Sammy Says Blog

There’s a reason to touch your baby more often - the threat of Irritable Male Syndrome. We live in a touch deprived world and many of us don’t even notice it - but babies do. Baby boys especially can be affected by the lack of human touch. In her study of indigenous tribes in the South American jungle, anthropologist Jean Liedloff spent 2 ½ years studying children. She found that the little boys in these cultures seemed to be better adjusted than the little boys in modern countries. This may seem like a sweeping generalization to many, but Liedoff believed the boys’ behavior was related to the amount of touch they received from their mothers.

In the South American native cultures, babies were held continuously from the times of their births. Leidoff concluded that the physical practice of holding babies is a vital part of human species development and had become practiced less often in the modern world. The term Irritable Male Syndrome is derived from the idea that males who are not held often enough by their mothers become poorly adjusted children, indulging in bad behavior to get attention. This evidence suggests that mothers need to have more physical contact with their male children. One way to do this is to carry the baby in a baby sling carrier. Baby slings keep the baby in constant contact with the mother, while allowing the mother to keep both hands free.

For all those new mothers out there with a million things to buy for their newborn, the baby shower is an opportunity for family and friends to offer a bit of assistance. Here are a few baby shower gift ideas to accompany the arrival of a new baby.

~Strollers; mom and dad will need this if they want their new baby to travel with them… which they will so they can visit all their friends and family.

~Baby Monitors; though the sleepless nights won’t end for some time, one of these is essential to keep an eye on the new baby throughout the night.

~Baby Bibs; babies are notoriously messy, so mom will need a lot of these.

~Clothing; you can never have too much clothing for a newborn, especially since they have a tendency to outgrow their old clothing in a few months!