Abstract
Background: Infant carrying is necessary for caregivers of babies. While in-arms carrying of infants is common, babywearing offers hands-free infant transport. Postural impacts of carrying methods are unknown.
Objectives: Goals of this biomechanics study were to quantify differences in women holding infants in arms and in baby carriers compared with unloaded conditions during prolonged standing, and subgroup women into those who develop pain during standing (PDs) and those who do not (NPDs) to investigate differences in responses to baby-carrying conditions.
Study Design: Single-subject design.
Methods: Ten healthy nulliparous females (aged 27.4 +/- 4.1 years) performed 15-minute quiet standing trials with each foot on a force plate in 3 conditions: holding nothing (unloaded), holding an infant mannequin in arms (arms), and holding an infant mannequin in a baby carrier (carrier). Participants completed a 10-cm Visual Analog Scale for pain before and after each trial.
Results: Thirty percent of participants reported pain in the unloaded and carrier conditions compared with 50% in the arms conditions. Participants shifted their weight more frequently, spent more time in asymmetrical stance, and had larger sway areas in the arms condition. When examining the PD versus NPD subgroups, PDs remained more stationary in all conditions, though the carrier caused PD participants to weight shift more often, a positive change for PDs.
Conclusion: In-arms carrying altered postural sway compared with the unloaded condition, while using a baby carrier provided more similar biomechanics compared with the unloaded condition. Participants exhibited less reported pain using the baby carrier, and caregivers who develop pain during standing may find additional benefits from babywearing.