THE GUT BETWEEN US – PART 2

CARRYING LOVE: BABYWEARING, BODY HEAT, AND BACTERIAL INTIMACY

“THE CHILD WHOSE BODY IS CARRIED GROWS A GUT THAT CAN CARRY LIFE.”

Modern parenting asks,

“How do I raise a confident, secure child?”

Traditional nature answers,

“Hold them. On your body. As often as you can.”

Long before a child learns to walk, talk, or think,

it learns to trust the world through how it is carried.

And as it turns out,

this ancient practice of babywearing and physical closeness does far more than soothe the heart —

it cultivates a child’s entire gut ecosystem.

WHY BEING HELD IS MICROBIAL

When a baby is held against a mother’s body —

on her chest, her waist, her back —

it is being exposed to millions of skin bacteria that form a living shield around its body.

This is not random contact. It’s microbial education.

Your skin is one of the richest sources of beneficial microbes.

Your underarms, your chest, your neck, your breast — they are ecosystems.

When a baby is placed on these zones, its gut flora becomes more diverse, more balanced, more capable of resisting disease.

Compare that to a baby laid in plastic cribs, wrapped in multiple layers, handled with gloves.

The message to the child’s nervous system is: “This world is sterile. You are alone.”

“Every minute of closeness is a microbial donation.”

BABYWEARING IS IMMUNE SCHOOLING

Cultures around the world have used baby slings, wraps, and carriers made of soft fabric.

In rural India, babies were carried in worn-out sarees, tied with knots and love.

This wasn’t just tradition — it was gut design.

Because babywearing does three important things:

Regulates stress: Movement and heartbeat syncs baby’s cortisol levels.

Builds bacterial tolerance: Baby encounters dust, smells, animals, plants, and people.

Enhances gut-brain development: Physical contact promotes myelination, digestion, and neurotransmitter balance.

Children raised close to skin show fewer allergies, less colic, better bowel movements, and stronger immunity.

All of these are signs of a healthier gut.

“The gut doesn’t grow through isolation. It grows through exposure — with safety.”

MODERN DETACHMENT: THE PLASTIC PRISON

In urban Indian homes today, a new trend is visible:

Designer cribs

Baby rockers

Battery-operated swings

Feeding chairs

Car seats

Cushioned strollers

Hands-free parenting

The baby is visible in every corner of the house — but rarely touched.

Its body floats through life without a constant anchor.

Even worse, when the baby cries, a screen is placed in front of its face — to pacify, distract, and disembody.

The result?

Children who are restless, emotionally volatile, bloated, gassy, and prone to clinginess without safety.

“They were never really held. So they hold on to everything — screens, sugar, tantrums, noise.”

MOTHER’S MOVEMENT IS BABY’S MEDICINE

When the mother walks with the baby strapped on her body, something miraculous happens:

The baby’s gut movement improves.

Gas releases without pain.

Colic reduces.

Sleep becomes deeper.

Trust builds silently.

This is because the baby’s nervous system synchronizes with the mother’s body.

Her breath, her pace, her temperature — all send signals that say, “You’re safe. You’re not alone.”

And where there is safety,

the gut flora can flourish.

INDIAN TRADITION VS. URBAN INTERRUPTION

In traditional Indian homes:

Babies slept next to the mother.

Carried in old cotton cloths.

Exposed to the smells of kitchen, herbs, incense, cow dung, turmeric, and garden soil.

Bathed by grandmothers. Massaged daily.

Now?

Babies sleep in separate air-conditioned rooms.

Handled by nurses or maids.

Given plastic toys.

Bathed with Johnson’s baby shampoo.

Fed from sterilized bottles.

The result is not just a weak gut.

It is a weak foundation for bonding.

“What you carry shapes what they carry inside them.”

CONCLUSION: CLOSENESS BUILDS GUT COURAGE

The human baby is biologically premature.

It is born with a weak gut, immature brain, and extreme dependency.

But evolution didn’t see this as a problem.

It gave the child something better than maturity —

a mother.

The mother’s body is the baby’s missing organ.

And holding, carrying, babywearing — these are not parenting styles.

They are the original architecture of immunity, trust, and digestion.

“Hold the child, and you hold its gut.

Hold the gut, and you raise a human who can hold life.”