A baby gibbon clutches its mother - an award-winning photo by Kim Botelho for National Geographic. Penguins and kangaroos keep their little ones close for quite awhile. Do you think monkies would ever adapt to infant carriers or high chair contraptions?
Instead, we make things that keep kids feeling motion (swings or bouncy chairs),
or use things like the Zaky pillow that gives life-like human hands to make the baby feel secure and will even smell like mom (photo, right).
Disembodied babies. Motherly love at a distance. A very American cultural idea, it seems to me...
That's a pretty cool idea for a new born. My niece has one coming in April, I will forward the link to her.
Glad you can comment at my site again. I was confident blogger would fix the problem. Glad I didn't jump ship, actually the thought never really crossed my mind.
Posted by: janeywan | December 27, 2007 at 11:09 AM
Thank you for stopping by my blog for a visit. I will have to come back and read some of your back posts. You have a very interesting span of topics here and quite thought provoking.
I love this idea of the pillow for the infant. What will they think of next?
Have a Happy and Joyous New Year!!
Becky
Posted by: Sweet Cottage Dreams | December 27, 2007 at 01:49 PM
I work in a neonatal ICU and we use those hands to position premies so they feel like they are still in the womb. We use these and other things to help them developmentally.
Posted by: Beverly | December 27, 2007 at 05:46 PM
I found the disembodied hands to be disturbing, but now that I've read the comments I'm understanding them more. Besides, the baby looks happy.
Posted by: Kathy | December 27, 2007 at 07:52 PM
I also find the disembodied hands disturbing. I much prefer the idea of "wearing your baby" as in a snuggly or a sling. Close and comfy - like the kangaroo!
Grandma Wendy
Posted by: wendy | December 31, 2007 at 04:41 PM