Me:33/DH: 34
Married: July 28, 2012
DD: July 29, 2013
DS: July 1, 2015
Current EDD: May 15, 2017
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Attachment Parenting
geoffandjen728
member
Logistics...
geoffandjen728
member
Hi Ladies,
FTM here due in 13 days and planning on babywearing as much as possible. Where I live, literally no one wears their babies unless they are going for a hike. What I have noticed is that most people keep their children in the infant carseat carriers... literally at all times. I hate seeing that! (Especially hate seeing the unsafe places so many parents put those infant carseat carriers!)
That said, at my appointment today a woman came in with her DD for her postpartum appointment and of course had the baby in the carseat. It got me thinking about the logistics. I planned on wearing our LO as much as possible, including at appointments, church, restaurants, wherever.... but now I am wondering if that is actually too ambitious/unrealistic?
I really was against lugging around an infant carseat to the point where we got a convertible one that is approved for 4lbs rear facing and up- it more than meets the regulations and laws for newborns, and our LO was estimated to be at least 7 pounds and pretty long already so there really is no worry of him/her being too little for this particular seat. BUT..... With 13 days to the due date, I am all of a sudden freaking out a bit. What do you ladies do when visiting the doctor, with your LO especially? Is it worth it to invest in an infant carseat at this point just so that LO has something to be safely put in while at appointments? Would just wearing the baby anyways be acceptable? Or... I don't know, is it ok and/or worth getting a used infant carseat carrier JUST to use for appointments and not as an actual carseat? What would/do you do?
Thanks in advance!
~ The Now-Freaking-Out FTM
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Logistics...
The only downside to your arrangement is that when LO is asleep you won't have the option of letting her stay sleeping in the carseat at home. You'll have to transfer her. Now that's not a big deal and lots of mamas do it. My best friend did it without any trouble. I just remember that when we switched DS to a convertible carseat, the fact that he had to come out of it as soon as we got home was a little bit of a drag...and I even sat in the car and bumped from my phone for a couple naps.
It really is not a big deal and you're doing great. Also, despite what BRU seems to suggest, parents don't have to have everything purchased and set up before baby arrives. If you and DH think the convertible seat is too much of a hassle, you can go buy an infant seat.
Dd is almost 9 months old and I can count on one hand the times I pulled out the infant seat. I wear her all the time and it works great. I will always remember walking into our first appointment with our 5 day old daughter and DH wearing her in the Moby. The nurses loved it!
I feel like baby wearing is a habit and you are setting yourself up for success. Especially in the beginning there will be times when it would be easier to just use an infant car seat but by babywearing all the time you get better and more comfortable with it and in the long run your life will be easier and you and your baby will be more attached.
Good luck and have fun! And don't feel bad if you have some early babywearing fails. I literally cried multiple times because I couldn't figure out the wraps, ring slings, even the ergo infant insert.... I was not a super confident new mom and I had zero baby experience. Now it is so fun and easy and it makes our lives so much easier.
When I was pregnant, I envisioned myself babywearing all the time, and looked down my nose a bit at infant seats and strollers.
But holy moly, that infant seat was a lifesaver for me. My son is a very challenging sleeper, and the last thing in the world I wanted to do if he happened to fall asleep in the car was wake him up getting him out.
I still do babywear a fair amount, but strollers have their place too, and I'm not nearly so judgy about them anymore.
If you want to give it a try without one, though, go for it. I do agree with the previous poster who mentioned that you can always buy one later.
I did (and do) a combination of the two. Honestly, there are times when baby wearing just isn't good logistically. I couldn't imagine wearing her when I have to get a doctor's exam. She went in the seat and loved it there.
I do a combo. DD is a beast if she's napping and I try to take her out of the infant carseat, so for those times the carseat and snap and go are lifesavers. But if she is awake, I'm wearing her in the Ergo.
