When the shepherds and the three kings visited baby Jesus in the stable, and found Mary holding her baby, they didn't scowl at her in aghast and didn't chide her: "Tut, tut. He'll get used to being carried in arms. You're spoiling him for life."

Of course they didn't. Because two millennia ago, it was the natural thing to do. Unless the baby was asleep, in a bed which he shared with the parents (and not, as we are led to believe, in a manger-turned cot), he or she was carried around for months on end - until old enough to crawl. There were no pushchairs, prams, walkers, playpens or highchairs. No long list of high-priority equipment which makes first-time parents panic over which make to buy and then go nearly bankrupt. They just made use of the good old safe pair of arms.

In Malta, the 'baby in-arms is bad parenting' philosophy is prevailingly rife. I find this very upsetting. Letting a baby cry himself out on his own, depriving him of human contact, is the silliest and stupidest piece of advice given by many Maltese grandparents and great-relatives. Shame on them! They are encouraging many new parents to fight their natural instincts.

Jean Liedloff, an American anthropologist, discusses the importance of what she calls 'the in-arms stage', in her insightful book The Continuum Concept. She spent years living with, and studying the Yequana Indians, a South American tribe. Their infants and young toddlers are always carried, by the parents or relatives; the baby may be in arms, on the hip, in a sling on the side, on the front or the back. In such positions, the baby can see, hear, and feel the normal daily movement, conversation, and activities of the adults and can also feel and hear the adult's own body sounds and rhythms. Liedloff says that this stage is essential for proper 'acculturation', as the child absorbs 'how things are done' in his or her society.

Since they are exposed to a constant buzz of activity, babies carried about are never bored and are generally calm and relaxed. As are the parents, because carrying a baby on a sling makes everything easier for them and they can go about their daily life without the baby constantly being the focal point of attention.

In Malta, babies who cry their hearts out when they are put down are often labelled 'high-needs babies'. This is very unfair, because they are simply protesting for a right which is, by nature, theirs: they want to be carried about, not put down in a plastic box.

If you ever visit villages in Africa, where it's still the norm to carry babies, you'd notice that you never hear babies cry. They always seem to be gurgling happily and you get none of the fussiness, frequent crying, or colic of our babies. Well, no wonder: research indicates that babies who experience the world from the safety and warmth of their parent's arms feel more safe and secure and cry some 50 per cent less.

I used to carry my daughter in a sling, from the time she was a week old. The feedback was not encouraging. I used to be stopped in the street by total strangers and they'd comment: "Watch out she's going to fall / you're damaging her back / you're spoiling her." What a load of rubbish.

It seems we're a society obsessed with this 'non-spoiling' business. Bizarrely, we are adamant not to 'spoil' babies but then think nothing of mollycoddling and over-mothering them when they are older. As Brussels told us last week, Malta sadly tops the chart when it comes to 30-year old mammoni.

This is very telling. Perhaps Liedoff's extended theory applies fittingly to our society. She claims that when physical contact has been fulfilled during the 'in-arms' stage, the child speedily grows into a self-reliant adult. The baby deprived of this experience spends his life-time clinging on to the apron strings in an attempt to fulfil what he has lost.

Therefore, the best Christmas present we can give to expectant parents is a simple cloth sling; knowingly or not, the baby (and future society) will appreciate that more than brightly-coloured toys.

And, parents-to-be: do not surrender your instincts and common sense in favour of a foolish doctrine. If your in-laws, or whoever, insist on frowning upon your carrying your baby around, just tell them you are following in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary. Please God, that should shut them up.

Merry Christmas, dear readers!