Has anyone used a cradle board? (Page 1)

They are called papoose boards here. I had one when I was a baby - they used to hang me in the trees in it to keep me up away from the dogs.

They are only good for a few months and have got to be majorly uncomfortable for the mother to wear. Why wouldn't you wear a some other carrier that is more comfortable for you and the baby?

I wore my daughter in a sling. I loved it for breast feeding.

Wow thats a neat story Igni. Thanks

The board will be mostly used in the home While I am cooking, cleaning, bathing, ect. Anytime I need both hands for something. I wouldnt wear it like the old days, just because we have more sofisticated things like the sling and baby carriers. Nor would I take it anywhere like in the car or anything...too dangerous.

Its more a comfort at home kind of thing. The board I have has been passed down a couple generations and it only fits the baby until about 2-3 months. Then the baby's just too big and the baby needs to be able to move around and get ready to roll and stuff.

Most of our traditons have been lost. With my parents mostly. So my grandmother has asked my cousin and I to keep it going. Its just sad that so many things have been lost. Im hopi too and Im just learning my traditions
I cant imagine having to wear the huge thing...lol
that just sounds painful...although I may try it once.

We'll see how it works for my lil baby. Mu cousins son loved it from birth but her daughter hated it with a passion. So really its up to the baby...lol

It is because it swaddles the baby in tightly when you lace it all up. Some babies really enjoy that feeling.

I wore my daughter in the sling while I cooked, did dishes, washed laundry, went to the bathroom (tmi?) - she wanted to be held constantly or was always nursing.

Ok I respect that it's your family tradition, but I just found a quote in regards to using a cradle board (I had to google it to see what one was) that said this: "They were made for discipline, we would wrap the baby really tight, and by doing so, he learned not to cry so much."

I'm sorry but that's just not right. Swaddling a baby snugly to make he/she feel safe & protected is one thing, but wrapping it really tight to stop it from crying? Is that really what they're designed for? Sorry if I have the wrong end of the stick, I'm just a bit confused.

yeah i am still a little weary myself. I want to make sure its completely safe for my baby. I would love to carry the tradition but at the same time I want whats best for my baby.

As for the comment you found....I think thats a bit extreme. You can adjust the straps so they can be as tight/loose as you want. I would make them no tighter than if I wrapped him in a blanket. So its really up to you on how tight the baby is strapped down. im sure some people used them as a way to dicipline. But I agree Zanny thats just not right. If he doesnt like it or it makes him uncomfortable then I wont use it.

I also want to see how the straight board on my babies back would be for his spine. Like is it healthy for long periods to have your back straight. Their bones are so fragile and easily molded that I would hate to mess his back up as an infant. What do you think?

Ingi- what tribe are you? Where are you from?

Rosie, I do not belong to a tribe. I live in the Pacific Northwest.

Zanny, cradle boards are the Native American 'baby carrier'. Like some of the people's of the Southwest use wraps to carry their babies, Native Americans used cradle (papoose) boards. They do wrap a child snuggly - NOT to keep them from crying and not to discipline - but a swaddled child does tend to cry less.

I admit to not knowing much about cradle boards, but with an infant's skull as soft as it is, are you concerned at all about flattening the back of his head? Please correct me if I'm mistaken here, I honestly don't know much about it. I just seem to recall hearing something about that.

Yeah, the cradle can only be used until the babies 2nd to third month, depending on the size of the baby. Also you dont leave the baby in the board for very long periods of time. Like sleeping. My baby will be in his crib or bassinet. The cradle board will be used during the day mostly. So I agree, the baby probably wont be in there long enough to mold his bones in any way. Also, a majority of the boards size is there for padding. You can literally put a small quilt down and then the baby. So the word board makes it sound like a board. But there is a lot of padding and cushion.

They actually dont make them too much anymore. It was sort of a talent that was passed down. No one wants to pass it down anymore and really no one wants to use them. SO they just stopped being made. My grandmother got our cradle baord from this older lady. She was the last cradle maker in the entire city. This was her last board.

About the flattening of the head....I read somewhere that the flattening of the head was actually practiced in one or two tribes. Kind of like the chinese do binding of the feet. A flattened head meant something good for the baby????
Im not too clear, but I know there are some tribes that used cradle boards for flattening of the head. Not my tribes though.

