Mom Talk: Babywearing

Thanks to International Babywearing Week, the thought of slings, wraps, and carriers have been dancing through my head.  Last night, in fact, I dreamed I had purchased two pouch slings (I don't own any) and I woke wondering how I was going to tell Papa Sheppard that I had purchased another baby sling.

He'd put a stop to them after the third ring sling.  But he never put a stop on wraps.

He put a stop to them after the second.

Currently, my cost associated with the six acquired baby carrier systems I have (three ring slings, two wraps, and one infant carrier) is $32.00.  And in all honesty, the majority of that is the cost of the Maya Wrap I purchased secondhand off eBay.  The other two ring slings came from Freecycle, and the wraps were made out of fabric gifted from my mother.

Yesterday, we went to see our family physician, Dr. G.  She is an excellent GP who has taken care of me, Papa Sheppard, my mother, three aunts, and my grandmother.  My brother was seeing her, but decided he'd prefer a male doctor, so we're trying to get my sister-in-law in to see her as well.  She's had 25 years of experience as a doctor of family medicine and has had three children of her own.  Her wall is littered with pictures of babies she has either delivered or cared for.

After seeing Little Sheep yesterday, she reported that, while she's in the 90th percentile for her height, she's still only in the low 50th percentile for her weight.  She's been that way pretty much since birth.  I personally don't think she's too skinny, but "by the chart" she's a little on the thin side.  We know that Papa Sheppard was a skinny little rake for most of his life, but Dr. G. would like to see Little Sheep with a little more flesh on her bones.  Because we are exclusively breastfeeding, and on demand, I figured the easiest way would be to just wear her most of the day.

Then we started describing a few other things we'd noticed.  A small cough, spitting up actual milk solids, arching of her back, not liking lying down in the evening.  Dr. G. smirked and said, "Sounds like she's got reflux.  I could put her on medication, but I'd rather not.  Try to just keep her upright more often."

That pretty much cinched the babywearing idea.  Papa Sheppard likes that I wear her, to an extent, but he worries she doesn't get enough "her time" and space.  I love wearing her.  She likes it for only so long, then she wants her freedom and the ability to wiggle.  So we decided to wear her more often throughout the day and nurse her more often as well.  When we go out, we'll wear her.  And when she objects and wants her freedom, than we will take her out and let her wiggle til she wants to come back in.  She's pretty easy to read at this point.

This morning, while she was in the sling, I was able to accomplish most of my morning chores with her in the wrap.  I was very pleased with this.  People always say "It's so hard to do housework with a baby".  I figure if I could just master the back carry, I'd be set for life.

Oh, and one other thing.  I recently read this heartbreaking post about the cradle carry and why it is a bad one for babies.  Little Sheep never liked that one anyway, so it wasn't often that we used it.  However, I see no reason to continue using it now, and intend to use other carries so that I don't get in that habit with the next baby.