baby in a ring sling - a good idea?

[daisyartichoke]

I've been putting my dd , now 1 month, in a ring sling during the day, mainly so that i can cope with the demands of my 22 month ds, but also because she seems happy in it, particularly to sleep. i'm worried that she won't learn to nap in the daytime on her own. she already sleeps brilliantly at night, she was born that way!! . my first child had a routine from 6 weeks ish, and although i don't intend to do the same again i'm not sure about the sling, it seems brilliant but am i setting myself up for something difficult in the months ahead. i was wondering how other people found using one?

Don't worry about it.

The closer you keep your children when they're little, the more confident they are to go and explore when they're bigger.

Enjoy your cuddles with her.

I have put DD in a sling. She won't fall asleep by herself in a cot, but she falls asleep easily in the sling (even now, at 16 months old) and then I can switch her from the sling to the bed once she's asleep.

Ring slings are fab. If a baby is really tired, you can shift them from sling to bed/buggy and they will sleep. If they really need the security of being close then it's much better to keep them in the sling than struggle to get them to sleep elsewhere. Besides, it's lovely carrying a little one around. And as Hunkermunker said, it does give them a good confident start.

If it works, then go with it! Loads of really good reasons why slings are great, not least the one that says babies learn most when they are in a 'quiet alert state' and it has been shown that babes carried by their parents spend a lot of time quietly watching so are thought to benefit in this way. Can you tell I'm a fan?! Plus it feels good to be close to your lo and hunker and tooticky are absolutely right, lots of closeness gives them the security to explore when they're bigger. Am already seeing this 1000 times a day and ds is 20mths.

daisy can i ask how long your dd slept at night from being born? my 13 day old sleeps long stretches and often he doesn't wake in the night at all. people keep telling me i must wake him to feed but he always seems so sleepy and disinterested.

bamboozleslover - first 10 days she only woke once between 8 pm and 7 am, now she is fed at 10.30ish and then wakes once in the night. i was worried as she was small when born only 5 lb 13 oz and she was full term, but the midwife wasn't concerned about long sleep because she was/ is putting on weight. is your ds putting on weight? is he feeding well in the day? if so i wouldn't worry. hope this helps.