As infants, First Nations children travelled on their mothers’ backs. Newborns were wrapped in soft skins and their baby carriers were lined with moss and other dried material that could be easily discarded when soiled – a completely biodegradable disposable diaper!

Alexander Hunter Murray painting of a hunter and a woman carrying a Gwich’in baby carrier made from birchbark.

Sometimes First Nations women carried their children on their backs supported by baby belts. These belts were often intricately beaded and allowed mothers the free use of both their arms.