Eskimo iunit kid how to#

When it was time for feeding, the mother could pull her arms inside the coat and spin it around so that her baby and the pouch was in front for easy access to the breast. Traditionally the child would be naked inside the coat, skin-to-skin with their mother, in terms of regaining body heat after being transferred, being naked is ideal for the child. It also allows the adult and child to share body heat more effectively. One of the major benefits of using a coat as the carrier is the proximity of the caregiver (usually the mother) to the baby, allowing for quick responses to non-crying cues for toileting or feeding. Big Sister carries baby in an amauti on a snowmobile. Of course, many contemporary babywearers will prefer to use a stand-alone carrier within the coat but with a true amauti, it isn’t necessary. The wearer’s height, bust, waist and arm measurements are vital to how the coat carries the baby while still allowing freedom of movement for the wearer. Many years ago, I tried an amauti belonging to a very slightly shorter friend and quickly realized how important a custom-made amauti is for comfortable wear. You might get a bit of sticker shock but keep in mind that they are bespoke pieces for a reason. There is AmautiBaby (#notspons) and others (I have seen a few on Etsy). If you are interested in using an amauti, whatever your genetic ancestry or cultural background, you will be supporting Inuit artisans by ordering one and rocking it all winter. Today, amauti are made by Inuit people for traditional and contemporary babywearers, including non-Inuit people.

In the following clip, from the University of Alaska Film Archive, an Inuit woman gets help from a young girl to get the baby into position under her “parka” in the early 1920’s. Without a doubt, traditional Inuit women would have accepted or offered help getting a baby or child into or out of an amauti.

It’s a form of interdependence, cooperation, and hospitality that helps everyone survive in a difficult environment. Traditionally, Inuit culture is emphatic about offering and accepting help.

Eskimo iunit kid how to#

Today, of course, infant clothing is much more readily accessible, even in the arctic.Īmauti from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Photos by Aradia Wyndham, 2017ĭespite some Youtube controversy about how to properly get the baby into the coat, there is no “proper way” to do it (the argument being that “proper” means “without help”). Traditionally a child would be carried naked until they were old enough to spend more time outside of the coat, then they would get their own coat.

She demonstrates the parts of the amauti and how she uses a swaddle for her young baby and places her baby in the pouch facing backwards. How Amautis are UsedĪbove is a video by a non-Inuit woman who lived in the Eastern Arctic (Canada) for years, and learned how to use the amauti. Many cultures traditionally cocoon newborns, cover their faces, or allow heads to flop around, and positional asphyxiation is less of a concern when the baby is constantly being jostled. Inside the pouch, infants from newborn to preschool age are carried. Younger infants may be swaddled for support but not necessarily, remember, concern about head support and clear airways are cultural and not universally recognized. However, I did learn about Project Naming which seeks to name individuals in these iconic photos of Canada’s First Nations people. I hunted for a credible source and failed. For some, the pouch is an extension of the hood so you may hear people say that the baby is “carried in the hood”, whereas in other styles the pouch is distinct from the hood. Other variations are in the distinction between the hood and the pouch. There are some variations in style, including amauti with a long back to protect the legs of the adult from a cold sled or ground. A belt is used to tie off a pouch built into the back of the coat below the oversized hood.

The Inuit use a coat called an amauti to carry a child. Inuit Mother and Daughter on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. While I huddle here, fingers frozen, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how traditional arctic cultures dealt with infant carrying in the freezing temperatures.Īround the world, there seems to be two main approaches for transporting infants in cold climates: a soft carrier that shares body heat between child and caregiver which we’ll cover in this post, and a hard carrier that creates a micro-climate for the baby that I will cover in a future post. I was enjoying the lovely fall colours, the warm days and crisp nights when suddenly Winter crept up on me.