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.

I don't understand why people want to carry their babies around full stop. But you don't see me making a post about it on the internet. Because I understand people do things differently to me.

This blog is a pretty good reason why posts such as this are unhelpful - www.carryingmatters.co.uk/2018/05/17/unhelpful-rules-of-babywearing/

Written by a GP doctor who is an effort in baby wearing.

Expert not effort. Dog!

That’s by the expert who advised me oldertthanyouthink! If anyone is interested they should read material by her.

Sorry op but for someone who has DC you sound like you don't know that babies do and can communicate as PP said, it's called crying.

Batteries are sour. They would not want to suck on them but point taken.

One of my children is 9. I used the bjorn outwards and inwards. I saw their face in the mirror and in shop windows reflection and cars. They looked alert, happy and interested. Their hips are fine. Their genitals are fine, (they would be padded and supported by the nappy anyway) Their spine is fine.

A parent would know if their baby is uncomfortable as babies would fuss when unhappy, as I'm sure you know.

Sometimes inward, sometimes outward. Depends on the baby, the time of day, the weather conditions....

I have never faced my baby outwards in a carrier, purely because he's happy facing in and we both like the closeness/ability to communicate (I usually use the carrier when he needs more cuddles on a particular day).

However.

I recently hired a sling from a library and until reading this post and doing a tiny bit of research, had been meaning to ask them about outward carry options, assuming that when 7mo DS is older he'd prefer outwards... I had no idea that outward carrying was a bad idea (I'm sure the sling library would have told me, though, so at least I would have avoided it!). So... I guess some of the answer is plain ignorance. I'd seen other parents carrying outwards in slings marketed as suitable (I.e. Baby Bjorn) so I'd assumed it was fine.

I too would like to read that research.

That blog, Thenextnamechange, makes it very clear that it's not the rules but what is actually happening to your baby in the sling that matters. Common sense.
My baby couldn't breathe in an inward-facing sling. I'm not a GP but I kind of reckoned not breathing would probably be bad.

God you sound like a barrel of laughs OP.

What do you do when you aren't sitting on your high horse criticising parents who are just doing their best?

Ah. I wondered what had caused this modern day curse of all those swathes of bent over children, shuffling around looking like number 2 in the Five Stages of Man pictorial. Now I know, thanks OP👍🏼

@MissMary0fSweden 🤣🤣🤣

What a very humane, balanced and supportive post from @Karwomannghia , well evidenced. In sharp contrast to your posts I'm afraid op.

@00100001 I was thinking exactly the same thing

So,times necessity is the mother of invention is it not? None of our three would even go in a carrier so I never had this to contend with, however we have two of them that cannot travel backwards in a car seat at all. Think choking on vomit having to pull over on motorways hysterical and terrified they were choking. Sobbing and screaming ning, we couldn’t even go a couple of miles without puke and distress. So we had to turn them forward facing earlier than we wanted to.

Sometimes we just have to do what we have to do. It doesn’t automatically connote we are negligent or reckless.

@jam if you think you’ll never have dilemmas as a parent you must be on crack. Or spice......l.

I follow the rules around rear facing car seats because there is so much evidence...actual peer reviewed, published research to say that its safer. Also my baby hasnt really kicked up a fuss about it so it works for us.

But with inward baby facing theres a lot of blogs about how you are satan if you outward face and the strongest evidence I can find is a recommendation by the hip dysplasia institute to use wider based carriers. I can't find any pieces robust evidence to back up any claim however. I used a wrap/inward facing carrier for the most part but had a very suckly baby who wanted to feed if within 20cm of my chest so if he wasnt sleepy I used an outward facing carrier for a short time. He loved it, I loved it. He sat up at 4 months old so i wasnt concerned about his head or spine, he had no hip issues and it was short term so I wasnt concerned about his hips and finally my baby was more than able to tell me when he was over stimulated. In other words I was able to risk assess as his mum and make an informed choice about using an outward facing carrier for the benefit of us both, just like other parents do and you yourself have done.

Like a lot of the others here, I've seen the research about positioning and face my babies inwards for naps and long walks, but also found that there was a window from about 5-9 months where they'd be far happier watching their brothers run around from a forward facing position (or hip sit, hut that's a huge faff). I'm happy to do differently if you can actually point to this overwhelming research that shows that 20 minutes outward facing in an ergonomic carrier is so bad for a sitting child, but strongly doubt this exists

Well clearly ds1 hadnt read the research (in his defence he was very young) because from 2 months or so he hated inward facing carriers and also his pram. Wasnt happy except when carried in your arms, in a pushchair or in an outward facing carried. Liked to observe the world, still does.

But, actually no one here has been able to link to research about this. A blog post or article written on the net are not research. Does the research actually exist? Or is it just opinion?

There’s no evidence that having a baby (who can support their own head) facing forwards in a wide based ergonomically designed carrier for short periods is harmful. None at all. Most babies will get overstimulated quite quickly and it’s obviously not safe for them to sleep in that position but for half an hour here an there I can’t see an issue.

Compare that with choices such as co sleeping, forward facing your child in the car and weaning before 17 weeks and there’s robust evidence that it is less safe than alternatives.

My eldest never went outwards facing as he was happy facing in. My youngest likes facing out all the time (even when I carry him round he wants to face out) so I let him face out for short stints in the ergo Omni 360 - once he’s bigger I’ll put him on my back and he’ll no doubt be fine.

I carried my babies forward and when they complained I gave them a bit of Jack Daniels in their baby bottle or if they were really unsettled I took out the old crack pipe for a tiny puff.

No they are both at Oxbridge so obviously did not do them any harm.

I have used slings for my babies and absolutely love them but I’m afraid that certain corners of the ‘baby wearing community’ are horribly judgemental.

There is no conclusive evidence that outward-facing carries are unsafe. There is evidence that narrow-based carriers like the original Baby Björn (charmingly referred to as ‘crotch-danglers’ by some) can exacerbate hip dysplasia in babies who already have a predisposition to hip issues. There is some suggestion that facing outwards for a long period of time can be overstimulating for some babies. It’s undoubtedly the case that facing baby outwards is less comfortable for the parent over a longer period of time as the baby’s weight is pulled away from the body.

None of this means that it is an unsafe practice, however. I hope OP’s judgey pants are giving her a wedgie.

I have used slings for my babies and absolutely love them but I’m afraid that certain corners of the ‘baby wearing community’ are horribly judgemental.

Agreed on both fronts. It actually drives me a bit mad that slings - an incredibly practical and comparatively cheap piece of baby kit - have been coopted by the attachment parenting movement. It puts a lot of people off.

DD wouldn’t go in a sling. Screamed constantly. I never tried outwards but maybe if I did she would be ok with that. If I had, and she’d been ok, I’d have used it.

It bothers me more to see so many kids in pushchairs facing outwards. Two reasons. Firstly they always seem to be bothered by sun or rain or wind and parent can’t see. Secondly, our parent facing buggy gave us a far better way of interacting and chatting etc. There should be more on the market.

I carried DD in a pouch type sling so she was kind of facing inwards on my side. She could look in any direction she chose.

I’m in a FB group which is all about trying and perfecting new carries with a woven wrap. It’s a really useful resource and has some incredibly knowledgeable members.

A while ago a member posted some pictures she had seen on social media of a wedding where the bride had her toddler in a back carry during the ceremony. She didn’t have any connection to the bride but just thought the pictures were beautiful - which they were. The group then set about ripping into this bride, who was not there to defend herself, slagging off her wrapping technique under the guise of ‘honest critique’. It was vile.