The cradleboard or in the Ojibway language “Tikinagan” has been used for generations to carry infants while keeping babies safe and comfortable. Indigenous people throughout North America indicate that it was common practice to cradleboard newborn children until they were able to walk, although many mothers continued to swaddle their children past their first birthday. Babies were wrapped in a moss bag and securely bound to a thin cushioned board for longer content sleeps so they wouldn’t jerk and wake themselves up. Today many Indigenous people across Canada still use a traditional cradleboard to keep their babies safe and protected. Usually made with pine or cedar wood and laced together with thin strips of leather.
When babies are in a cradleboard, they see the world as mom and dad understand it, they listen to your conversations, or while being rocked to sleep, they recognize the rhythm of your breathing, your walking and your touch. All this makes to increase awareness and stimulates speech and emotional development.
