Creative Design: Graduate

Nurturing Bond: healing through baby-wearing design

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Abstract

Traumatic events can trigger emotional and physical responses to mothers that affect their relationship with their child, including breastfeeding (Kendall-Tackett, 2020). As a designer who has experienced trauma while postpartum, I was inspired to use design to visualize an experience and solution that myself and others in my community used to heal: baby-wearing. Baby-wearing has been proven to support and aid in healing of mothers who suffer from trauma (Blois, 2005). The purpose of this design is to collectively represent my personal struggles with trauma and breastfeeding, other mothers’ experiences, and the healing nature baby-wearing can have for those who have experienced trauma while breastfeeding. The transformable design of the buckle carrier top represents the multifunctionality of garments that is desired in the postpartum market from new mothers (Lapolla & Chen, 2022).

Keywords: motherhood, breastfeeding, baby-wearing, digital textile printing

How to Cite:

Stanley, J. E., (2024) “Nurturing Bond: healing through baby-wearing design”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 80(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.17324