Babies pushed in buggies facing away from their parents could suffer lasting psychological damage

Everyone has their own reasons to choose a baby sling, need to get stuff done around the house, love that snuggly feeling and feeling them close to you, breastfeeding on the go, enjoy going out and about with your hands free...
Choosing a sling doesn't mean that you can never use a buggy. Some families choose not to own a pram or a buggy at all and go through their children's childhood with just a sling (or many slings!). For others, using a sling at time and using a buggy other times works better. Only you can judge what works best for you and your child.

Scientists have been studying mothers and children in their buggies.
Their findings very much confirm what we know as mothers.

"A quarter of parents using face-to-face buggies talked to their baby - more than twice as many as those using away-facing buggies.
Babies facing towards the buggy-pusher enjoyed a reduced heart rate and were twice as likely to fall asleep.
Only one baby in the group of 20 laughed during the away-facing journey, while half laughed during the face-to-face journey.
Dr Suzanne Zeedyk, from Dundee University's School of Psychology, said: "If babies are spending significant amounts of time in a baby buggy, that undermines their ability to communicate easily with their parent."

"Our data suggests that for many babies today, life in a buggy is emotionally impoverished and possibly stressful. Stressed babies grow into anxious adults." Continue reading.

You're often told that the child needs to see the world, that a forward facing buggy allows them to see everything while a rear facing buggy (and moreover a sling!) limits their view to their mother. We're talking babies here, not teenagers! Seeing mummy, hearing her voice, being able to touch her, see her smile at your giggles ... for a baby, there is nothing better in the world. Seeing the outside world means seeing things, hearing noises without a familiar reference point to help you make sense of it.
I often use the same example. A firetruck races by all sirens on, is it a noise signaling danger? In a sling, the baby can feel that his mum is startled but her voice is calm, her heartbeat is regular, her scent hasn't changed... While the noise was loud, my mummy isn't scared, I'm still safe.

Only you can decide what's right for your child, depending on their character, how you feel about it, their age, their preferences, where you're going...