Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Babywearing in a pinch

Since it's International Babywearing Week, I figured it was a good time to post this. ☺


Ingredients:
1 kiddo who is big enough to sit up but not quite big enough (or awake enough) to walk the distance
1 big towel
1 mama who is 20 weeks pregnant (pregnancy is optional)

Directions:
Put kiddo on your back piggy-back style. (If he's used to being worn he will hang on like a monkey, facilitating the subsequent steps!)
Take one long edge of the towel and center it on the kiddo's upper back--either under or over his shoulders, as desired. Tie the upper corners snugly over mama's bust. If possible, have a helper snug them up with an overhand knot(you won't need a double knot, but especially if the towel is at all damp you will need that helper!)
Take the lower edge of the towel and snug it up under the kiddo's bootie, and tie it around mama's waist (above the belly if she's got another little kiddo in there!) Again, have a helper help you get it snug in front.
Hike securely in peace and comfort, enjoy kiddo falling asleep rather than whining, have fun!
Bear is around 30 lbs, and with my growing belly (the extra weight plus, you know, the bulge) I haven't really been wearing him since last winter.
However, there was one day this summer when we were camping that we decided to go to a little swimming hole. We were told it was "right next to the parking lot" but when we got there we discovered that it was actually about 1/2mile walk in to the falls and pool. That's not that far, but it is a pretty good distance for a 2 year old. So I grabbed a nice big towel and improvised. (The photo is on the way back out, he was on the verge of sleep, thus the groggy expression...)

Incidentally, since Bear has always been worn, he just curls his body right onto mine and hangs on like a little monkey. He's much easier to carry--even in a makeshift form--than a child who is not used to being carried. ☺

3 comments:

KA said...

I've never been a baby wearer, not because I didn't want to. I just never got around to buying a wrap. But I love how you improvise with the towel.

Judson Family said...

He is as snug as a bug in there.. lol

Janeen said...

See, that was one of my problems with babywearing, finding something that fit around my (pregnant or not) pudgy body. I wear somewhere around a size 26 normally, maybe a little bigger pregnant so to find something that would fit enough to use for baby wearing required being pretty big. So, I just ended up not baby wearing. Even the Ergo would be too small for me.

It's interesting though seeing all the moms here in Korea who baby wear. Strollers aren't quite as popular here (probably because they are expensive) so babywearing is pretty big. I see LOTS of moms babywear and actually, I think a lot of them just use blankets! lol They probably do something similar to what you did with your towel only it's bigger, covers the whole belly so yeah, definitely lots of improve being done here as far as that goes. lol And not just babies either, bigger kids too but it's just interesting to see all kinds of moms (and dads!) babywearing and little ones sleep or sitting up. Definitely more of it here than when I was at home in the US.

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