Why I love babywearing

Thursday, October 10, 2013
I bought my boba wrap (a stretch jersey material baby wrap/carrier) when Ezra was only 6 weeks old. My arms and my back were tired and sore, I felt like I had no time to get anything done, and those afternoons or witching hour when I couldn't get him to sleep no matter what I tried was driving me a little insane. The books said to put the baby to sleep when they were awake but drowsy and teach them to self settle. Well this didn't always work, the mornings he was pretty good, but in the afternoons my dear little baby just stared at the ceiling with a zoned out overtired glare, which then made afternoons and evenings a huge battle! I dubbed him 'baby no sleep'. Then my boba wrap arrived in the mail. The first time I put it on, he was asleep within mere minutes. Ahhhmazing.



Whenever I had trouble getting him to sleep, I just gave up the stressful battle and put him in the wrap, turned on the vacuum and he didn't stand a chance of staying awake. Joel used to love wearing it as well. He spent many weekend days with Ezra asleep in the wrap while playing xbox, I always told him he could transfer Ez to the cot if he wanted, but Joel would just tell me he liked it. It was their bonding time.
With Willow, I find babywearing gives me a lot of freedom. Having a toddler and a baby means that I don't like to lug a huge pram and gear around with me very often. Instead, I can put Willow in the wrap or Ergo and I'm able to chasemy toddler around, or run down the the beach with Ez, or take them both to the grocery shops or have free hands to help my toddler whilst my baby needs to be held close to me. When she has those fussy days and won't settle and doesn't want to be put down, carrying her in a carrier means I can fulfill the needs of both my children simultaneously. There's nothing like having a screaming baby and a toddler that desperately wants a snack or a drink, but you can't get it because your hands a full! Because I don't get that quiet one on one time with her as often as I did with her older brother I find that babywearing gives me that opportunity to be close with her, to help her feel secure and connected with me and me with her, even if there are a bunch of other things going on at the same time.
Right now, I wear my Ergo almost everyday, I honestly don't know what I would do without my wrap or carrier, they are such essential items for parenting for me. You can google all the things that baby carrying is supposed to help with for the babies development, and those are pretty great too, but for us, it is just really a way of life, it helps us to function so much better as a family and it helps me to function better as a mother. Plus, it is like having really, really long cuddles and I know how quickly the cuddly stage disappears and then you end up with a wriggly, wiggly toddler who gives only short cuddle bursts if they feel like it, nope the second time around I'm getting as many cuddles as I can get!
Are you a fan of babywearing? How has it helped you in the day to day?
Karen xx


5 comments on "Why I love babywearing"
  1. I love babywearing and hoisted my first child around all the time. Unfortunately, my labour and c-section for the second babe threw my back out and it hasn't recovered so I was never able to carry her around. Though I tried about 10 different carriers!



    I'm all for Baby Bjorn though :)

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  2. I baby wore a lot with my third child - I did a little with the first two but didn't find the ergo til little number three came along. Wish I'd had it from the start! Number 3 is now three years old and we still use it :)

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  3. Loved it! LIke you, the carrier saved us completely with getting bub to sleep. I wore the bjorn and did laps of our tiny apartment in Brazil to get our daughter to sleep every single day. We bought an Ergo as well and that has served us right up until the most recent trip home, and my daughter is 3. They are an absolute lifesaver for travelling.

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  4. Love it! I have a post about it this week too for International Babywearing Week. Made my life sooooo much easier! x

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  5. I absolutely loved carrying my son, he practically lived in a sling with either me or his dad when he was little. I wish I could still carry him, bit heavy as a pre-teen though!

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