Center for Babywearing Studies

The research we’ve been waiting for is here!
This month, two new studies on babywearing were published in BMJ Paediatrics Open, both are open access and free for anyone to read. The questions we, as babywearing educators and consultants, answer every day have finally been put to research.
The first pulls together 62 studies on the safety and benefits of carrying. The second surveys 1,470 UK parents on how they choose carriers and where they turn for help. Both come from the Durham Infancy and Sleep Centre, funded by The Lullaby Trust and Teddy’s Wish.

What they found will sound familiar.

Carrying brings real, documented benefits that we are all talking about already: kangaroo care for premature and opioid-exposed babies, longer breastfeeding, bonding and secure attachment, healthy hip development, and stronger parental mental health. The rare risks, like airway compromise and falls, almost always trace back to fit and positioning. That’s the entire case for skilled support, now citable. Skilled here is an important note.

The survey says it plainly. Parents who reached a sling library or an educator came away genuinely informed about fit and positioning. Online, where most carriers are bought, almost no one got help. And when asked whom they trust for carrier advice, parents named educators and sling library coordinators.
This is evidence for our field to stand on. It’s already shaping new UK national guidance on safe carrying. And for those who read the references closely, some of the work our community shares is right there in them.
These papers are worth reading in full, saving, and putting in front of the parents and professionals in our communities. This is now part of our evidence base, and it has our field’s fingerprints all over it.
Both papers and the full write-up are on the blog. Link in commnet

One carrier. A room of different bodies. All wearing it at the same time.
That was The Babywearing Weekend | HELD carrier lab in Vancouver. We explored 25 carriers, put them on ourselves, then watched the same carrier across many bodies at once. The next day, we ran it again with parents, caregivers, babies, and allied health pros in the room.

What it teaches is hard to get any other way, or certainly as fast: one person's perfect fit is another's struggle, even when every carrier looked "right" from across the room. There is no perfect carrier. There's the right fit for this body, this baby, this moment.
That kind of learning makes an educator faster, calmer, and more useful to whoever walks through the door.

We couldn’t have done this without the brands that accepted our invitation, either, so thanks!

Full reflections on the blog (link in first comment)

📍 The Babywearing Weekend | HELD by CBWS · Vancouver 2026

We made the stickers. You bring the flat surfaces.
We’re in Vancouver for The Babywearing Weekend and HELD. Don’t come unprepared. 😂💪🏼