To ask why people face their babies out in carriers

[jamoncrumpets]

When all the research points to inward facing being the optimum position from a physical and cognitive development POV.

And why do so many that do outward face try to justify it by saying that their babies are 'bored' and 'want to see the world' when their babies are a) incapable of communicating that b) unlikely to communicate that even if they could.

Well obviously, jamcrumpet, the memo stating that you were the authority on parenting, hasn't managed the far reaches...

Is there anything that women do not judge and condemn other women for?

You're being ridiculous.

Mine have always let me know when they are uncomfortable. My first loved the ergo360 and was very happy facing out. She hated being on my back. My second prefers the buggy so I stopped using the carrier much earlier with him. Both of them prefer not to be restrained at all (and babies are heavy) so it would only be for a short time anyway.

Both hated the rear facing reclined car seats, but have been ok in the forward facing ones we’ve used in taxies. But in London and don’t have a car so it’s not really an issue as we mainly use public transport.

Is there really nothing better for you to do on a bank holiday then slag off other mothers?

Go have a pub lunch and walk.

I'm not the authority on parenting. Never claimed to be. My parenting is informed by many things, not least of which medical research.

And your thoughts on co-sleeping?

OP you must tell the WHO!

They’ve been searching for the source of this EPIDEMIC we’ve had of children with malformed spines and crushed genitals (won’t somebody please think of the genitals?!?). Misaligned hips everywhere.

You’ve solved it.

Your Nobel prize will be in the post in the next 7-10 working days.

Zippy, the link you post is not research at all: it references no studies, explains no methodology and is simply a case of stating "we recommend". "We" in this context turns out to be not a medical research faculty, but a commercial firm for selling slings.

In my case I gave up on inward-facing slings very quickly because dd's spine wasn't strong enough to hold her up against me; she ended up in a crumpled heap with her face pushed against my body- no interaction with my face possible and breathing distinctly difficult. SO I used the pram until she was old enough to use a back carrier.

Incidentally, I've never carried DS outwards because he liked being inwards until he was big enough to go on my back (which j found much more comfortable). I followed that 'rule' because it worked for me. I also breastfed and put my baby down to sleep on his back, because that worked well for us. I didn't follow some of the other rules around sleep, because we found them wildly impractical. In my experience nearly everyone does this - does what actually works as far as possible without doing anything actually dangerous - and then the people who find all the rules 'work' for them get very smug about how they're doing it all right.

While this is true for those under six months/not sitting up on their own and there are issues either way with Bjorn-style carriers where the legs dangle down with possibility of bad hip positioning, I find those and tiny ones in pocket slings way more concerning than facing out, there are dozens of different types of slings, some which can accommodate outward-facing or hip-carrying safely.

It's generally recommended that with older babies and toddlers+ being carried to change position regularly for the safety of the person carrying and the child's comfort. I don't think we can compare slings on someone walking to a car seat in a moving vehicle for baby safety, but with older ones the only concern I've seen for outward facing slings is if the child is likely to or has fallen asleep and one can move them around if that happens anyways. Feel free to post the medical research, ensure that whatever you find makes notes of which carriers they're talking about. You can't compare a Bjorn carrier with a mei dai or ring sling in terms of concerns on hip development.

Mine are well past the age for wearing a sling, but having carried mine from dot to 3ish, depending on the child, in my experience no matter how I did so, I would get told off by strangers so just got on with it - inward, outward, back, hip, no matter the carrier, they're right there and I was pretty aware most of the time of their comfort and preferences on travelling.

I do it with my baby DS. I only carry him for an hour max and it’s not very often. It’s also the Baby Bjorn one so safe to carry outwards. He wriggles around a lot and gets upset if I face him towards me.

My parenting is informed by many things, not least of which medical research.

yes, we'd like to see the references

Christ OP, are you always so hostile?

Most people presumably do not know that it is bad for them to face outward. I certainly didn't. So the reason they do it is because to them, why NOT do it?

My parenting is informed by many things, not least of which medical research.

Post it then

Just do what suits you/your baby?

As with cosleeping, BFing and all other areas of parenting this is about balancing risks and harms.

It is better to BF than not, UNLESS its making people miserable in which case that harm outweighs the small benefits.

Its safer not to cosleep unless non cosleeping is making you a liability on the roads or at your job, in which case its safer for everyone if you do.

Its safer to baby carry facing you, but not if this leads to endless screaming that in turn can cause mental health issues / carelessness that becomes dangerous.

I was perfectly aware when carrying DD forwards in a baby carrier that it would be better for her if she could tolerate facing me, but she couldn't, so, given the options I weighed up the relative risks and decided carrying forwards was better than no sleep, no food in the fridge or driving through screaming (which I was particularly bad at coping with).

People aren't necessarily ignoring the research...they may have evaluated the risks shown by the research to be less important than other risks that they are facing.

WTH?! It's none of your business OP- I'm sure the parents are doing what's right for them and their baby and NOT what you or your 'secretly cringe' type judge parents think.

Coincidentally I just read this this morning

https://www.carryingmatters.co.uk/the-fuss-about-facing-out/

I've put DD outward facing a couple times for short periods round the house in our wrap carrier and I'm eyeing an ergo omni for summer but I don't think we'd use outward facing for long. Back carrying I think would be my preference but it's a faff in the wrap one atm.

Please cite the research you are relying on. You have said it exists, but where?

The articles I have found seem to support the view that, in the early stages, a bay should be inward facing, but t all the time. See here:
ergobaby.com/blog/2011/02/facing-in-facing-out-a-science-based-view-on-baby-carrying-positions/

"...but not all the time"

No, OP, your parenting seems to be dominated by a desire to impose your limited understanding and interpretation, on other parents. Preferably women.

Why not just stop doing that?

Actually there are few "rules" but lots of guidance when it comes to parenting...

But the op just seems to like winding people up by being openly hostile and acting all superior 👏🏻 for you...

Like parenting isn't hard enough without other parents judging you for everything.

well jamoncrumpets presumably you never once let your baby cry for longer than few momets, kept them rear facing in car seats until age 4, never let your child have any sedentary screen time before 2 years old, breastfed on demand until at least 2 years old, never allowed your baby to be in car seat for more than 30 minutes at a time. Always washed your hands before and after every single nappy change ... etc.

What about carrying babies forward facing in your arms? I don't have a carrier but he hates being inward facing at the moment. He's 3.5 months.

If you're equating forward - facing baby carriers with sucking on batteries then you clearly don't understand research either.

This is obviously a bit of a pet topic with you OP. At least I hope it is. If you're like this about every aspect of parenting then you must be great fun altogether.