The Mama Diaries: Six Thoughts On Baby Carriers
Babywearing, aka wearing your baby on your front or back like a backpack, is something I really wanted to love. It seems so flipping easy, much more so than lugging my pram bit by bit down a flight of stairs a couple of times a day.
I wanted to love babywearing. I wanted to be that cool, boho mama wandering around west London scoffing at the Bugaboo brigade while I flick my untamed curls back to sip on a smoothie. Because I had my hands free you know? Smug. Well, you know what happens when you’re a parent and you feel smug? You get told. You get told by the universe in the form of a humorous life lesson.
- Like ….losing your newborn in a carrier too big for them and almost having a heart attack when you realize you *should* have bought the newborn insert…..doh.
- It’s seriously hard to get one on without help because you’ve expanded beyond belief due to the human growing incident you’ve just been through.
- Wraps. Holy shit why are they such a faff? Anything that requires you to watch multiple YouTube tutorials is not okay.
- While we’re on the subject of wraps, what do you do when you get your squirming baby out of the hot mess of fabric to feed them and realize you can’t get your boob out on account of said wrap which is intricately tied around you like a strait-jacket.
- Yep, I know the Babywearing Ultra 520 (not a real brand….) can be worn in several different ways but sweet Jesus HOW?!
- Also leaning down to pick up dog poo, or a gold coin that may or may not be real (the shame) is really tough on the glutes!! Although maybe that’s a good thing……
We are off to a festival next month, and I need to be hands-free for oh so many reasons. Realistically, I can’t take a buggy in case it rains and, you know, sludge-fest ensues.
So luckily for me, I was *gifted a couple of different types of babywearing devices. A soft, stretchy wrap by Fornessi and a more structured jobby by Ergobaby. I’ve tried both now successfully, and while I have to admit I’m never gonna be the aforementioned babywearing goddess — these two make life a lot easier.
A LOT easier. The Fornessi Carry Me is made of the softest, organic cotton so it’s breathable in the heat and stays nice and fresh. You can obviously also throw it in the wash and I love the cute little bag it comes with — it’s great for packing light.
My Ergobaby 360 is soooooo cute. It’s Sophie La Girafe themed (it’s called the ‘festival’ model!) and even has a cute space to pop your teething giraffe in when the time comes. Unlike a lot of baby carriers, the Ergobaby basically does what it says on the tin and you don’t need a tutorial to start using it. For newborns, you do need to buy an insert — a cute, soft little seat they can snuggle into like a frog so their little legs don’t dangle down. But as soon as they’re out of this, you’re sorted until your baby is 33 pounds….whatever that age is ;)
The carrier is awesome because it’s so adaptable. You can wear it in a few different positions depending on what you need to do (cooking, gardening……drinking beer from plastic cups at a festival) and you can even breastfeed in it: it has a cute little privacy hood which doubles as a rain cover/parasol and tucks away when you don’t need it anymore!
I’m basically in love with it. But I have to admit, I haven’t yet tried the old breastfeeding-in-situ malarkey…..I *think* I might need a YouTube tutorial and a few more hours of yoga for that ;)
Anyone got any top tips?!
L x
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Originally published at Wanderluce.
