Babywearing

Whew. For the past 2 days, Emma has been in quite the mood. Fussy fussy fussy, unless she’s being held! Good thing we have a couple options that let me keep her close — and therefore mostly content — while keeping my hands free to do something other than hold a baby all day. We’ve got both a Baby Bjorn (top left, from yesterday) and a Moby wrap (top right, from today) and I’ve now experimented with both.

Yesterday, Emma and I went on an adventure and drove up to the museum district to return the hospital-grade pump I’d rented from a baby/breastfeeding store up there three weeks ago. (I had to go there because at the time, all the pumps from the Cradle Club down here in Clear Lake were rented out! So annoying.) But it randomly stopped working on Sunday and none of the troubleshooting tips I found online could get it working again. Thankfully the Cradle Club had some available this time around, so I won’t have to drive into town again now that the broken one has been returned.

Anyway, the point of that story is to say that I took the Baby Bjorn with me to try out, since I didn’t want to have to carry Emma’s whole carseat into the building. It worked great! Emma seemed pretty comfortable too — she stirred when I put her in it, but then fell back asleep for the whole time I was in the store (only about 10 minutes).

Today, I used the Moby wrap for the second time. I think I still need practice — it tends to loosen over time, at which point Emma starts to slide down and get lost in the fabric — but overall I like it as well. It was the PERFECT thing to keep Emma nestled against my chest while she napped this afternoon but keep my arms free to fix myself a sandwich, check my email, etc.

There are a zillion different baby carriers out there, and I’m interested in trying a sling as well. (In theory, I was — still am? — going to make myself one using the pattern that company provides.) There seem to be pros and cons to each type of carrier. The Baby Bjorn is easier and quicker to get Emma into and out of, and I think Jose is much more likely to use it over the more “girly” wrap. However, the positions she can be in seem a bit more limited. The Moby wrap is a little more hassle to put on because there’s so much fabric, but there are several different configurations including Emma being curled up in the fetal position.

I haven’t used either outside yet, so the jury’s still out on which one would be more comfortable in warm weather — I’m sure they’d both leave me pretty sweaty, but that’s just how it goes. Overall, I like both carriers and expect to get a good bit of use out of each one.