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.

@Cornettoninja

Calm down, dear.

It bothers me. That’s my issue, not yours. You do what the hell you like, nobody asked you to do anything different.

I see a steady stream of folk walking past my house with kids squirming in the bright sun with mum oblivious. Good for you, being attentive, so many others are oblivious. Wearing their own sunshades but not covering the buggy.

Actually, my biggest issue isn’t with parents but with buggy manufacturers. Standard design is front facing, and especially within the cheaper brands, parent facing are hard to find. People do it by default. I believe parents should have more choice.

Mine hated slings and parent facing pushchairs.
As for the communication part - how do you think parents of older non verbal children cope. It is perfectly possible to tell if a child doesn't like something.

@yabbers

Calm down, dear really? Michael Winner isn’t a good look on anyone is it? Aim higher.

In fairness yes, it does hit an unreasonable nerve with me, even though I’m past that stage now. Goes to show exactly why it’s spectacularly unkind to gob off at people, particularly mothers of small babies. It may feel like your talking generally but I can guarantee there’s going to be someone who reads/hears you who will take it as a personal criticism and get defensive. (I’m talking to the collective you not you in particular Yabbers). Especially when it’s over things like peaks where the thinking is generally if it’s available to buy it’s fine to use.

FWIW I’ve known people deliberately face their child into the sun to get them to close their eyes and sleep.... didn’t work for dd though - that child had extra shades everywhere because she howled with the sun in her eyes

It's ok. I had a sunshade on the buggy. 👍

Reminds me of this commercial from a few years ago.

Peaks? Prams....

Why do people think a child has to be facing the parent in order to chat whilst in a buggy? How are you meant to point out stuff for them to look at and chat about if they're always looking backwards?

It's just another way to make mothers (and it is only mothers) feel judged.

Oh blimey, I’m sure the babies and their cognitive development will be just fine. Posts like this are like nature’s way of saying, ‘It’s Bank Holiday! Get out and enjoy life!’ So I will. Enough Internet for now.

I think there is an element-maybe even a subconscious element- of not wanting babies to interact with anyone else. One of the things I liked when I had my children forward facing was seeing them waving and interacting with other people walking towards them.

What about those backpack carriers? Are they evil too?

I face small babies in, once they are 6 months old or so we've always faced them out, unless they were going to sleep/fell asleep.

You sound judgmental, have you just had your first baby or something? You sound like you've swallowed the safety manual.

@m0therofdragons "What about those backpack carriers? Are they evil too?"

Anything less than putting baby back in the womb (where they're safest) is child neglect and SS should intervene.

I don’t face my son out because he’s happy enough facing in or on my back. However, if he suddenly started hating it, I’d consider forward facing. Yes, parent facing is optimal, but it isn’t an enormous safety or developmental risk to forward face in an ergonomic carrier with an older baby.

Equally, my son sleeps in a sleepyhead, against lullaby trust guidelines. He wouldn’t settle at all in his cot, and was feeding all night when co-sleeping, which I found very uncomfortable, and I had to balance the risk of me rolling onto him or dropping him, or even the dangers that me driving exhausted would cause, and balance it all out.

From 4 months my dd loved being forward facing in her Baby Bjorn. She has grown up to be a very sociable adult so I think it makes sense that she loved facing out at face height so horses for courses OP.
She was my first and I remember crumbling when busybody old bags would make negative comments as to how I was parenting (too hot! Too cold! Too much! Too little!) The fact that I didn't kill her or her siblings and they have grown up lovely makes me wish I'd told all those loud and opinionated wagons to Fuck Right Off at the time.

When you ask a ‘why’ question OP, then the response is an answer, not a justification.

If you see people who don’t do it your way as having to ‘justify’ themselves to you then the.school years will be long and lonely for you.

Focus on your own child, they’ll thank you for it.

@jamoncrumpets OP what would you recommend for the children born in my family that come out with dislocated hips ? nag nag nag thats all your doing, concentrate on your own kids, don't worry about what isn't yours.

Just spotted this photo on Twitter and thought of this thread. The poor little mite.

research always reveals that further research is necessary.
personally for me i based my choice on head control and level of alertness.
what other mom's do is none of my business (to a certain degree of course).

This is such a nothing. Parents have to make judgments and choices and risk assess all the time. Some parents will reach different conclusions to other parents, because humans are different, and that’s absolutely fine.

OP, you should post all your parenting practices here. What your children eat and drink, how much and when, where they sleep and when they sleep, how much screen time they have and what they watch, your childcare choices, etc.

I guarantee you that there’ll be several parenting choices you’ve made that run contrary to research and others on this thread wouldn’t dream of making. But presumably you’ve made them because they suit your family and you’ve made a judgment that they’re the right choice to make.

Don't worry OP. You're just at the starting gates of parenting. You have a whole 18+ years to find other completely minor non issues to judge other parents about. It will be so much fun!

@00100001

When I had my twins, all the research said baby should face mum in pushchair yet no twin buggies offered this. They faced away from me. They're loving sociable 7year olds who don't stop talking and have amazing vocabulary. It's amazing they can string together a sentence when you consider the poor start I gave them in life.

My dd liked seeing where she was going (once she had neck control) she's nosy now! She hated her pram facing me too, would scream all the time until someone suggested we flip it around and she loved sitting in it.

Rather than be critical, realise everyone is different

What's wrong with those buggy shades? Serious question

Oh OP, did you really compare facing outwards to sucking a battery?! 😂😂 My babies have enjoyed facing outwards (once their necks seemed strong enough) and I'm certainly not going to lose sleep over it.

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.

This! I was thinking about it earlier today actually. Humans must have been using slings in some way or another for hundreds if not thousands of years, long before prams existed. 'baby wearing' (which is a disgusting phrase btw) has been completely highjacked by middle class yummy mummies. Get over yourselves.

poppymatilda they increase the temperature inside the buggy by up to 15c.