Hello everyone,

Hope you are enjoying the summer so far. I am excited to be interviewing Natasha from Natural Urban Mamas about baby wearing (http://www.naturalurbanmamas.com), but first I thought I should share with you my own baby wearing journey.

Being a fan of attachment parenting, I was very excited about learning how to "wear" my little newborn. My first sling was bought on-line and was the wrong size. My second sling was bought on-line too, and I had no idea how to use it (I must have watched a million youtube how-to videos). Thankfully, the store that I bought my sling from offered baby wearing lessons so I was able to properly fit Amelia into it. I am so glad that I was able to see first hand how to use it because I actually had Amelia in a very unsafe position while I was trying it out at home (deep in the sling, in a cradle position with her poor little neck not properly supported). 

I thought that I would love my sling. I had seen other mommies at the farmer's market, their babies in slings and it looked so perfect, so easy. Perhaps if I had tried using it more at home it wouldn't have felt so foreign. Plus, it was an adjustable sling and I was so worried that the rings would let out too much fabric and Amelia would fall.

I thought that I would be smart about my next purchase and so I went to a used kids clothing store. I found a baby bjorn there. Now, I had heard about the bjorn from quite a lot of people and some people really love the bjorn so I decided to pick it up.

I got it home and put it on right away. After a few minor adjustments, we were good to go! It felt sturdy and safe, and Amelia loved looking out when we went for walks. Now, for those that do not know, Amelia is taller and weighs more than the average baby - she is in the 80% percentile. After a few walks out with the bjorn my poor back was killing me! The problem was that you held the child's weight from your shoulders and upper back, and anyone who has ever carried a heavy backpack knows that you need support on your hips too.

However, Rob has always liked the Bjorn and it was his carrier of choice for awhile:

So, onto the next purchase. 

At this time, I was also taking part in Salsa Babies, a great fitness class where you learn salsa dance moves while wearing your baby. Amelia was about 4 months old now and could hold up her head. I saw the other mommies in the class with really long pieces of fabric that they wrapped around themselves and their babies. It looked snug, but also complicated. I went to a great little baby store in town and tried on a bunch of wraps, including the complicated ones. I didn't want all that extra fabric to drape on the ground (it was winter at this time). I found the perfect solution - a blue celery wrap. It works like the long drapey wrap, but there are three pieces of fabric rather than one. You loop one piece around your upper torso diagonally, then do the same with the other piece (vice versa). The third piece wraps around your upper torso once baby is snug inside. 

I ended up getting this wrap slightly used on kijiji. This was one of my favorite go to items for moms on the go - it worked wonderfully. It was great to dance in, and easy to put on for quick trips to the supermarket. I used this wrap right up until Amelia got too heavy for it (I especially noticed this in dance class - the fabric would stretch quite a bit and Amelia was not as snug as she used to be).

Another day, another carrier.

Next up - the baby hawk. Okay, I am still in love with my baby hawk too. It is a large piece of fabric that has four long ties on it (two on top, two on the bottom). The great thing about the baby hawk is that it can be tied in several different ways and it is also adjustable for dads and moms to use (one size fits all). I took Amelia to the folk fest in the baby hawk, we also used it on our trip to B.C.  It worked wonderfully, and it had hip support too.

So, at this time, Amelia is about 6 months old. I was using the hawk and the blue celery interchangeably but I wanted to try out something new. I LOVE doing research on the web and I particularily love looking up product reviews. There were two carriers that I wanted to see : The Beco and the Ergo. These carriers are structured carriers and, to me, they resembled a large climbing backpack. Each carrier has positive and negative points, but I decided to try out the Beco - it looked funky and it was slightly less bulky than the Ergo. 

I used the Beco up until just recently. Now that Amelia can walk, she no longer wants to be strapped into a carrier. I really did enjoy the Beco - it had great hip support (which is essential at this point - Amelia was getting pretty heavy), and it also had great shoulder support too. I really appreciated the shoulder padding when we would go on long treks. Also, another great thing about the Beco - you can wear baby on your back! This was a great way to carry her when she got heavy, and it was also a great way to continue doing Salsa Babies with the girl; we ended up going to Salsa Babies until she was crawling and didn't want to be in a carrier anymore.

So - that's my baby wearing journey. Some of it was good, some not so good, but I feel like I will be more comfortable the next time around with baby number 2. I really enjoyed that baby - mom closeness that comes with carrying your baby. After a rough period of post partum, and a long and unsuccessful breastfeeding journey,  I felt like it was a way that I could connect with Amelia. I could look down and see her precious smile, or hear her deep breathing as she fell asleep, and could feel her little heart beating. I think it was good for both of us.