AIBU to think it's impossible to do most things with a baby in a sling?!

[Aberforthsgoat]

Everyone I know with babies says they just pop baby in a sling and crack on as normal
Am I the only one who doesn't seem to be able to manage this?
I can't easily bend down with him attached to me, can't move normally due to having to protect his little head from getting whacked or bumped, can't really spray cleaning products around as they'll be all around his head...the only.thing I manage to do is a quick tidy and hoover...
Also now he's a bit bigger at nearly five months my back is killing me. How people do it when they're even older I have no idea!
He's in a jersey stretch sling at the moment, we have an ergo which is better for my back and protecting his head but he hates it because he can't see out easily.

I'm having one of those days where I'm finding it hard to have a baby attached to me 24-7 can you tell?

@BubblesBuddy i was carried by my mum 40 years ago ;)
horses for courses really, but a baby sees a ton more in a decent sling than in a bassinet

@BubblesBuddy my eldest will be 20 this year and was exclusively carried until around 3.5. You just didn’t hang round the right people.

Slings have been used ever since humans have existed, now prams, there’s a fad .

It didn’t work for me either... mostly because I had some injuries but also I just got super touched out. Both mine napped in a cot from around 5 months for a couple of hours. So you could try introducing that and see if it works for them. Hands free nap time is bliss. I felt like I was winning at life once I’d cracked it with them (bar all the usual blips for teething/sickness etc)

I’m 5ft 10 and think my height made it trickier. I have to bend forwards to wash up and when preparing food. Also when hanging laundry on the rack etc.
That leaning forward with a weight is not great for your back.
I think if I was 5ft 2 it might be easier to stand up straighter and carry out tasks.

I’ve:

Gone bowling.
Done archery.
Rowed a boat.
Cooked.
Cleaned.
Changed nappies.
Hill walked.
Hung washing.
Volunteered with school/nursery.
Gardened.
Etc
Etc

All with a baby/child in a sling (occasionally with 2).

You need to squat, not bend (but then you should be doing that to protect your back when lifting things anyway...)

I did pretty much everything with my little one in his carrier. We had an ergo baby too and it worked really well from about five months. It did take me a while to get the hang of it though. So maybe you need to play around with it because it shouldn't be hurting your back. I had to have ours tighter than I initially thought.

Lol at the idea of them being a fad, when for about 99.9% of the history of humans we've carried out babies/strapped them to us rather than wheeled them round.

Depending on what stage they are at, and whether you want them to be napping ot not, you can choose how to carry them, and there are certainly positions where they can see a lot more than in a pram. They are also at a better level for interacting with others and adults, and I think I read somewhere that helps them with early language development. It also helps develop their core muscles in the same way as tummy time, and they statistically cry an awful lot less than non 'worn' babies. My two were/are often on us in slings and have rarely cried unless for a specific reason, and have been very settled.

Phineyj I’m 5’1 and still carry my three year old on occasion. Front carrying is awkward but still easier than lifting him up (because the weight is through my back and not my arms). Plenty of people carry their three year olds around when they get tired.

Back carries are completely fine - if you think about the weight of a big backpack, a toddler weighs much less. It’s much easier than a piggyback or shoulder carry, again because the weight is through your back.

At this age DS would rather walk by himself, but when the cries of “Mummy I’m tired! Pick me up!” start, it is much easier to put him in the sling than trying to carry him in my arms.

Where are the pictures of mums with baby slings in ww2? Or even in the 70s? Very few mums used them. What about in the 1900’s? Abroad, in some countries, yes, due to poverty. Here a Silver Cross pram was aspired to and Dr Spock gave advice. When I was young no baby was seen in a sling. Now no baby is seen in a Silver Cross navy blue sprung pram. Fashions change. Always have and always will.

Bubbles, obviously nobody was using an Ergo in WW2, but these were still common:

carrymycariad.wordpress.com/tag/wales/

The Silver Cross was an extension of rich people with Mary Poppins-style nannies perambulating in Hyde Park with a child in a baby carriage. It's not exactly the traditional British method of transporting infants either.

And they were definitely very trendy in the 70s, we have some lovely photos of DH being carried in a wrap by his dad. My aunt used them for her children too, and my DM tried them and didn't get on with them. That was in Doncaster, not anywhere particularly hippy or middle class.

No it’s not: but I said it’s what people aspired to. They wanted something to push baby around in. So a Silver Cross was a fashion statement and views change. The first baby carriage was designed for the Duke of Devonshire in 1733. The new Silver Cross Prams are gorgeous though. I wish my mum had hung on to hers.

They were probably used by people who had lots of steps and a pram would t go in the door. As I said I never saw one ever. I’m nearly 65 so have seen quite a lot of baby ideas down the years. Anyway, nothing wrong with doing what you like!

I'd say that expecting babies to lie happily apart from a caregiver while they do chores etc was more of a new fangled idea tbh.

I found a sling useful for going for walks and to the shops etc up until mine was perhaps 12 months (but probably stopped using it so much by about 10 months). I also could never manage to get anything but the lightest stuff done around the house with mine in a sling -- either because it would involve bending or because it would just be a bit dangerous with a baby strapped to you (eg cooking and cleaning with chemicals as a PP said). I didn't do back carry but wouldn't have liked not seeing my baby's face. Since she turned 1 we just let her run around and she is so energetic that she would be very cross at being squished in a carrier.

Not really. Babies stayed with extended families years ago or older children. Few were attached to mum all the time. You rarely see pictures of this. However I’m not really bothered what people do. But if it doesn’t work for you, don’t beat yourself up over it.

"You just need a good sling"

That's what people say but I've tried a fair few and didn't like any of them.

BubblesBuddy, you seem to be assessing what humanity has done for millennia on the tiny period of time that we've had photographs. How odd.

I could never manage a sling. I am small boned and skinny with a tendency to have large babies. My eldest was particularly large and the nurse had to paste on another piece of paper to do the growth chart as he soared over the percentiles. Of course when I was born I was the biggest baby in the hospital and my mother overhead the matron worrying that there had been some dreadful baby swap as she couldn't reconcile my thin mother with the truly enormous baby that I was. The weight of the baby just overbalanced me. Plus they were running and going up and down stairs at about 9-10 months so they wouldn't have been too keen on a sling either.