More Stuff Recommendations

First, an addendum to that hammock post:

Ditching our crib and buying something else for Nat to sleep in was not as hard as it might have been, because the crib we bought originally, was this mini crib and it was fairly economical. The cost of the crib and the hammock together still came to less than what lots of people pay for a regular crib. We still like the mini crib a lot. It's pretty and very apartment friendly in its size. Nat seems to be happy with the mattress (which is far thinner than a regular crib mattress) after sleeping in the hammock, on pallets on floors or play yards (when we are visiting others). Its only big drawback is the lack of a drop-down side, so that I have to reach down into it and pull Nat out which is not so easy on the back. I think the drawbacks are worth the space and price savings, but you be the judge. It wouldn't be one of the things I insist everyone would love (unlike the hammock!).

Next Up: Carriers

The lovely and talented Dawn handed down her favorite sling to us when Nat came home. It was our favorite sling too. It was snuggly purple fleece with adjustable shoulder snaps so any adult could wear it comportably. Nat lived in it for at least a month and half lived in it for another two, until it got too hot for fleece and Nat got too big for me to strain only one shoulder with a sling. Here she is sleeping away happy as a baby clam. (I pulled it open, aimed the camera at my tummy and snapped.)

Once Nat outgrew the sling, I asked dawn for her next recommendation. She suggested the Ellaroo Wrap. And boy, oh boy, was she right!

The great thing about this one is that you can tie it a zillion ways--I might've wrapped it sling-style (and did, briefly) from the get-go, but with Nat bigger and heavier, we found the front-cross-carry to be ideal (these instructions are a little different from ours--we add a final step of pulling the horizontal "sash" piece up over the baby's butt for a sense of even more security and a bit more bottom support to take pressure off her legs).
This method of tying the wrap distributes nearly equal weight in not just two (shoulders) places, but three (adding lower back). It was super comfortable for a long time. I have a bad back and this was the next best thing to carrying my own body weight, because the baby is snugged so tightly and the weight is distributed so evenly. Nat loved it too. I tried the fancy, over-priced carrier sported by movie stars (they don't need my advertising, you know who I mean) and it just didn't distribute the weight as well, because it isn't nearly as personally adjustable to the body of the wearer. It also smooshed Nat's face uncomfortably, whereas again, the wrap could be pulled and tugged and loosened to fit the baby just so.

We could still use the wrap, and do occasionally on planes and stuff, but now Nat loves her stroller (she hated it before she developed some object-permanence and couldn't see where we were), and she's heavier, so we use it less. I think it's pretty, too, and never felt frumpy wearing it. It costs a bit, when you buy it from this company, but once I accidentally forgot it on a trip to visit my parents, so my mother and I went out and bought some fabric and she ran a seam so I could use that, and it cost about the same as a new wrap from Ellaroo, because it's a lot of fabric. You could buy cheaper fabric and run your seam and probably save some money, but I thought the fabric was worth it. We bought the large size, I believe (can't quite remember) because I wanted to be sure I had plenty of fabric to tie any way I liked. I could have gotten away with a medium because I always had a long tail left over, but I'm really skinny and Nat (though growing) is small (for her age), so that's just us.

I have heard that some babies don't like wraps and slings, but Nat loved them. For a long time, we could take her anywhere, because at nap or bed time, I could just wrap her up and she'd sleep on me sound as in her bed. We even went to a couple of adult movies, trusting she'd sleep quietly in the wrap (and she mostly did, especially if we sat on the aisle, so I could stand and bounce a little when she stirred).

So if your baby hates these things, I'm sorry. But if you don't have a baby yet--give it every chance, because it made life a bazillion times easier for us. A BA-zillion!

Comments

[cluttergirl]

thanks for the recommends and esp the pictures. There are so many wraps out there, it is hard to sort them out.