Curious - why don't more people use baby carriers?

[togarama]

I'm increasingly curious about this and just wondered if others on MN could shed some light on their choice of buggy Vs carrier (or both).

I don't know many other parents IRL and those I do come into contact with are often so obviously negative about baby carriers that I don't think I would gain anything other than a sore ear from asking them....

We've always used slings, wraps and other carriers with 20 month old DD because they're comfortable (for us and baby), convenient (especially since they leave your hands free) and fit our lifestyle. We walk a lot, like to be spontaneous and don't want to have to think about buggy access / stair problems every time we leave the house. I also travel a lot by train and tube and can't even begin to imagine the hassle of trying to cart a pram or buggy around the public transport system.

However, I'm always very conscious when with other parents (e.g. dropping DD at nursery and being stared at...) that we're very much in a minority and I don't really understand why. Carriers just seem to have so many advantages and appear much more logical for commuting and city living. But buggies are somehow still the choice of the majority.

Why is this?

" I would feel much more weighed down if I had to wheel a buggy around everywhere."

Perhaps you haven't tried the right type of buggy yet? Mine glides along like a dream. (baby jogger city mini)

BertieBotts and Unwind. I wasn't specifically thinking of anyone on this thread. But I'm afraid it is true.

I have a friend and she is lovely but in the 6 months since I have had ds2 she has asked me on a weekly basis why I'm not using a sling. "Oh its much better for baby" she said. Therefore I can only assume that she thinks I'm not doing the best for baby and therefore I'm a crap mother.

Ages ago on here someone linked to a forum that is for mums who use slings they have meet-ups and everything Why? it is a mode of carrying your baby why does everyone have to be the same?

I have a beige pram from Mothercare but my friend has a green pram from Mamas&Papas, I don't hold it against her. I've even been known to socialise with Bugaboo mums.

Oh, they did that with me too Unwind- only mine was in a giant 1970s silvercross pram. I couldn't move for pensioners cooing (over the pram, not the baby).

I don't think old people know what they're on about

Can't you use both? I have used Baby Bjorn, wrap thingy, and pushchair. Back prefers the pushchair to be sure, but carriers were very useful around the house for the can't be put down stage. I've met people at playgroups with very strong feelings about this on both sides, but I can't really see why people get so worked up about other people's choices.

thank you zombie.

the last one is my carrier of choice atm as works very well with pregnant belly. very easy to use, and the shallow person in me thinks it a lovely autumn coloured carrier

I found my sling invaluable for DD and will use it again for this baby, however, there were times I preferred to use the buggy:

• meeting friends for coffee/lunch (which while DD was small was a daily occurence). It was lovely to let DD snooze in the buggy and for me not to have to be holding her for a small portion of the day.

• long trips when we'd be out over nap time, she always slept longer in the buggy

• anywhere I needed to look smart - clothes got terribly crinkled while wearing the sling

• very hot days - just too warm to have a tot strapped to my front

• icy conditions - felt safer to have her in the buggy

• first few weeks after the birth - my body was a wreck, and carrying a newborn in a sling for any length of time would have been very uncomfortable

In essence, it was great to have the choice and I'll use both sling and buggy again next time.

I used a Kari-Me wrap sling which was awesome - DD was in it until she was 15 months, and at 22 months I could probably still carry her in it now. V convenient for tube/bus/shopping etc

I've also been told that I was carrying her "like an African woman" or "like one of those tribespeople"

It made me , but I am not sure it was intended to

if it wasn't for my slings I would have gone mad when ds was about 3 months old, he NEEDED to be carried 24/7
I loved my close sling when he was little, dh used the more conventional sling.
and now that he is 2, when I can't be bothered with the buggy, usually around xmas shopping time I pull out the baba sling. I must pointout that ds is physically disabled and can not walk yet. But has always loved being carried!

MulledBlood I don't think it's aggravating, particularly. I did all that keeping close and enjoying the smell, feel closeness of my baby when feeding or just holding because we had quiet moments with no other demands(and sometimes when there were other demands). When I put a well wrapped baby into a snug and comfortable pram it gave me a feeling of contentment and the sleeping baby was obviously content. So even if the baby was "at arms length" there was nothing detrimental about it.

togarama, when I was on mat leave one of the joys for me was not to be limited to the big supermarkets. I would instead go to local butchers and greengrocers, then stop off at a coffee shop, maybe meet a friend, browse in a bookshop etc, then home via the park with some buns. having a buggy made all this possible and comfortable with a baby, who was asleep most of the time, so not feeling too dreadful, I think.

