Adventures in Babywearing

Before I had Thumper, I was determined to be a babywearing kind of mother.  I got a stroller, yes, but I also got a K'Tan and an Ergo.  I had an infant insert for the Ergo, but I figured the K'Tan would be better when he was a newborn.

Well, unlike the sleeping situation, where everything we gambled and bought magically worked, this was not quite as smooth.

The K'Tan went smoothly exactly once: the first time I attempted to wear him.  He was a month old, and passed out minutes after I got him into position.  Yes! I thought.  This will be the magic baby bullet.   But the next time I tried, he freaked.  And the time after that.  And the time after that.

Meanwhile, Thumper was content in the Ergo probably 80% of the time.  Both the Yeti and I wore him on short trips around the neighborhood starting at around two months, and he was fine with either one of us.  I'd read some complaints about the infant insert being too hot, but Thumper was born in the middle of winter, so that suited us just fine.

Here's the problem: my back was killing me.  With the Ergo and without, my back was tired every single day, and wearing him was excruciating by the time I got back from a ten-minute trip to the grocery store.  I was baffled, because the Ergo is supposed to be one of the easiest for back problems.  I researched the proper way to wear the carrier, asked people how it looked, and adjusting helped it somewhat, but it was still a pain.  Thus, more often than not I was putting him in his stroller - it was faster, there was no question about whether he would fight it or not, and it was easier on my back.

But I felt guilty.  Like a Bad Mom.  So he might have been 100% fine in the stroller, but it was really more of a neutral state - he didn't dislike it, but he didn't seem to really like it.  In contrast, there might have been a 20% chance he'd fuss in the Ergo, but when he was settled he seemed to actually like it.  He could look around with more ease, he could hide his face if he wanted, he could chew on the straps.   And here I was, letting the Yeti wear him or sticking him in the stroller because my back was apparently too weak.  Also, while the stroller definitely came in handy in some situations (I love the giant basket underneath, we've fit so much takeout food in that thing) there were definitely others in which the Ergo was a superior choice.  And I wanted it to work.

Now flash forward to this past weekend.  Thumper's about four and a half months old, and he's had great neck strength for awhile, so it occurred to me that he might be ready to try out the Ergo without the infant insert (great timing, too, because the weather's been getting warmer).  The Yeti had made plans for us to eat brunch with a friend of his, and the restaurant was a tiny hole-in-the-wall where a stroller would not be appropriate, so it was a great opportunity to try out the Ergo sans insert.  Since it was the Yeti's friend, I volunteered to be the babywearer, and the person who would step outside if he started fussing.

Since Thumper's a peanut of a baby, we still needed the little cushion to let him sit high enough, but we ditched the larger part of the insert.  And... choirs of angels sang.  I don't know if the insert was somehow distributing his weight in a weird way, or if my back is just finally strong enough, but the difference this time was night and day.  I put Thumper in, adjusted the straps, walked across the bedroom to put on my shoes - and Thumper was already smiling.

He smiled almost the entire walk to brunch, looking around.  He was patient and interested through the meal; I stepped outside a few times, but it was mostly because I thought he was getting too warm and the air outside cooled us both down.  We had to run some unexpected errands after, and all told he spent about three hours in the carrier, but we both felt fine (albeit tired).

Not only does the Ergo make him happy, it makes him sophisticated

The only problem we still have is that he seems to have a hard time falling asleep on me when I'm wearing him in the Ergo, even when he's tired; he's much more likely to do so on the Yeti.  Oh, a note on the Ergo and the Yeti: he's a larger guy, with really broad shoulders, and we were afraid the regular Ergo wouldn't be comfortable for him.

We wound up getting the Ergo Original X-tra for him - basically it's the same as the original but with more room to adjust in the shoulders and waist.  I mention this because I basically stumbled upon this; it's newer and most hadn't heard of it (Ergobaby's new site design is now much, much better than when I was pregnant).  If you're interested in the X-tra, it's only available in two colors - gray from Diapers.com, and black from REI.  We went with black.   Since we didn't want to wrangle with the substantial adjusting we'd have to do between the two of us, I got an original Ergo for myself (black with stars - okay, I loved that design and really wanted it, which contributed to us getting two).  It means we have to stick the extra Ergo in the diaper bag, but in my opinion it's more convenient to do that and swap out with ease than adjust the fit from scratch each time.

(Side note: little old ladies love seeing a big, burly Yeti wearing a baby.  It's adorable.  No one cares when I do it, but you'd think he was the first dad ever to think of this.  Guess they haven't seen What to Expect.)

Oh, by the way, after all our recent success with the Ergo I decided to give it another shot with the K'Tan.  Still no dice, and my back hurt almost immediately.  Can't win 'em all.