Babywearing: Keep Them Close and Go Far
In this blog post, Kelly shares her experiences with babywearing. Kelly has been babywearing for over 5 years, with 3 different children, whom she also lovingly refers to as "dragons."
First dragon:
The first time I wore my baby was with a Moby Wrap. It was fun but kind of a disaster. The second time I wore my baby it was in the Ergo. It was a present on our baby list. I hated it. I found it so incredibly uncomfortable. Since then I have learnt that everyone is different and every carrier works for different people, according to their needs and their bodies. And it definitely didn't work for me.
Then I started to wrap. I remember when I got my first wrap and the many hours I dedicated to watching YouTube videos, trying to figure it out.
I wore her because it made sense. We lived in New York City, where accessibility is not a priority. Instead of lugging a massive stroller up and down the stairs, while New Yorkers stared on, I wore her. It was convenient, it was effective, and it took us where I had to go.
It also connected me with the best mom friend I had over there. As I was walking in Jersey City one day, I noticed another woman with a wrap and immediately knew we were kindred spirits! We talked, we visited, we chatted, and she taught me so many tricks that YouTube had not.
With our first baby we also traveled a lot (thank you paid paternity leave!) and we did not take our stroller on plane journeys. How did we manage? We wore our baby! An extra bonus was that we didn't need hold her through flights. One caveat, if you do choose to babywearing whilst traveling - security makes you take baby out of carrier or wrap. So consider a half buckle carrier like the DidyKlick or a Meh Dai style carrier.
Babywearing this dragon also gave me my first ever friend in Toronto, Allie, from Little Zen One! We went from customer to friend, chatting all things wraps and carries, to children and life.
We still wear her.
Second dragon:
We wore him right away. We had much more knowledge, and oh, so many more wraps! Take note, the wrap world is a slippery slope with so many beauties out there you just “need” to wear! Right before he was born, (or was it after? who knows, oh baby brain of mine), I took my husband to Little Zen One to pick his first ever wrap. He fell in love with a wrap called Lisca Minos, and I was a little jealous because I didn’t own a Lisca. Of course we ended up sharing, but you can understand wrap envy, can’t you?
We continued to travel the world without a stroller, one of us wearing the baby and the other the toddler. And we continued to wear him at home a lot because he had colic and arms get tired from constant holding. Plus, of course, we wore him because he needed that closeness, to feel calm and bonded, and so did we.
We still wear him.
Third dragon:
There was never a question about wearing this baby. While we wanted to wear her for all the same benefits we'd found with the others, this was truthfully about survival. How can you make dinner, tend to two toddlers, and keep the baby happy without wearing them? Wear the newborn!
Need to take the older kids to preschool or simply outside, but the baby needs to sleep? No problem! Wear the newborn!
And triple strollers? No thank you.
Our solution - one child gets worn and the other two go in the stroller.
Close to me, inside my babywearing coat, we can go far. We have gone far. Our last adventure took us snowshoeing. The baby slept the entire joruney, but we all got to enjoy the beautiful Ontario snow covered hills.
If we didn’t have babywearing, we certainly wouldn’t be able to do as much or be as free as we are.
What is baby wearing to me?
An essential in parenting. An essential in survival for those hard times when you can only manage so much, a necessity in wanting to keep your tiny humans close and safe.
Baby wearing takes you far while providing a close hug, a snuggle and the essential tenderness while having your hands free!
Kelly Swartz is an Erotic Expert.
You may find her at awokenbeauty.com
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