Miriam, Rowan and family[/caption] The youngest attendee at The Art of Nesting Workshop this weekend was a little show stealer named Rowan. He came with his mother, Miriam, and when they first arrived, I hardly noticed the tiny face peeking out from behind the polka-dot ‘wing’ of the Nesting Days Newborn Carrier his mother was wearing. Miriam settled herself into a comfy chair with Rowan in the carrier, where he slept peacefully for the next hour and a half, demonstrating better than any of my prepared material, what the optimal environment for a newborn looks like. At one point one of the soon-to-be mothers asked, ‘how much is too much?’ I was relieved that I had research to back me up and could say with confidence, “it's impossible to spoil a baby by holding or responding to their needs too much”. In the last decade, neonatologists have come out in strong support of responding to a newborn’s cues and meeting their basic needs, but the question, “am I spoiling my baby?’ still lingers. "A challenge of the newborn is getting to know that the world is somehow reliable and trustworthy, that his or her basic needs will be met," says J. Kevin Nugent, director of the Brazelton Institute at Children's Hospital in Boston and a child psychologist. "A spoiled child is one that's manipulative, but babies don't learn until they're about 9 months that they can cry to get you to do something for them," says Dr. Barbara Howard, assistant professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on psychosocial aspects of child and family health. Spending lots of skin-to-skin time in the first 3 months in particular, provides the newborn with the sense of security it needs at this early stage of development. 

 Miriam and Rowan nesting in Nesting Days[/caption] The Nesting Days Newborn Carrierlets you spend the hours of skin-to-skin time your baby needs, frees up your hands so you can get a few things done, and provides the sheltered, warm nest that provides the optimal environment for the newborn birth to 3 months. It really is the ultimate mother-baby bonding experience. Just ask baby Rowan and his mother.