Babywearing Voices: Marisol Maldonado Osborn

“We told our clients: It’s not about quantity. It’s about quality. Babywearing gives you both.”

For Marisol Maldonado Osborn, babywearing began the way it does for many parents—out of sheer necessity. A military spouse living far from extended family, she found herself alone with a colicky first baby and little support. “She just wanted to be held. I spent hours on the couch, unable to move,” she recalls. “Then someone at a breastfeeding support group mentioned babywearing—and everything changed.”

That simple suggestion sparked a deep dive. Marisol began attending local babywearing meetups in Washington state, learned how to use woven wraps, ring slings, and soft-structured carriers, and even taught herself to make her own ring slings (strictly for personal use). Babywearing gave her freedom—and it gave her community. “I wasn’t really a fashion person,” she laughs, “but wraps became my accessories. They were my way of reclaiming movement and identity while caring for my baby.”

When her second child was born and her husband deployed just three months later, babywearing became more than helpful—it became essential. She learned to tandem wear, juggled toddler life and a newborn, and leaned into the empowerment of babywearing with both arms.

But Marisol didn’t stop there. She brought that passion directly into her professional life.

Supporting Families in Uniform

For the last three years, Marisol has served as a Home Visitor with the New Parent Support Program at Camp Pendleton—part of a military-wide effort to provide education, resources, and early support to parents. With a background in nursing and lactation, she worked one-on-one with families navigating postpartum challenges, from newborn care and child development to perinatal mood disorders and bonding struggles.

It was her dream job.

“The role was focused on prevention and education,” she explains. “We weren’t doing clinical procedures—we were helping people before they hit a crossroads, giving them evidence-based tools so they could move forward with confidence.”

One of those tools was babywearing.

Though it wasn’t part of the original curriculum, Marisol took it upon herself to pursue training through the Foundations in Babywearing Education course from the Center for Babywearing Studies. She began integrating babywearing into the Baby Bootcamp classes she helped revise during a program review.

“My supervisor told me, ‘If you think it’ll help families in the newborn stage, go for it.’ So I did.”

She introduced safety guidelines, brought in demo dolls and a variety of carriers for parents to try hands-on, and advocated for her coworkers to include at least the basics, even if they didn’t feel equipped to teach more in-depth.

The response was overwhelmingly positive. Parents—especially those new to military life—felt more confident. More connected. Less overwhelmed.

“People would say, ‘My baby always cried in the carrier, so I thought they didn’t like it.’ But once we adjusted the fit together and the baby fell asleep, they’d tear up. That sense of I can do this—that’s what it’s about.”

Meeting Families Where They Are

Marisol’s work bridged the gap between personal resilience and institutional care. She taught group classes to expectant parents and provided one-on-one support for clients postpartum. “Most of my babywearing consults happened around two to three months, when the fog lifts a bit and parents start realizing, ‘Oh. I can’t keep carrying this baby in my arms all day.’”

She also worked with young families navigating high stress, deployment, and limited support networks. “Military parents often don’t have the luxury of just sitting still. They have to move, to function—and babywearing helps them do that while still bonding with their child.”

She used babywearing to help foster attachment in cases of postpartum anxiety, parental separation, and childcare transitions. As an IBCLC, she also emphasized its role in lactation support and milk supply establishment—particularly during those critical early weeks. “It’s all connected,” she says. “Wearing your baby isn’t just convenient—it’s regulating, nourishing, and bonding.”

A Lifelong Learner, A Lasting Impact

Marisol's long-term goal is to open her own lactation practice that integrates babywearing education and holistic support for new families.

She continues to stay connected to the community that first introduced her to babywearing—those early meetups in Washington—and remains passionate about teaching others the skills she had to piece together herself. “When I found CBWS and the Foundations training, I wanted to understand not just how to wrap, but why. The training gave me that. It gave me the structure I needed to feel confident teaching other people.”

Her hope is that the New Parent Support Program will continue to include babywearing education now that she’s moved on. “It was always one of the most popular parts of our classes. I told my supervisor—this matters. Parents need this kind of support.”

We couldn’t agree more.

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