Can a baby get too dependent on a baby carrier or sling?

[cathn]

Hello,

My LO is 6 weeks today and although she's wonderful she often (especially in the evening) gets very cranky and irritable (like a lot of babies, I know!).

I have the baby bjorn carrier which I pop her in and it calms her down a lot. Sometimes I let her have her evening naps in it.

I've read a lot about the benefits of so-called 'baby wearing' but I just wanted to ask if anyone had had any trouble by overusing a carrier or sling and their LO then not being able/wanting to sleep in their basket/cot?

At the moment the carrier is a lifesaver in the evenings otherwise I'm not sure quite how we'd get through them, but I just wanted to know if I was setting myself up for trouble down the line...

Thanks

no problems at all. dd is 10 months old and never sleeps in the carrier (ergo baby here) any more.

Nope. They can't.

Look, she's had nine months of being carried around and rocked to sleep in a warm environment with all those soothing swooshing noises and heartbeart and etc. So if it were true that doing something for a while meant it had to happen forever, then all babies would want to be carried/rocked forever, wouldn't they?

All you're doing is helping her transition from the womb environment - warm, rocking, swooshing, heartbeat for constant company - to the real world. If you were tiny and helpless, would you want that transition to be gradual, or sudden? Is it fair to plunge a newborn straight into an environment where they're flat on their backs in a cot on their own with silence and stillness all around?

The sling is just making it gradual. As she gets bigger, you'll keep transitioning her. It's a process.

And congratulations on your daughter!

Thanks very much guys :). That's just what I wanted to hear!

Thanks very much guys :). That's just what I wanted to hear!

Agree with the above. Between 9 and 14 weeks DS would only sleep in the sling during the day. He's slept happily in his cot for nearly 7 months since. :)

Well, I've never owned a pram and still sling or wrap my 2 year old. So I guess, maybe they can!

Do yourself a favour, though, and get your self a decent wrap which will be much more comfy for both of you. Stretchy is good for very young babies, then maybe a non-stretchy or maybe a mei tai, or soft structured carrier.

Don't worry about them getting too attached to anything. Breastfeeding to sleep, co-sleeping, whatever. Don't fight it.

Enjoy!

My daughters have both been like this. I carried DD1 pretty much constantly (only decanting her into her cot late at night)until she was 4 months old and used to worry terribly that I'd still be carrying her to school! But at some point she became put-down-able. She has been very independent ever since she could crawl (7 months) and sleeps in her cot all night and at nap times.

Stupidly, I have exactly the same worries with DD2, 5 weeks old! I also worry that she is just too cosy and warm in the sling (I use a stretchy wrap) to bother waking up for feeds - she can go for 5-6 hours in there!

At the moment, the practicality of the sling outweighs these worries - with a very active toddler to look after as well, anything that gkeeps DD2 happy is a godsend!

I used to worry about all of these things, including breastfeeding to sleep etc, that perhaps I was not being firm enough in encouraging the transition to more independence. But in every case I needn't have worried - your daughter will be ready for these things at her own pace, and you will be able to help her. It takes some children longer than others.

I have so been looking forward to having another baby so that I can do all these things again, but without the stress and worry that I'm doing 'the right thing!'
Enjoy all this cuddly time, because although it might feel like it's going on forever, you will miss it when it's gone!

I've never seen any evidence to indicate that babies become "over-dependent" on slings/carriers for sleeping (or anything else) and haven't found it to be a problem in my personal experience either.

We used slings and wraps from birth with DD. (Never owned or wanted a pram.) She's always been happy to nap wherever she happens to be at the time whether that's in the carrier walking around, on my lap, on the sofa, on a mat on the floor, in bed etc.. She also walked on time and at 20 months seems to be less than averagely clingy.

(PS You might want to try something more comfy than a Baby Bjorn, especially as baby gets bigger. Lots of people seem to give up on baby carriers early on because they only tried the Bjorn and found it uncomfortable.)

As others have said I really don't think you can have them in the sling too much. All mine loved being in the sling during the day and I found particularly with DCs 2 & 3 that I couldn't have survived without a sling. DS is now nearly 19 months and I find I rarely use the sling any more suddenly as he is so very sturdy now and walks everywhere for miles - I feel a bit sad about it to be honest, I rather miss having his little face next to me!

I really liked my baby bjorn up until 5 or 6 months (I know some people don't, but if you do then stick with it), from 6 months ish I preferred a sling in the hip carry position (my favourite is the Hotsling - it's just so simple)

Re tiny babies sleeping in the sling, I found that to be great during the day as it saved me from having to put them down for a nap if I was out and about. Re evenings, I found that around 6 or 7 weeks old with all of mine I started to think about establishing bed time and we soon got that sorted out and they were all great sleepers happily in their cots despite being carried around by me most of the day. But if your DD is not yet ready for sorting out bedtime then just stick with the sling a bit longer until she is less cranky in the evenings.

Another one here who can assure you that slings do not result in a clingy baby.

We pretty much only use a sling (we use woven wraps) and have done since DD was tiny. She is now 15 months, and is a lovely, confident, sociable little lady :)

She only napped in the sling until she was 6 months old, and then decided that the cot wasn't all that bad after all

If you like the idea of babywearing, I beg you...ditch the Baby Bjorn!! There is a whole world of beautiful, comfortable slings out there!

Find yourself a slingmeet (www.slingmeet.co.uk) and go and try some different ones.

i think it shd be fine. But do ditch the baby bjorn not just for yr comfort as others have said, but for your babys spinal and pelvic developmwnt which the baby bjorn can harm.

I found the littlepossums. Com website really useful for finding out about different slings.

DD is 12 weeks old and has a morning nap swaddled in her crib, but her long 2-hour midday nap is in the sling. For me it's a good compromise, as she is very familiar with her crib, but also has all the benefits of 'being slung'. [hwink]

Oh yes, please ditch the Bjorn!!

I use a calin bleu and sometimes forget she's there!

Thanks everyone for all the further comments (sorry haven't had a chance to read them for a while!).

I will definitely look into getting a different sling to the BsbyBjorm (although for the moment the Bjorn seems fine and I'm quite happy with it) and won't (or will try not to!) worry about it causing any problems!

Thanks again for all the advice and reasurance :)

Try Slumber Roo online, they'll hire them out so you can try before you buy.

I recommend a Sleepy Wrap (like a Moby) or a Beco Gemini (more structured clip on style). I have and use both regularly.

Can I just ask (sorry to go a bit away from the original question)... is there any proper evidence that the Baby Bjorn is harmful? Surely if it was then it would be taken off the market? Millions of babies seem to have developed fine after being carried in it. I have no axe to grind - used a baby bjorn for DS then switched to an Ergo when he was about 6 months, mostly for my comfort but also because people kept scaring me senseless by telling me that his testicles and perinium would be crushed, and am just curious. Can anyone post a link to the evidence for this?

To the OP - I don't think a baby (especially a 6 week old) can spend too long in a sling/carrier - when they get older they generally want to be in it less but they're all different. My DS (1 year) still loves to be carried, especially when he's tired/poorly/teething.

Fourleaf: I can't answer your question about the background research on the BabyBjorn. Personally I don't recommend them because they don't tend to be rated well for comfort on parenting / babywearing sites and many people seem to cite them as a the reason they gave up on baby carriers early on.