Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Baby Slings / Carriers

I own four baby slings / carriers and I never used any of them. I bought them hoping one might work for me to carry and transport Kiana. I needed to figure out a way to get Kiana lifted out of the crib, move her to and from the changing table, and transport her from room to room.

Reasons they didn’t work for me:
1. I couldn’t even lift her to get her in it. Those first 3 months she seemed so fragile and I wasn’t coordinated enough to get 2 hands under her to support her head. I tried sliding it under her while she was on a soft surface.
2. If I did manage to get her in it she screamed because she hated it.
3. Ok, now she’s in... can I get it on me? no. If I can get it on, can I walk? no. I didn’t have the balance to walk with a 9lbs baby on my side or front. Maybe I can use a walker? But I don’t use a walker so why would I use one now?
4. Finally, even if all of the above worked out, the time it took to do all of this just to get her out of the crib and 2 feet to the changing table was just too much of a hassle.

So, those first 2 months, when Kiana was waking up 3-4 times during the night, my husband had to wake up to get her out of the crib, change her, hand her to me, and then lay her back down in the crib after she had fallen asleep. And then during the day my nanny was here to move her around.

I’ve heard of mothers doing chores, dishes, preparing meals, taking walks, etc. with their baby right on their side or front in the carrier. Kiana was just a baby who hated baby carriers. It didn’t matter what kind it was or who was carrying her. My husband wasn’t one to hold her much while he was busy doing something else either. She’s not a clingy baby that needs to be constantly held or picked up. And now, at 10 months, she’s very independent and good at entertaining herself while we are busy making dinner or doing chores. She didn’t get used to sleeping in a sling either. Whenever she would fall asleep on my lap she would be moved to her crib, otherwise I couldn’t get up, although I did love having her sleep on my lap and watching her while she slept.

It all worked out not using a sling. Kiana knows I’m not able to pick her up or carry her so she rarely asks me to.

2 comments:

  1. Hello

    We have something in common I have athold cp myself and I am a mom as well to a 25 month old daughter. read your blog has brought me back memories of my daughter when she was a baby. when my daughter first crawl I had to teach her to crawl on me to pick her up like she would stand up to hold on me and I will pick her that way. my daughter slept with me in bed since birth cause easy on breastfed. now she is 2 yrs old very indepent child she knows how to help her mom. at 18 month old she learned how to unlock door for me with the key. so I just give her the key and she would unlock the door for me.

    I wasnt able to use the sling much either unless I had someone with me but I was able to use the front carrier by myself when my daughter was 5 month old. I was able to bath my baby alone even my mom told me once dont you ever bath your baby alone im like ok mom I wont but that was lie I never let my mom tell me what i cant do with my kid. I was able bath my baby by use the baby tub by me crawling to push the tub while my baby was in tub to bathroom then hold her with one arm while use other arm to put the tub in bathtub. okay im gettin tired need go to bed.

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  2. Lisa,

    Thanks for the comment and sharing. It's helpful to me hearing other mother's ways of doing things. This is all new to me and I'm just figuring it out as I go along.

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