When she was younger the Moby was the best creation in the world. She would fall asleep in it and I loved having her so close to me. But once she hit 4 months, she could not get comfortable in it anymore. I like the Ergo, but miss the snuggle factor of the Moby.
At my 6week pp appointment the OB and the nurse were so excited to see me wearing my daughter. They said all they see is baby's in car seats and how sad it is.
I had my exam wearing my daughter. She did find it odd to be lying flat on top of me...she was a tad red in the face but still calm and happy as can be.
I wear her all the time when out of house...I hate that car seat and she is not a fan of it. When out with my husband we do a combination of wearing her and carrying her in our arms.
My daughter transfers easily so it is not a problem to take her out of car seat and put her in the carrier she wakes and dozes off in carrier. Now, she does not like sleeping in the car seat so the reverse transfer isn't as smooth and I will often hang out waiting for her to wake on her own before going in the car seat when I have time.
You have a car seat already so try it out. Worse case if you find baby wearing and no infant bucket is a huge problem then get a bucket seat. You may find you don't need it at all and that baby wearing works just fine.
Married: July 28, 2012
DD: July 29, 2013
DS: July 1, 2015
Current EDD: May 15, 2017
I think your expectations are going to set you up for mommy guilt. What if your baby hates it? Mine wouldnt stand for his after 3 months.
I think babywearing should help you and your baby. I didnt really babywear. We lived on the couch together til I went back to work. After that he didnt like it.
ETA Im a stress ball at the doctors and would not have held or worn him while on the table. If you're not against it, Im sure there is someone in the office who can hold him (quite happily, believe me)
Ok, don't freak out! You've already got a lot of great advice. Just see how the car seat works for now, plus the baby wearing and then see how it's going. I personally loved having the bucket seat, mostly because DD was born in November and I could throw a blanket over her if we went out and about. It was also nice if she fell asleep in the car b/c she was always a hard kid to transfer and would wake up if I took her out.
I think if you want to babywear a lot, that is awesome! I loved putting DD in the carrier when we were out, and she loved it too. It certainly was easier than having something to lug around, and the carrier got heavy! That being said, there were a few times and places where having the car seat bucket was so nice. Restaurants - if you go out to eat, baby will be too small to sit in a high chair, and it was hard to eat and hold her at the same time. Running quick errands - it was so much faster to run into the pharmacy with the bucket than taking her out, adjusting her in the carrier, then buckling her back in. Clothes shopping - you need something to put baby in/on if you're going to try on clothes. A good stroller would probably do the trick too.
I loved babywearing--but in our part of the country, the temperature goes to 100 degrees fairly often this time of year, and it is just miserable for both baby and mom to be smushed together in that kind of heat and humidity--even in mesh carriers. I would remove her from her carrier and she would just be wet, and I would be wet where she had pressed up against me. Obviously not ideal--so an infant seat gave us another option on days when I couldn't afford to soak through my shirt in sweat in the first 5-10 minutes of wearing the baby.
I think I enjoyed babywearing so much because I did it when it worked/was practical. But I also had a carseat for things where I would need a safe place to put her down for a minute. And honestly, at things like dinner at a restaurant, I never felt comfortable eating over my baby. I like food to be hot. And I would never trust myself to eat soup or hot food if I had to drag the utensil over my baby's face/head to get it into my mouth--just too many variables with a little person strapped to you for an errant kick or hand movement to send your fork/spoon flying and for little one to get burned.
I think I've carried my DDs in the carseat into a store 3-4 times for quick runs but the seat took up almost the entire basket portion because I refuse to prop the seat on the front of the cart to let it fall. I've never brought a baby in a carrier into a dr's appt. That being said, neither of my DDs transfered out of the carseat too well into a crib, though they did okay transferring into a carrier, but it was very handy to bring the infant seat into the house to let DD sleep while I unpacked groceries/went to the bathroom/etc. Oh, and we had one carrier and a base for each of our cars which was handy when DD1 was little and we used daycare, DD2 never anywhere though.
You'll figure out what works.