Sling Class

Finally, we went to the Sling Class today. Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. I have always seen people/mainly women wearing their children and I always thought it was a great idea for city living. I always figure that I would be living in the city by the time we had a child. More likely Portland but I guess we jump the gun a little bit. So last year when I was watching the two greatest kids alive, I came to the realization that babywearing may not be such a terrible idea after all in the city. I was moving through the city with a double stroller that could not get into any stores and had such a hard time on the CTA. Some time last year, I sign up for the Be Bye Baby e-mailing list and for $15 dollars, I could learn about how to sling my baby.

So worth the money. Now we register and got a pretty diverse stroller that I really will like and enjoy BUT it would only work with the car seat for under 6 months. We did register for the adapter as well. BUT there are so many benefits for wearing your child in those first 6 months anyway.

Benefits:

They cry less. Babies seem to forget about all their troubles and just relax more. Granted, before you put your baby on, you should make sure all their basic needs are meet so they are not fussy over the basics.

They learn more. They are more calm and able to take the world in better by being a relax state of mind opposite to endless interaction. This would be having the baby face the caregiver more then the outside world. They are also more likely to be interacting with the parent or the carrier rather then facing outwards towards the world and the caregiver cannot hear them. Also if there is any overload of stimuli they are going to be more likely to move in towards the caregiver then shut down in the stroller.

They are more organized. Since there is a thing called the 4 trimester, the baby will feel a sense of self better by being close to mom or dad. They will sense the familiar rhythms of mom's heartbeat and feel safer. It will be able to calm them down more and give them a sense of purpose. Also, they will humanized earlier because they are closer to mom or dad and be able to interact with the world. They will become more aware of the little things in life that make people, people.

Safety:

Always make sure that there are two fingers between you and their chin so you know that they are breathing because under 6 months they are not able to move their head to adjust for themselves. Always make sure the wrap is folded and not the baby itself. The baby's bottom should always be the heaviest part of the wrap and the legs should be more up wards. When they are really little, tucking in their feet and leg towards the body is better then horizontal laying. The face will always be unobstructed. Their back should always be supported in no matter what sling. Also, there are slings that have the child always facing out towards the world and their legs are not support. That will lead to hip and joint displacement which is not recommend for baby wearing.

Our Slings:

We had order a sling HugaMonkey which is a basic Pouch Sling. The baby will be in a cradle carry position. The baby has to be at least 6 and half pounds to be able to use and under 8 lbs there needs to be receiving blankets. The baby should be diagonal NOT horizontal. You have be size to get one of these slings and you really cannot interchange them with other baby wearing peeps. So Nick and I have our own pouch sling. We got them of Babysteals.com because it was the cheap steal that day. But you can find them at BuyBuyBaby, Target, Gap and other random places. The big brand for Pouch Slings is HotSlings. This brand is great because it comes in all different sizing.

We got a wrap today. It would be great for the summer because it covers the entire body. The baby would not have to wear that much clothes at all. This one can be interchange between all different people. Well, at least the MobyWrap which we got. It comes in various shades. This sling is common when looking at other cultures when seeing how babies are being carried by mothers. This one always had the most scary set up but I feel that it was much easier then it looked. Also, youtube has video on it and you can make one from the fabric store.

There is the Mei-Tai which we will wait to get until the baby is older then 3 months and can hold her own head. We really like that it could be a back carrier and a front carrier and had solid support on the straps. We are just going to wait to get it but def get it.

We did not like the ring sling. We felt that was way to complex for us and the metal rings would hurt. Plus after the baby start gaining weight, I think I would like wraps that are more evenly supported on my back oppose to my side due to not liking messenger bags that rest on my shoulder.

Websites:

Mei-Tai
http://www.babyhawk.com/
http://www.togetherbe.com/productDescriptionFreeHandMeiTai.aspx

Moby Wraps
http://www.mobywrap.com/

Pouch Slings
http://www.hotslings.com/
http://www.hugamonkey.com/

General Product Information about the Different Brands of Slings
http://www.thebabywearer.com/cgi-bin/reviews/review.pl?product