Babywearing: Overview

Topic like this are so huge, it's really impossible to cover everything without an extremely long, uninteresting, information-overloading post. So I'm going to break it up, which will hopefully help it to be a little less daunting. This post is a (very) brief overview of babywearing in general.
So, why babywear?

• it's WAY easier than lugging a stroller around everywhere and trying to hunt for elevators
• it allows you to have your hands FREE--either to do things around the house, and/or to chase other kids around
• babies who are worn are usually interacted with more, which helps promote growth and development
• it promotes a close connection with your baby
• it helps acclimate baby to the outside world because they still have the comfort of hearing your heartbeat and breathing patterns, like they did in the womb
• many carriers are less expensive that a good stroller, so it saves you money
• incredibly useful for high-needs babies who ONLY want Mama or Daddy to hold them
• helps prevent overstimulation in baby, because when they're worn correctly, they can turn their face away and shut off the rest of the world when they need to
• and really, what's better than snuggling a tiny little bundle of squish? Nothing!

Peanut and me, volunteering for a local organization

There are a variety of carriers out there. Really, an unending number of vendors. Carriers can be broken down into a few basic categories (and as I get these individual posts up, I'll link them here):

• Stretchy Wrap
• Woven Wrap
• Soft Structured Carrier
• Mei Tai
• Ring Sling
• Pouch Sling

Cuddles from my favorite Peanut (here, 8-ish months old)

I'm going to go on record here and say how much I HATE HATE HATE Baby Bjorns and other, similar crotch-dangling carriers. And yes, I will dedicate an entire post to that later, because I feel like it's important. Long story short, they're uncomfortable for all parties involved and not good for baby's development. Also, they're only forward-facing carriers, which means baby can't turn away when they're getting overstimulated.

I'll also go into more detail on good carries to use, but there are pretty much three categories of carries to use:

• front carries (with baby facing mama)
• back carries
• hip carries

I'm looking forward to going into more depth about this, since I love babywearing! Stay tuned!