How I started babywearing

I always knew I wanted to babywear my littles. Probably since I was 20 or so this was my plan. Back then I only knew about stretchy wraps, and thought they were the coolest thing, whats better than baby snuggles all day long and having hands free!?

It wasn’t until I was expecting my first at age 31 that I began to delve into the babywearing world. It was like unlocking a secret level in Super Mario…except it was a whole secret world, not just one level. There were buckle carriers and woven wraps, slings, ring slings, hybrid carriers, stretchy wraps, soft structured carriers, and structured hiking packs…and so much more. How did I even know where to start!?

The truth is, I didn’t have a clue. I tossed a Boba Wrap – Stretchy wrap and an ErgoBaby Omni Breeze – Soft Structured Carrier (SSC) on my baby registry and thought I would be good to go with those. Little did I know, I would end up rarely using these two items in the long run.

The first time I used a carrier with our first baby was when my husband went back to work around 3 weeks postpartum. I put her in the Ergo Baby Omni Breeze SSC so I could make myself some food, it worked well enough. But I wanted something more cozy, and more supportive of a floppy newborn. I tried the stretchy wrap the next day, but didn’t love it – it was difficult for me to get right. I couldn’t get it tight enough to keep her from slumping down, it took me forever to put on, baby was crying, I was crying, it was a disaster.

I tried the stretchy wrap a handful more times but mostly used the ergo baby for the first 3 months of her life because it was easiest – just buckle the waist on, make sure she had a good M shape to her knees, and tighten the shoulder straps. We went out to lunch for mothers day when baby was around 2 months old, I wore her in the Ergo Baby carrier on the walk to lunch and all through the meal, taking her out briefly to nurse, then putting her back in for the walk home. It got the job done, but still I was unhappy with how floppy she still felt in it, and still was looking for something more cozy and prettier.

When babe was around 3 months I started looking for other options and came across Ring Slings. I purchased a Ring Sling from Hip Baby Wraps – the one I purchased was one with a honeycomb or waffle type fabric, which gave it a little bit of stretch, but not so much that baby could stretch it loose. It took some learning, but I am so glad I started with this one. I Loved it! I ended up giving this to a friend of mine about 6 months later to use with her little 🙂 Ring Slings also had a learning curve like the stretchy wrap did, but after looking up several tutorials online I was able to sort it out. We went out to eat as a family of 3 for the first time and I wore babe in the ring sling. IT WAS WONDERFUL! To be able to go out, get food, eat, all while she slept snuggled on to me was the best thing I could have asked for.

This Hope & Plum Ring Sling purchase began the descent into the world of babywearing. I joined babywearing facebook groups, began asking questions about which brands were the best, what carriers or slings were the best and really set myself up for success with future babywearing.