Things I Love Thursday: Baby Wearing

I never in a million years would have guessed that I would enjoy baby wearing. Yes, I am one of those judgmental moms who with her first child looked at those carrying their babies and thought “no way.” Times change. Attitudes change. Sanity changes. I knew moments after arriving from the hospital with Tessa that I was going to need of an attitude change, and quickly.

So I went to my favorite source of what to acquire, you, the readers! I asked on Twitter and the two answers I kept getting over and over were the ERGOBaby and the Moby Wrap. So off to the internet I went in search of these two products. Again, I contacted these companies to see if it would be possible to review their product. I figured if you said it was good, it was good. They obliged and sent me a sample to try.

I also mentioned that I wore both of them at Blissdom. I wanted to try them both out. They are a little different and I wanted to see how both of them worked. I was not disappointed! Here is what I thought of each of them.

I want to start out by saying that one of the reasons that I selected these two products is because I have a lot of trouble with getting headaches that originate in my upper shoulders and neck. Wearing a sling that only goes over one shoulder was definitely not going to be feasible with this predicament. So when readers suggested the below items, I knew that we were at least off to a good start as both of them are designed to distribute the weight to both shoulders equally.

ERGObaby Carrier

This the one, that prior to getting, I thought would be the most attractive and useful. Not only does it have straps that go over both shoulders but the around the waist buckling also means that weight is distributed to your hips as well. And they have a great infant insert that can be used with the carrier as well.

I have enjoyed this carrier and have used it on many occasions. I do tend to use it more for our outings and periods of time that I know that Tessa is going to be in it for longer. Mostly because with the infant insert it takes me a little longer to get the carrier on and situated. However, with practice I have gotten much faster.

I have also heard from many other ERGObaby users that they especially like it for 4 months and beyond when the baby can hold their head up and you can discontinue use of the infant insert. We aren’t quite there yet, but I can definitely see that being the case. And I can’t wait to get out and use it more. And it is faithful in distributing some of the weight to my hips instead of my shoulders. That is a HUGE plus for me and will continue to be a plus as Tessa gains weight.

The other thing that I like about this carrier is that my husband is more inclined to use it than the wrap. Men can most certainly wear the wraps but mine prefers the more masculine look of the carrier.

Moby Wrap

I was very skeptical of this wrap! Very skeptical. The long piece of fabric alone is intimidating. Could I ever learn to tie this thing in less than 10 minutes? Would it give me a headache from the shoulder weight?

I was pleasantly surprised when I started getting the hang of wearing the wrap and that it didn’t cause headaches. I love this thing! It is so easy to use and so versatile. I used it so much at Blissdom. I have used it for shorter family outings with the toddler and most recently at the grocery store. Using it at the grocery store meant that I could have both kids and still have room for the groceries. SCORE!

And Tessa just loves snuggling up to me in it. She is definitely my snuggler and loves being in the Moby Wrap.

The only downfall I can think to list is that Tessa has had problems with acid reflux and spitting up the first 8 weeks of her life. And sometimes it is massive amounts (or at least feels that way when it is running down your shirt). There are times that it would be nice to use the wrap but the pressure on her stomach as we are inserting her eventually causes her to spit up. I went through no less than two outfits a day at Blissdom because of this. It was gross! Spit up sandwiched in between us. Nice.

But I think that is more of a Tessa issue than a Moby Wrap issue. I would likely have that with most carriers. Although, the ERGObaby doesn’t seem to cause that as much.

Not a deal breaker for me and I loved both of these carriers/wraps. I liked that they were a little different and allowed me some different usages. I still use both and will continue to do so as Tessa gets older.

If you are interested Moby Wrap is offering a 15% discount to Once A Month Mom readers through 3/26/10. Simply use the code MOBYMONTH when you check out! So check it out and get yourself one. They also have cute little miniature ones for your other kiddos to wear their doll babies/stuffed animals. How cute!

This post is linked at the Diaper Diaries Things I Love Thursday.

**Don’t forget to enter to win the Old Orchard Healthy Balance Juice giveaway, now through 3/22.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 8:00 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.