Beyond carrier deep dives, the HELD Baltimore series digs into Functional Babywearing.

Together with Austin Rees, CST, IBCLC*, we'll explore how different in-arm and carrier-based holds shape a baby’s center of gravity, engage the posterior chain, and influence bone and muscle development at each stage.

We'll examine the physical impact on caregivers throughout the first year. Discussing complex case studies and how various in-arm holds might impact the dyad.

Attendees leave ready to offer anticipatory guidance that evolves as babies grow and caregivers’ needs shift.

*Details on our other cross-disciplinary voices soon!

Our circle continues the discussion on in-arms holds, carrier deep dives, complex cases, and adds a turn of its collective lens toward the pelvic floor—the unseen foundation of every lift, sway, and clicked buckle.

Together with Elise Hall PCES, and Heather Gunter MSN, APRN-CNM, IBCLC*, we’ll unpack how different carrier/carrying styles shift pressure paths through the core, how lingering pregnancy changes alter load tolerance, and why even short bouts of awkward in-arm holding can echo as pain symptoms or lower-back pain months later.

Expect to feel those forces in real time: we’ll test carrier fits, simulate everyday caregiving tasks, and map what “supportive alignment” actually looks and feels like in the body.

From there, we widen the view to every set of helping hands. Grandparents who hoist grandbabies, partners who step in after a long workday, and sitters who balance a toddler on one hip all experience pelvic-floor demands that differ from those of primary caregivers.

Together, we’ll craft micro-strengthening drills that professionals can teach on the spot, ensuring each caregiver learns to lift, shift, and soothe without compromising pelvic health or comfort.

By day’s end, HELD: Baton Rouge will add new case study notes, hold-variation techniques, and fit checkpoints to the HELD knowledge base—resources the next host city can build on, just as you will in your practice the very next morning.

*Details on our other cross-disciplinary voices soon!

Parents experience challenges, such as feeding, motor milestones, crying, sleeping worries, and musculoskeletal aches, as a single, tangled problem, not as separate issues.

By bringing diverse professionals into the same space, HELD models cooperation, which research shows improves safety, innovation, and patient/client satisfaction.

The goal is to leave with a shared vocabulary and comfort level that travels home to every clinic, home visit, and peer support group.

At each HELD immersion, we zoom in on the everyday, often-overlooked act of carrying babies in arms—because every caregiver does it, and how they do it can either nourish development or quietly strain bodies on both sides of the embrace.

Together, we analyze ergonomic choices, muscle-activation patterns, and sensory cues across ages and abilities, then map practical guidelines for introducing healthy in-arm habits to families.

Special attention goes to grandparents, partners, and other alternate caregivers who may lift less frequently yet for longer stretches, ensuring they learn supportive holds, simple strengthening drills, and timing strategies that keep comfort high as babies grow heavier.

By documenting discoveries city after city, we create a cumulative playbook that helps professionals coach every set of caring arms—with confidence and care.

Traditional conferences hand you slides; HELD hands you interactive partners and skilled practitioners to practice alongside - but bring your weighted doll.

Each skill lab is explored from multiple angles and designed so attendees can see and feel the biomechanics in their bodies. The aim is to replace siloed expertise with a shared, holistic framework that professionals can immediately carry back to their work.

Immersive, hands-on professional learning consistently outperforms passive lecture-based sessions in skill transfer and long-term retention.

We’ll roll up our sleeves for intricate case studies based on each location's special focus: From awkward carries and sensory overload to torticollis, latch difficulties, and caregiver fatigue and muscle burnout, HELD surfaces the everyday roadblocks that keep families from wearing consistently.

Plan to triage the most pressing concern, layer in carrier or in-arm adjustments that ease the load, and map the exact moments to loop in pelvic-floor PTs, lactation consultants, babywearing consultants, bodyworkers, mental-health pros, or pediatric specialists.

The goal is to leave with a practical decision tree you can adapt in a clinic, class, consult, or on home visits. This ensures that every complex family story is met with a coordinated, holistic care team rather than a piecemeal list of referrals.

The workshops equip professionals with practical assessment and techniques and the needed connections to build a holistic team they can tap for their clients.

A night-before mixer, structured networking breaks, and post-event collaboration channels ensure the conversation and support continue long after the closing circle.

HELD’s goal is to create a resilient network of practitioners who champion evidence-based infant carrying together.

Conference travel can generate up to a third of a clinician’s annual carbon emissions; even mid-size events can rival a small town’s weekly output.

HELD aims to flip that script:

We cap attendance to keep the footprint smaller and the interactions more meaningful.

Through our WhatsApp group, we encourage carpools or rail/bus travel and facilitate hotel shares.

We invite those who would otherwise fly instead to apply to host the next stop in your region.

The goal is to demonstrate that deep, in-person collaboration and climate responsibility can coexist , and to document every session in a living symposia report that continually expands without requiring air miles.

We will continue to offset our footprint through our 'Plant a Tree' program.

HELD is designed as the start of a conversation, not the finish line. Each city contributes case notes, video snippets, and discipline-specific insights to create a shared knowledge repository.

The aim is to cultivate a nimble, cross-disciplinary community that keeps refining best practices long after the last closing circle.

We recognize that travel can be expensive and time-consuming. Plus, long-distance networking doesn't give you the same referral network as a local and regional community does.

Additionally, skills and knowledge are best developed and acquired in an active and participatory way.  So we created HELD.

Apply now to bring us to you! 

It's simple to host, and as we cap the number of attendees, we also minimize the overwhelm of most events and conferences. This is a professional development day, and as such, we deliberately keep it simple.