Experience and advice for a new Moby wrap user please

[HeffalumpsAndGoldenWoozles]

DD2 is 6 days old, DD1 is 2. I bought a moby wrap hoping it will enable me to keep up with DD1 while still keeping DD2 happy and snuggly. I tried it out today for the first time and its obvious I need to practice, I also wondered a few things of people who have used/do use wraps successfully so could I ask you:

How quickly did you get the hang of putting it on & putting baby in?
How often & for how long do you use your wrap?
How on earth do you get baby out without taking the whole thing off in a pile on the floor?!
From what age did/do you use it for?
What kind of things do you use it for? Housework, shopping etc?

I'm really hoping it will turn out to be as useful ad I've heard they can be but today I just felt awkward and constantly worried about DDs head being either unsupported or too covered up. Any advice from those experienced users out there would be really gratefully received.

[needsadviceplease]

Congrats on your new baby!

Get the hang of putting it on - v quickly - one or two goes to master the tie, 4 or 5 goes to get the tautness right. The hang of putting him in - was prob hit or miss for the first week or so.
I used it daily, for up to 1.5hrs at a time, up to 5hrs in a day, from 1wo to 4mo (I could have comfortably continued and DS was a hefty 4mo, but I got excited and switched to a manduca).
I never really had a problem getting him out - just reversed the steps of putting him in...I did find it needed retying each time while I was using the newborn hug hold, but not once I switched to hug hold.

My DS has always been quite particular and though he always loved the moby, he couldn't bear to be in it inside so I only used it for going places. He also couldn't stand his head being covered by it so I was really only one hand truly free most of the time... Sorry! Not all babies will be as disagreeable as mine though!

I did love the moby.

[ImpYCelyn]

I used something v similar. I mainly used the "Pocket" www.wrapsodybaby.com/beginner.htm#x this video I found great. I also recommend the "Wrap cross carry", but it's trickier. It seems strange that you can put a newborn upright in it, but it's completely fine, you just have to make sure they are sitting with a proper M shape www.babywearingadvice.co.uk/anatomy.htm

I needed about half a dozen tries to get it sorted, and I found that I needed to retighten it after about 15-20 mins until I really got it.

I used it several times a day, for up to about 3 hours at a time. But I also sometimes used it for 15 mins.

With the pocket, you slide the panel down, and then just slide the baby out from between the cross, so you keep it on. Some days I wore the sling the whole day and just popped DS2 in and out as necessary.

A stretchy sling you can wear until about 6-8 months. I stopped earlier with DS2 because it was the summer and I was hot, but if he'd been a winter baby I'd have used it until at least 6 months.

I did everything in it, toddler-wrangled DS1, went shopping, went to soft play, did the housework. It was fab! If you try cooking, make sure the tails are away from the hob/oven, and don't lean over anything hot!

[ImpYCelyn]

Meant to say congrats on DD2!

[HeffalumpsAndGoldenWoozles]

Thank you both, it sounds like it is just a case of practice makes perfect then, I'll keep trying as it would be so helpful to be able to pop her in and then not worry about dragging the double buggy around when we're only going down the road. Would be good to get the hang of it for home use too as we have too many stairs for our own good and carrying baby while following toddler is worrying me a bit. Thanks again :)