Alternative to wrap sling, suitable for refluxy baby

[florilegia]

Hi all,

I need some sling advice, please!

DS1 is just over 5 weeks old, and was diagnosed with reflux about a week ago: he's doing better on medication, but it can be very hard to calm him down and get him to nap (or sleep...). One of the things which has been working well for me is carrying him fairly upright in a Moby Wrap: he generally loves it and goes straight to sleep, and I've been finding it comfortable. However, it's impossible to transfer him from the sling to his moses basket at any point (which I do sometimes need to do after an hour or so if I wanted to have a shower or heat up the tea on the stove). He's generally quite happy to lie down after having been upright for a good while in your arms (I also have the moses basket tilted up to help keep him comfortable), but extracting him from the Moby Wrap is a bit of a palaver, and tends to disturb him to the extent that he wakes up a few minutes after being put down.

I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a good alternative sling which might be more straightforward in terms of popping him in and out? I wondered about a Babasling, but I have heard some negative things about them, and I was also worried that it might be more uncomfortable to carry, as it only goes over one shoulder. I wondered if a Mei Tai-type sling might be a good alternative, but I was also not sure whether it would have as much support as the Moby. Sorry - I'm a bit of a novice and I'm fuddled from not getting much sleep!

Thanks!

[TaurielTest]

IME of having a refluxy baby, you want a sling that keeps him upright. Mei tais are great for this - and for transfer of sleeping baby with an easy untie - but not really ideal for a new baby in terms of neck and head support. The wrap is probably still your best solution, maybe you could work on getting him out more smoothly? You probably know this, but you don't have to untie it, just pull down the horizontal band, ease apart the diagonal straps, and he should come up and out easily. You can do this kneeling/leaning fowards onto the surface where you want him to sleep.
Have a look at //www.slingguide.co.uk for some excellent information :)

[florilegia]

Thanks, Puddock: I did wonder whether the Mei Tai type would have enough support or not. I'm doing the "easing" with the Moby, rather than trying to take it off, but unfortunately this seems to disturb him enough to wake him. I guess I'm just going to have to keep working on it! wry:)

Tell me the reflux gets better after a while?

[TaurielTest]

It will get better - for us, a sympathetic paediatrician and the right medication (ranitidine, for our DS) were the key, and it sounds like you're on the case with that... it is hard though, you have my sympathy.
I confess that, altohugh I got the trick I described to work with DS1 after a while, DS2 (now six months), who is not nearly as refluxy as DS1 was, takes all his naps in the sling, I don't even try to take him out, as he pops awake! I find I can do most things I want to with him in there, or they'll keep.
Hope you can get some rest yourself, maybe treat his sling-nap times as a chance to put your own feet up, once he's dropped off?

[BertieBotts]

I wonder if it's just that moving him after an hour or so is at the wrong point in his sleep cycle to disturb him slightly - have you tried taking him out after about 20 minutes? He should be at the heaviest part of sleep then.

Another type of sling could help but I think all are going to disturb him to some degree. He's only 5 weeks old :) Showers can wait until your partner gets home, and I found I could heat things up on the cooker if I was careful and stood sideways on. Or you could eat things like sandwiches in the day when you are alone.

If you want to try another sling, the Beco Butterfly actually detaches completely, like the baby bjorn does, although it is a "proper" sling (SSC) in terms of carrying position for baby and back support for parent. They are expensive though, so you might just want to hang on and see if things improve. Alternately you can hire one from slumber-roo.co.uk/hire.

[florilegia]

Thank you both for the advice: I know I'm probably trying to have everything work out smoothly just like before he was born, which is not at all realistic with a newborn! We're having a bit of a hard time at the moment as DH works away a great deal of the time, so I'm on my own with DS for long stretches, hence the desire to put him down occasionally :) The reflux has been just been an extra thing to keep me on my toes! Fortunately he now has Omeprazole, and that seems to be helping hugely with the pain he was in.

I'm certainly going to look at a Mei Tai for when he's older, as an alternative to the Moby: it's all extra weapons in the arsenal! :)

[Nightsdrawingin]

I found in your situation that the Close was better than a wrap, because I didn't have to tie it and could loosen the rings to get him out. I just tended to wear it like a top all day and get him in and out. Having said that, he slept in the sling most of the time as he seemed to have an amazing detection system for being put down. Like others said, I ended up doing everything including cooking with him in the sling.