This week we are running a series of posts from one self-confessed “sling slut”, who rose to the challenge of managing without a baby carrier for a week! Here she tells us how she got on; what she found hard and what was easy.
I wanted to share my funniest babywearing story, which is from when Isaac was about 10 months old. We’d been staying on my sister’s farm for a few days and hadn’t seen many people. On our way home we stopped in a town. Walking down the High Street with Isaac on my hip in a Hotsling, he waved at everyone we passed, giving them huge smiles and laughs, and bouncing up and down in the sling. I’d not seen him do this before and I had to laugh too; I think everyone would have gone home with smiles on their faces. I guessed he was simply happy to see people again; I think using slings has encouraged him to be a very social baby.
And now, my conclusions from this challenge:
- It really was a challenge for me not to use slings. It has become second nature to reach for one whenever I need to, whether at home or out and about.
- There is nothing wrong with using a buggy (well, I knew this before) and I can see an opportunity to use it once a week. I’ll continue to avoid using it on shopping trips, where aisles become blocked, and errands, where it’s too much hassle compared to the speed of a sling.
- I really appreciate slings for giving me the opportunity to share my world so intimately with my baby so that he may learn, to keep him close enough to chat to, and close enough to kiss.
We’d like to say a massive thank you to our very own “sling slut” for rising to the challenge of doing without her slings for a week. Even though she says she failed a couple of times, we think she did fabulously well, and the experiment certainly made some very interesting points. If you would like to submit ay of your babywearing stories or articles to be included on GYHB, please get in touch.
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