Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Any thoughts on baby carriers?

When I had Miriam, I knew I wanted something that would help me carry her with me so that she could be with me while I did other things. I got a little snugli pouch, I'm not sure which brand or anything, and we used it, but not extensively. We went on walks when she was little and such, but I had some issues with it. I couldn't take her out of it if she was asleep because she'd wake up. It was awfully awkward to get on and it dug into my shoulders. Miriam loved to be held and carried, but didn't love the snugli pack. She loved being wrapped up really tight, but it was difficult to squish her into the pack with her blanket on. And she didn't like being in there not wrapped up. After not very long at all I quit using it and just carried her. Which helped with her desire to be attentive and involved or else asleep with mom, but didn't really help with the "oh my arms and my back are so tired and I can only use one at a time..." thing. So I decided to get something different for Elijah. This time around, I'll have both the wee little child plus a running and dancing and quite energetic bigger child. I originally planned on a Baby Bjorn because of the rave reviews I have heard about them. But after I borrowed one when babysitting a little child, I was disappointed in how awkward and sore I still felt. So as I started reading about different styles and such I found myself leaning heavily towards a wrap, specifically the "Sleepy Wrap." See their site at www.sleepywrap.com. I really like the different options it has for carrying... both asleep and awake, looking around, legs together or apart, on your back... And I like what it says about having the thing wrap around your shoulders and back so that the weight is distributed throughout the whole area rather than just on your shoulders cause GOSH that hurts. I also like that the material is stretchy and moveable so the kid can move around, but has more substance than just a tee shirt so it supposedly won't get all stretched out. I really am leaning towards this one! Still, I want to know if any of my faithful blog readers have opinions about this. I know I don't have a slew of followers, but I love and appreciate each and every one of you and would like to know about your experiences, if any, with baby carrying and baby wrapping. Have you tried it? Is there something that you loved? Something that you hated? Let me know! It will definately help with the decision to purchase or not. THANK YOU!

5 comments:

Levanger Family said...

HI Paige...I used the sleepy wrap!!! Loved it!!! You can even nurse them in there! I took Colton everywhere in that thing! He was so snug when he was a baby and when he got older he loved riding around with his little head peeking out!

Paige Moore said...

Katie, I'm so glad to hear you liked it! I think I'm gonna get it, but it is good to hear a success story from somebody I really know rather than just the reviews online. And thanks for responding, too! I was a little sad for a while that nobody had anything to say, but then you stepped up! Thanks. I'm also glad to know you read my blog because I read yours too but I've never commented and now I won't feel so much like I'm just stalking...

Kimber Family said...

Paige- These are really easy to make and they are awesome! I wish I had had them for my boys. I used it for my daughter and I loved it. I made mine I used but I bought a pink one recently offline for curiosity purposes, I like mine better since it was made with more of the stretchy cotton material. But they do work wonderfully. And for those babies that love to be swaddled these are great. If you go to wrapyourbaby.com it shows you many videos of how to wrap, including nursing in it etc. These are especially nice to go grocery shopping in, wrap it on before you get to the store and when you get there put baby in and do your stuff. It is wonderful I can't say enough good things about it. -Nicole

Anonymous said...

Hi Paigie!
I looked the sleepywrap up! It looks great, though I couldn't find a spot that described how to tie it on, or anyone saying if it was hard to get 5 yards of fabric around yourself. There is a girl in my ward with a new baby and she always has something that looked like these pictures wrapped around her. She seemed to really like it as well...I can't give lots of advice cuz I have never used one, but it looks good and I wanted to answer your call:). Also, as a side note and not to deter you at all because this looks much snugglier and cozier than the Baby Bjorn, but there were 2 times when I was happy to have the baby bjorn over anything else. #1 was when Henry fell asleep and I wanted to put him down. The part that carries the baby separates from the part that wraps around you so I could put him down without waking him up. #2 was on an airplane. Apparently, you must be separated from your baby when the plane takes off and lands (the same times as when your seat belt must be fastened). Separated just meant that he couldn't be fastened to me...Hence, I just left him in the exact same position (sleeping quietly and not screaming which he often did at that age) and undid the fasteners. Then I did them back up to get off. You definitely couldn't nurse them in there, you couldn't wear twins (not that that is an issue in your case) and you can't do much adjusting them around. Also, since Henry was a preemie, I couldn't use the Baby Bjorn at first...he had to be a certain weight. The SleepyWrap says one size fits all! Good luck!
Erin

Anonymous said...

I have a friend that got a sling at hotslings.com. It looked WAY easy to use and she could fold it up to put it in her diaper bag. She reported that she used it from birth to about 12 months. Honestly...that sleepy wrap looks like something I'd get myself tangled up in...but you never know. I've never used one myself. Good luck.