Parents share their love of babywearing! - Sharing the Love of Babywearing

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Sharing the Love of Babywearing

Sharing the love of babywearing!
Parents share the reasons why they use slings.

Babywearing is carrying your child in slings. And there are so many reasons to use slings. Babies are happier when carried in slings and caregivers are able to provide the closeness that babies need in a convenient and hands free way. The benefits are endless!

So many parents have benefited from using slings in so many ways. Here are some of those parents sharing their stories.

We welcome more stories! If you have a babywearing story to share, please email us and we'll include it in this page.

I discovered babywearing in Feb of 2007 and have loved it ever since. Unfortunately it was with my third child instead of with my first, but that may have been why. I was looking for a way to be able to get things done and tend to the baby etc. I needed my "hands free" and that is when I purchased my first carrier! Since then I have helped a few friends and offered some community education classes along with offering classes thru a nearby family resource center. Not as much interest as I would have hoped for, but I still get an interested Mama every once in a while that I get to help and spread the babywearing love to! We are expecting #4 in August and I am really looking forward to being able to wrap up my new little babe.
~ Tricia K

I started researching babywearing when I was pregnant for 2 reasons, the main one was that I was interested in attachment parenting. The second reason that made babywearing essential is that we lived on a 2nd floor condo no elevator and I had to be able to get up and down the stairs with a 50 lb labrador retriever and a newborn multiple times a day when my husband was at work. We started out with a Mei Tai, and very quickly started using wraps and feel in love with them for their versatility and comfort. My son is now 2 and we still wear on a regular basis and yes, still for dog walks!. I also get alot of joy out of teaching new mom's in our local natural parenting playgroup to learn to wear their babies so they can experience the same joy, comfort, and fun that I have had with babywearing.

~ Jenni A

I have a daughter who is 9 months old. About a month ago, she became sick for the first time. It was only a virus/cold, but she was miserable. I was able to wrap her each evening. It was amazing how much easier it was for her to rest in an upright position as opposed to lying down. She was also comforted by the closeness. But, I think the best part was how benefitial it was to me to know that I could do something to help soothe her. I felt more in control of the situation and more useful because I was able to wear her through it.
~ Andrea B.

Before I had my first child, Bella, I didn't really know anything about babywearing except what Dr. Sears' Baby Book taught me. I got a Baby Bjorn and thought it was the coolest thing, but didn't think I would use it very often. Well, Bella came along and had different plans for me! She didn't like the Bjorn whatsoever, but NEEDED to be held in arms constantly for the first eight months of her little life. So one of the moms in an old AP group introduced me to thebabywearer.com website, and it was downhill (lol) from there!

I immediately got a Hotsling and a Moby D, and loved their versatility and color choices! Wow, babywearing ROCKED! I then branched out, and got different brands of wraps, mei tai's, ring slings, and soft structured carriers! I still feel like thebabywearer.com is my 'home', and have had probably thirty carriers go in and out of our now modest carrier stash.

Wraps have always been my favorite carrier, and that will never change. I wore Bella for every nap in one until she was eight months old, and now I wear my new little one, Spencer, for many of his naps too. Babywearing has sincerely changed my life for the better, and is still a huge part of my life now. It gave me the opportunity to bond physically and emotionally with my little ones early on, and helped me cope and get through post partum depression even. It has opened my life up to other liked minded mamas, who then taught me about natural family living. In addition, babywearing has helped create special bonds between my kiddos and their grandfather as well as with my handicapped sister.

Today I got to fly my daughter's first kite with little Spencer all wrapped up tight and napping away. When he woke up, he peeked out and gave me a smile that just warmed my heart, then looked up and saw the kite and giggled at it. What a special moment!
~ Natalie

I started babywearing when my oldest son was a baby. He had severe reflux and needed to be carried all the time to be comfortable. I didn't know a thing about babywearing and couldn't manage the snugli type carrier I'd gotten. It compressed my breasts terribly and got all tangled. A friend recommended a hotsling, and since I didn't know that was a brand not a type, I just figured it was my only choice. I was sleep deprived, covered in spit-up and exhausted when I placed my order. It arrived, I scanned the booklet, popped him in, an lo and behold - silence! It was like a switch was pulled when he snuggled down into the carrier and I started walking. From then until he was about 4 months, I wore him down for naps, and then later I wore him when we went places. We'd gotten rid of our baby bucket car seat since it made his reflux worse, and the sling was a miracle for running errands for a non-sitting baby. Back then I'd had no idea there were options in baby carriers, so when he outgrew the sling, I stopped wearing.

This time around, my crunchy research served me well. I was prepared with my Hotsling, but I also bought a Babyhawk before my daughter was born. Of course, neither carrier pleased her and I headed out to the internet to figure out something else. I found The Babywearer, bought a secondhand Moby and started working on wrapping. The learning curve seemed insurmountable at first - when I got the wrap right, the baby snuggled down, sighed big and drifted off to peaceful sleep. Then there were other times when she was crying and I couldn't figure out the mess of fabric and I wanted to cry! I practiced and practiced, got my carries down, and then I stumbled into Wrapper's Paradise and found the woven love and there's been no turning back.

Wrapping and wearing have become second nature in our house - my oldest wears his dolls, and everyone expects to see me out and about with my daughter strapped to my chest. I've had a ton of interest from other moms at playgroup, out shopping and just around the neighborhood. Babywearing started as a means to and end, but it's become a love of its own and a way to spend more time close to my children.
~ Stephanie M.

When i was pregnant with my daughter in 2005, i was really interested in Attachment Parneting and Dr Sears' methods of child rearing. On his recommendation, I went out looking for baby carriers to be able to carry my newborn. I couldnt afford a Bjorn, which was the only baby carrier I had seen previously, so I decided on the Nojo sling. It was boring and bulky, but my daughter lived in it until she was just about a year old. As she became more active, I realized I needed a way of carrying her that allowed her to see and that allowed me to have hands completely free. I found out how to sew a Mei Tai and i carried her in that Mei Tai till she was just too big to be carried any longer.

When my son was born in 2007, I knew I wanted to carry him as well. I discovered stretchy wraps and LOVED them. I also branched out to different ring slings and pouches. I made a few other Mei Tais, discovered podegis and chuneis, and also found www.thebabywearer.com which introduced me to woven wraps, and i have been obsessed ever since! We have a stash of several woven wraps from several different brands, Mei Tais, Podegis, ring slings, and pouches. My husband has his own Ergo carrier.

Babywearing has allowed me to include my son in our daily activities. He also has had some health problems, and carrying has allowed him to stay snuggled and close to me while he hasnt felt well.

I have a closer connection to both of my children because of wearing them. It is the best parenting tool I have ever found.

I will wear any other children I may have, and look forward to wearing grandchildren someday as well.
~ Jess H.

I used two mainstream types of carriers with my first whom I had in 2005. I knew that carrying my baby was the only way I could go for easy walks down our dirt road and go on long hikes with my dear husband. As soon as my daughter was born in 2007, I truly realized that now was the best time to start wearing her instead of waiting until it was "necessary". My mom purchased me my first mei tai and I borrowed my good friends stretchy wrap. I was hooked! I wore her to the mall, on walks, on hikes, around the house, to the zoo, you name it! It was a relief having my sweet baby snuggled and safe, and most importantly happy. Since then I have had one more child and added several other carriers to my collection. I was so desparate to meet other parents who wanted to babywear that I started my own group. I also do a babywearing class and do demonstrations at birthing classes. Having the chance to teach others how to wear their children is my calling.
~Cindy