I’m going to get straight to the reasons why I’m all for baby carrying:
The first one is a general one: carrying your baby is a healthy thing everyone should do. Your oxytocin level goes up when you hold your baby close, and this promotes bonding. It also helps mothers recover postpartum.
Our little one hated the bassinet when she was little. She was born at the end of autumn, on a cold, frosty day in Finland. So the first few months of her life, it was dark, cold, and icy. Which meant that while out and about, she would either scream her lungs out in the bassinet (which is painful for all of us, as you probably know), or be fine carried. For the first few months we just carried her in our laps for short times, hoping that she will eventually get used to her pram…well, she didn’t. She only did after we switched to the seat. The carrier saved our sanity, and hers. It provided a safer option, and a more comfortable one.
Now that she is older, she loves facing outward, to touch tree trunks, wet leaves, smell flowers, look at foxes and bunnies, and check out the wonderful colours in nature. Our front facing carrier makes that easy and comfortable.
Her first time on the swing was also in the carrier and that provided her the confidence to experience that.
I don’t usually do chores with E in the carrier, because we have a baby proofed apartament and it’s still possible (she’s not walking yet) to keep an eye on her while I do some quick things around the house. Plus, I prefer playing with her or observing her while she’s awake. But the carrier has helped a lot on trips – we flew to Romania and we decided not to take the pram. She was extremely happy to be in the carrier. Of course, we only used it to go places, but once there, she was free to explore and move around. Babies need to improve their gross motor skills and get rid of that energy, otherwise we’d all go crazy.
E. still gets grumpy in the pram when she’s tired. I think she has fallen asleep in it only 3 times in her life. So the carrier comes in handy when she starts getting fussy. She loves being in it and calms down right away.
Carrying my daughter is comforting for both of us. There are days when I feel I have stuff to do and I’m missing on precious moments with her. But if she’s there with me, we cuddle and everything seems to go faster and gets solved easily.
With a carrier you also don’t need to worry about your pram being stolen. If you go somewhere, you don’t need to find a place to park the pram.
Before buying a carrier/wrap/ring sling, read about all your options and consult your pediatrician. You might decide to get a sling because it’s smaller, but then it might be more uncomfortable for longer periods of time (because you wear it on one shoulder) and your baby might not want to face you. The wrap is on both shoulders, but it takes some time to get used to putting it on. We have all three, but most of the times we end up using the carrier, because our daughter just loves facing outwards and seeing what we see.
What are your feelings on carriers?
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