Babywearing love

 

I don’t know how people survive without wearing their babies, unless their baby is super relaxed and happy to lie around alone a lot, which Jack is definitely not!

When Jack was a newborn, I honestly probably wore him during the majority of his waking hours except for some tummy time, some naps, and some nursing (I nursed while babywearing eventually too). Once he started crawling at 9 months I started wearing him less, and it’s at an all time low now at 13 months, but I still wear him relatively a lot. Nowadays I wear him for at least 1 nap per day because he sleeps longer that way, so I can sit backwards in a chair and eat a meal calmly and even watch a TV show with headphones on (so luxurious!!). I also wear him on any short walks with our dog and many longer ones too, since getting the stroller up our few steps is a bit of a hastle.

I continue to wear Jack on my back to get him to sleep at night, and I’m so glad I’m doing that instead of sitting with him in the crib/bed and waiting 1-2 hours until he falls asleep on his own. That process was so frustrating for me when we tried it for a while, but when I wear him I can look at my kindle while walking and clean up a bit around the house which is really nice. (In the middle of the night Jack just nurses back to sleep though).

I also love wearing him during chores like cleaning or cooking. Recently he learned to climb on our couch so I’m nervous to leave him alone in the living room for even a second, so watching him is a little more stressful, and it’s hard to cook or do things while also watching him. Today I needed to vacuum, and it was SO much easier to put him in a wrap on my back and forget he was even there rather than having to make sure he wasn’t eating the vacuum cord every two seconds or sticking his fingers in some crevice of the machine and hurting himself. It’s pretty funny when wearing your toddler to vacuum feels almost like a vacation, huh?

I like different carriers for different things, so here is what I use typically:

Tula (toddler size) is most comfy for front carries, so I wear him on walks in it

Bamberoo has the highest back, so I wear it for naps/night time

Ring sling is smallest so I take it to the library storytime or places like that

The woven wrap can get the highest back carry so Jack can see over my shoulder, so I wear him doing chores so he can watch. I sometimes also wear it other times outside during walks, or try a hip carry on a walk if my back hurts a little.

Learning about woven wraps

My first back carry with a littlefrog woven wrap

 

Since Jack is outgrowing our beco gemini and has been too big for the moby for a while, I bought a toddler tula like I talked about in the last post. I also wanted another carrier to trade off and have one to use if one is dirty, or just use different muscles in my back. I joined the group Babywearing 102 on facebook that has tons of great people and advice, and I decided to buy a woven wrap!

A Woven wrap is like a moby but not stretchy, so it can carry babies up through big toddlers. The one I got above is the Little Frog brand which is cheaper (I got it for $80 used off facebook) since other wraps can be $150 or more! But you can resell them for close to what you paid (like a tula, too).

It was suggested to buy a striped wrap first because it’s easier to see what color needs to be tightened, and I’m glad I did. Woven wraps have a big learning curve since you have to tighten them carefully so that they are supportive. I’ve had it for a few weeks and feel like I’m getting better, but still need a TON of practice!

The tula is way faster to put on (although some people get really fast with the wraps, so I’m sure that will speed up). I love that the wrap is just cotton and has no foam though. Many wraps are organic but this one is just oeko-tex certified. If I get good at it and want another better one, I would get a kokadi stars wrap which is organic and I like the style better.

Wrapping has been fun because it’s like learning a new skill/hobby, and I enjoy looking up videos and trying new carries. It’s also nice because if your back hurts from carrying around a 22 pound teething baby (hypothetically) there are tons of different ways you can wear them with just one wrap.

We’ll see how it goes! I really want to like it, but it does have some negatives like being harder to out on in public without getting it dirty and having less neck support if baby falls asleep on your back. But it’s cool that it’s an ancient thing and to think that women all around the world use similar ways to carry their babies.