Part of them not making the boards anymore is because they are not convenient to our lifestyles. They were convenient to people's who didn't have carseats, front packs, back packs, soft and more flexible ways of child wearing.

Hello, My daughter is 7mths now and she is still in her cradleboard. She love it, she sleeps longer and her sleeps are more content when she's in it.

I was in a cradleboard when I was a baby. I don't think there is anything barbaric about it and frankly am a bit insulted by that statement. It worked for my ancestors for thousands of years and didn't do me any harm. My mom took me to work with her when I was a newborn so she could breastfeed me and she said I was as happy as could be sleeping in my Tikinakan ( as they are properly called in our language. ) The part that the baby goes into is called the moss bag because they used to stuff it with soft moss that would absorb the baby's waste and was easy to throw out and replace. Of course they don't do that anymore but it was environmentally friendly. When I was pregnant I read a lot of books and many of them suggested swaddling an infant because they are used to being in a tight spot in the womb and this is comforting to them when they are newborns. It's one of the first things they do to babies when they are born in the hospital. Babies have been swaddled in many cultures for ages. The moss bag or papoose is exactly the same thing. If someone read something about babies being swaddled to keep them quiet they were probably reading about some tribes who were at war with each other or being hunted by white people where a crying baby would have been a dead baby. I think you can all rest assured that native people love their children just as much as you do and aren't out to hurt them.

oh, and they still use them here in the north. they actually make really beautifully beaded ones. I saw one once that was fully beaded with pictures of that dog from blues clues. It's just like the Inuit Amautik, you don't see them much in the south but they are still used in the north.

Here are a couple of pictures of my Eadie in my old tikinakan. Unfortunately the bunting bag my mom used for me was so old that she took it off to preserve it and she tried making a new one but never had the time to finish it. Still, Eadie loved it and had a little nap while she was in here.

so hey how old is too old for a cradle board? My son is 4 1/2 months. He doesnt like to long of naps during the day...but still has to be swaddled at night to sleep. Ive tried to let him be free but he wakes up every hour or so squirming around.

I think the board could be good at night. I dont know. I just dont want to constrict him to much.

But you said your daughter is 7 months...she reacts ok with it? When and how long is she in there?

well my grandmother said use she used the cradleboard unitll her kids were able to walk. ( so about 12 mths i guess).

i would say she's in her cradleboard about 30 % of her sleeping time, maybe twice a week i put her in there at night, she then would sleep up to 5/6 hours. it's great for her

[quote="HIO"]well my grandmother said use she used the cradleboard unitll her kids were able to walk. ( so about 12 mths i guess).

i would say she's in her cradleboard about 30 % of her sleeping time, maybe twice a week i put her in there at night, she then would sleep up to 5/6 hours. it's great for her[/quote

Cool..Hey I sent you a private message about the boards. Im really really interested in getting one. I cant find any pictures though....

Oh and Im Hopi and Shoshone. My Shoshone side is where I got my cradle board from.

Aanii/Hello sorry i didn't get your message, please try again.

My mother used cradleboards for all of us kids and actually carried me on her back until I was 14mos...when I learned to walk. I have used them for all five of my kids. I disagree that they aren't practical or convenient in modern times. We take ours everywhere w/us, strap it into the stroller at the mall, or wherever. I had two that were made to carry on my back. I found nothing uncomfortable about it. I took my 4th baby trick or treating like that. All of my kids have been in them well over a year. My 2yr. carried his over to me a month ago, so I strapped him in, and he napped for an hour. As for how much time the baby spends in the board, I keep mine in the board most of them time for the first 3 mos, whether they are awake or not. It's a safe place for them to view the world. It's excellent for when we're out anywhere. When they get older you just wrap them up to their armpits and they can play with rattles and stuff. There is a pad in there so that their heads don't get flat. As far as why they aren't used widely anymore, it's just like everything else in our culture that was taken from us: they were told that it was mean and cruel, and many of the girls came back from Indian schools, not knowing the traditional ways of raising children. My husband and I now make two different styles of boards, and we're constantly filling orders. Just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they aren't being made.

Thank you for keeping you traditions alive! In the south, the tradition was to wrap your baby up and tie them to your back with a long strip of fabric. Now Mexico they still use rebozos, and not just the the indigenous people--because it works. My mom is part Apache from NM and my wife and I are thinking of doing a combination of cradle board and rebozo...we'll see how it goes!