lisba I'm quite thankful I get to avoid the whooping cough jab! Hope your meetings go well.
stom good luck for the blood tests.
lady poor you :( I hope your friend appreciates the effort! I can't wait for my sewing machine to be out of transit so I can get making cute baby things. I have fabric to make a complete pram set, but not a nasty frilly one, and flannelette for nighties and a roll of fat quarters for a quilt....
If you're not interested in baby carriers feel free to scroll past now!
itsliz Baby Bjorns and similar carriers aren't the work of the devil unless they're used forward facing but they're not optimal either.
Imagine the choice between sitting on a chair and a bicycle seat. How a baby sits in a classic Bjorn is like sitting on a bicyle seat. All their weight is concentrated between their legs, their legs are swinging free and pulling down. If there is any kind of pre-existing weakness in their hips then this will make it ten times worse, exacerbated if you're swaddling with their legs straight or the car seat is very narrow and they spend a lot of time in it etc. A properly wrapped fabric sling or an ergonomic carrier is like the chair. Hips and thighs are supported and the only flex is in the knee. Very small babies are froggied up so there isn't even that.
As for you the classic carriers have 2 straps which cross at the back, and they're quite narrow. Baby's entire weight is focused at the top of your shoulderblades pulling your shoulders forwards and you off balance. A wrap sling crosses further down and ties at the back giving you lumbar support. A soft structure carrier is more like a backpack put on your front. Most can also be used as back carriers too. There are other options - ring slings and mei teis (which are a cross between a structured carrier and a wrap - but I mention wraps and soft structured carriers like the Ergo and Manducca because they're best known.
A new style baby bjorn has lumbar support which on me does nothing unless I cinch it so tight it squishes my boobs and makes upper body movement impossible. I think men find them much better tbh. They also have a wide seat for the baby, but people still turn them forward facing and the brand shows them forward facing which just breaks my heart. If you want baby to see the world when they get to 3 months or so then try a hip carry in a ring sling. Before then they a) don't need the stimulation and b) don't have good enough neck muscles to hold their heads up so they end up flopping back and over-extending their throat.
If you want to buy a carrier look for a reputable brand and beware of fakes (particularly ergos :() because they may not have solid stitching or might use toxic dyes.
A baby bjorn is a great introduction to carrying your baby hands free and fine for occasional use - you're parked halfway down the road and don't want to lug the pram in and our the car or you live on the second floor and the pram is down 2 flights of stairs - but if you plan to use it for extended periods like alyssa or you have a refluxy baby like I had who needs to be carried 24/7 then protect your back and your baby's hips and get a decent carrier. They don't have to be expensive and you can pick them up very reasonably second hand. Remember that carriers like the Bjorn are tested by the brands for use similar to a car seat, which a baby shouldn't be in for more than 2 hours at a time. They're really not designed for extended babywearing as practiced in many cultures. When you look at the commonalities across those culturs in terms of carrying style whether it's SE Asian, African or Peruvian you find they're universally easier on the person carrying and the baby is well supported. The number of people I know who are aghast that I carry a heavy 2.5 year old, even when pregnant, are the same ones who had a classic Bjorn and said after 3 months their back was knackered, which is a shame because carrying continues to be so useful through teething, separation anxiety, when they want to walk but get tired but want to get down...and a carrier can go all sorts of places a pram won't! So don't not use it, but bear in mind its limitations, use it with baby facing you only and if you find you're using it more than a couple of hours at a time or on a daily basis for less time or your back starts hurting and you want to go on carrying then look up your loal sling library and investigate other options.
That was a bit of an epic. Sorry :( I'm only a bore about that and BFing! BFing because I think the support is crap and this because I had borderline hip dysplasia which didn't need correcting in a spica, although sometimes I wish it had been, but thanks to a very enlightened paediatrician in the eighties my parents were told to use terry nappies (the bulk spreads the hips holding them in the correct position) and avoid baby carriers. Thankfully there's been a lot of research since then on safe carriers but it made me do a lot of reading around when I was having DS.