An email from my pregnant friend asking me if she should register for a carrier prompted this post. I figured that many others have great advice about this since I didn’t/don’t carry my babes very much.
When my son was born, I ended up getting a Snugli carrier. To be honest, I didn’t know how often I’d use it so I got it at Winners because of the price.
In the end, we were happy to have a carrier, one that both my husband and I could use, but we didn’t use it very often. When we did use it, I liked it, but for shopping or walks, I personally found the stroller just as easy.
With my daughter, it’s the same. We’re able to use it once and a while, and it’s great to have for shopping in small stores, at the baseball game we went to etc.
But I know lots and lots of people who LOVE their carriers or slings. In retrospect, given how much we ended up holding our son all the time, I should have had a sling for him (and it would have been easy to nurse him in it etc. when out). I think with him in particular, I would have been cut out for babywearing. I just didn’t have enough access to information about it not to mention the closeness that babywearing allows between parent and child. I find now, with my daughter, I’m much more likely to want to pull out the carrier and see the many benefits of it.
Milkface offers a huge selection of slings and carriers and there is even a babywearing playgroup coming to Ottawa. The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe also has a huge selection. But this is where the task of picking a carrier or sling can be confusing. Do I want a carrier or sling? If carrier which one? If sling, which one?
Luckily, for those of you like my friend looking for guidance on the subject Parenting by Nature has some answers. Babywearing 101 is a really helpful link. It’s currently being updated, but there’s some great reading and if you browse the Parenting by Nature babywearing products, there are very good details for each one.
I think I would have done it more with my son if I knew about all the options available. And now, with my daughter, I think I’ll use our carrier more and more. Besides, the physical closeness that you have when holding the baby is beneficial to both the parent and the child. I still hold my babes when sleeping sometimes (especially the baby ;), but think about how much more comfortable it would have been if I had a sling or used the carrier more?!
Please help my friend and others who aren’t sure about babywearing. Leave a comment with your recommended products or experiences to share! Thanks 😉