Its because sling are often a lifestyle as well as a practical choice that signify something to the outside world about the user - much like cars in fact. So therefore people who use them may have more in common than with green pram users.

They say 'I parent this way' which is why its so nice ot see misdees lovely little dc with a packet of hula hoops thus subverting the norm...

Because my children both loved being in their pram and slept beautifully in it. That allowed me one hr a day of "mental" freedom.
Had they been unhappy in the pram/buggy, I'd have looked into slings etc.

When I was spending most of the night breastfeeding it was bliss sometimes to be at 'arms length'. Kept me sane (ish)!

Posted earlier but got overlooked:

Do their arms and legs get cold? Or if you wrap them up a bit, overhot?

the hula hoops were a bribe plus she has multiple allergies and its actually safe for her to have those.

The meet ups aren't to meet other sling wearing mums to the exclusion of all else they are so that you can see and try out different kinds of slings (many of which are expensive and/or only available online - which was one of the reasons people have already mentioned being put off) and also to help with suggestions for e.g. a new carry now your baby is a toddler or a carry suitable for a pregnant lady or if you want to put your baby on your back and you are feeling nervous.

They don't sit around and diss prams, FGS!

I wasn't expecting so many replies! It's great to have so many different and well-thought out perspectives. Hope others are finding it useful too.

As mentioned in my original post, I don't have many friends with kids in real life so very rarely get the opportunity to have this sort of conversation.

This was definitely intended to be a thread about personal experience and viewpoint rather than value judgments on one another.

(I hope that as a relative MN newcomer, I haven't opened too much of a can of worms with an issue which is so clearly open to ideological bias in both directions...)

Both of us overheated when I wore a sling. It was OK for country walks I suppose, but crap for going in and out of shops. It was very, very easy to regulate ds's temperature in his pram by adding and removing blankets. And in the summer, there was plenty of air circulating around him - his pram was a shaded oasis.

Also, there's nowhere to safely put the baby when you sit down for a coffee. I guess they stay in the sling - but if you're out and about all day surely they need to stretch their limbs around a bit?

Slings are crap if you want to carry a week's shopping home with you.

And people frown if you spark up with a baby strapped to your front

diedie, no, dd4 has a fleecey suit for cold days to wear if i am dont have my coat with me (i get hot myself, and often just wear a light jacket in stead of a heavey coat).

and on hot days i got for a shorter sling and do a single layer carry.

its not all or nothing with me though. i have a couple of prams for my new baby, one of which is an old silvercross, and a double buggy.

atm, i am not 100% comfortable carrying dd4 or pushing the buggy. but its marginally easier to carry her on the school run, then push the buggy back up the hill.

Misdee, so normally it's tofu lolly and lentil curd and you weave your own knickers?

That's the wholesome stereotype that's associated with slings imo rather than not being able to afford a pram.

Yes, me too ColdComfort.

Sorry X posted a bit, was picking up on the HoolaHoops remark!

I intended to use ours (Baby Bjorn style) but in the end only used it twice as it was such a faff to get on and seemed to require about six pairs of hands. Someone bought us a sling style one which I found quite uncomfortable and cumbersome, so didn't use that either.

oh i got one step further and dont bother with the knickers [joke]

i am a bit hippyish, in that we use cloth nappies, extended breastfeeding, cosleep, dd4 has an amber necklace and do cook most meals from scratch.

but then i am also not a green fingered type, i drive (when i have a car), i like a wee tipple once in a while, and buy my clothes from shops . i love meeting friends for coffee, and have never tried tofu

I used slings round the house but almost always prams when out and about. Aside from the carrying of things which as I don't drive is essential I seemed to always have disasters when out with the sling which put me off.
Once in a public toilet when I partially wet myself because was all trussed up with the sling.
I had to have blood taken and foolishly went with DD in the sling but had nowhere to put her while I had them done as wasn't allowed to hold her so had to put her on the floor and someone opened a door onto her.
Once nearly fainted from the heat of having DS on me while holding coats in a sweaty school disco.