A typical African woman is expected to assist in the running of the day to day activities that keeps the family going such as; keeping the house neat and clean, collecting firewood, buying items at the local market, cooking food, and so on.
When a child is born, the helpless baby sticks to the mother who now has to multitask, caring for the baby while fetching water from the stream, performing grinding operations on the mortar with a pistil, going to the farm and so on.
Most of this activities needs both hands and yet the baby needs to be carried along. To solve this problem, we locally use some extra wrappers to tie the baby on our back. The use of trollers and baby carriers are not our tradition, so let me show you how we do it.

The Needed Materials

There was no scale to measure the baby's weight so the weight was determined by feeling and perception.

• Light weight babies will require a single wrapper.
• Heavier babies will require an additional support material
• Older toddlers can stay on the back without need for any harness.
• For short distance or a quick move, the toddler can be carried by the side and supported with one hand, though this is not as efficient.

Note that very young babies are not tied on the back for fear that it may result in bow-legs or other forms of disfiguring. Very young babies are not carried by the side for the same reason.

How we do it

Our traditional babywaring process which allows the mother the freedom to use both hands. With a little practice and skill:
1- the baby is balanced face down on the back with the mother bending so her back is as horizontal as possible.
1- The wrapper is wrapped around both mother and child.
1- The edges of the wrapper falls in front of the mother, so she ties the four edges at the upper part of her chest.
For heavier babies, an additional support cloth added to sustain the weight.

Range of Movement Allowed

The mothers hands are completely free to perform tasks. She can bend forward almost unrestricted and can turn sidewards.
The harness should be moved up if the baby is sleepy or sleeping but only one child can be carried at a time.

Advantage of the method

The use of wrapper to tie a baby has no side effects on both mother and child. It creates no back pain for the mother.

• The mother can carry a baby for hours without any effects
• Wrappers are readily available, you will not have to buy any special equipment.
• A new mother will not need any special training to carry the baby. Most mothers learn how to do this at a very early age.
• Children develop close bonds with the parent.
• Proximity to the child offers more protection.