There has been much on the media lately concerning
babywearing. I am no expert, but I have to think that if you practice common sense, babywearing is very safe and in our family very necessary. October is national babywearing month, so I wanted to say a few things about it. If you don't know what babywearing is, I will tell you. It is the act of "wearing" your baby close on your body with some sort of cloth of device. We practice the attachment parent model and do not believe in letting our babies "cry it out" so babywering is a big part of our parenting style. (the no cry it out thing is a whole post altogether that I am not getting into now) We have been "wearing" Cooper since he was a wee baby and we STILL wear him today when it is necessary. Although, sadly he has given up most of his needs to be worn. He still has the need to be close, though. He is one cuddly guy! He had a hard time sleeping as a baby and wearing him was often the only way we could get him to sleep, worked like a charm! Fifi loves to be worn and I couldn't' get through daily life with two babies without my wearing devices. She had a brief period of evening fussiness from 3 weeks to 6 weeks and she would only calm in the sling. Daddy finds that if she won't take a bottle, he pops her in the sling and she is more willing to take it. I can do almost anything with her in a sling or in the ERGO, like grocery shop, go for a walk, help Cooper get into school, play with Cooper on the playground, garden, get house work done, eat dinner, you get the idea.
What devices do we use? A dear friend of mine gave me a sling that her sister made and we love it and used it a great deal when Fifi was much smaller. We still use it, but not as much now that she is getting so big and would rather be sitting up. In fact, I wore her for my dad's entire 70th birthday party in it. I was even able to nurse her in it. I love it. When my baby feels she needs to be close, I can have her near and still be attentive to my toddler and get things done. Here is Fina in the sling, safe and snug near me. It was so perfect for the party because everyone could see her, but she was close enough that everyone couldn't touch or hold her (she was only 5 weeks old and not ready for that much stimuli)
And then there is the
ERGO. Seriously, I can't say enough good things about this product! You can wear your tiny baby in it, your big toddler in it, put a baby on your back or hip in it, it's so great! I would say that everyone who has kids should have this! It is so versatile.
Here is Cooper in the ERGO last Feb on a hike in Winthrop.
Here is Fina in the ERGO at 2 weeks old.
I love that I am getting to use this again with Fina. We are certainly getting our moneys worth on this!
A frame pack. We used this for hiking with Cooper and will probably use it with Fina too, however the ERGO worked for this purpose as well. Cooper prefers to hike on his own now, which makes for much slower hiking but allows for lots of discovering!
Here is Cooper wearing his baby. I love that he does this. It makes me feel that he wants to nurture the way that he was nurtured.
Babywearing allows you to be close to your baby all the time and allows your baby/child to be a part of your everyday life. Babies and children want and have a need to be close, this allows you to fill that need while still going on with your day.
Don't we all just want to be worn :)
