking adequate protection for fresh parents, mothers and fathers alike. At the moment career market forces have the upper hand - they can select for those who are willing to go back to the lab two weeks postpartum. If it were mandatory that all new parents had six months…

Probably not given the dynamics already at play. Paternity leave policies for young economics academics gave men an upper hand, because they were able to use their leave to continue working, but still benefit from the paused tenure clock. (I still support universal parental leave policies.)

https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/pa...

Re: How to wear your baby to work

#18

Post by gumby »

What an encouraging article.

> I started wearing number 2 to the lab two weeks after she was born, because I was planning to apply for faculty jobs, and I was worried that taking time off would weaken my applications.

Also a good way to show you are a "no BS just gets things done" kind of person. Also selects out places that aren't tolerant of anything unusual, but given the number of post docs and faculty positions many may be afraid of this.

Re: How to wear your baby to work

#20

Post by watwut »

mschuster91 wrote: post #8
k2enemy wrote: post #2

> Fast forward three years to the birth of my second child earlier this year, and I am a senior postdoc and the president of our local babywearing group. I started wearing number 2 to the lab two weeks after she was born, because I was planning to apply for faculty jobs, and I was worried that taking time off would weaken my applications. Nothing to do with baby wearing (which I am a huge proponent of) but this sound…

> Still a postdoc after three years and going in to the lab two weeks after giving birth? We are producing way too many grad students. No, you're lacking adequate protection for fresh parents, mothers and fathers alike. At the moment career market forces have the upper hand - they can select for those who are willing to go back to the lab two weeks postpartum. If it were mandatory that all new parents had six months…

In academia, it would mean that having child would be career end. Only childless would be able to compete.
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