Baby too heavy to carry at 10 months. Bought a buggy and hate it. What now?

[mawbroon]

I am beginning to think that I must be a lentil weaver....
DS is 10 months and I have carried him since I recovered from my cs at around 7 weeks. Firstly I carried him on my front in a baby carrier and up until last week I have been using one of these.
He now weighs almost 22lbs and I thought "ok enough is enough, he's too heavy" and bought a buggy but I have found that I really don't like the buggy. I can't see ds (other than the top of his head) and I really miss the closeness of carrying him, I can't really talk to him either in the buggy and I miss him pulling my hair and ears. I had to put the rain cover on the other day and just felt that he was in a little bubble all on his own. This is all quite apart from the practical stuff like having to look for the lifts, bumping the buggy up and down the kerbs, not being able to go over bumpy ground or grass very easily. I also had to queue to get into the mother/baby toilet at ASDA wheras before I would have just gone for a pee with him on my back. Also it takes up a load of room in the boot of the car, and in my tiny hallway.
Anyway, I have got a wrap sling which I haven't mastered yet and hadn't really tried before because I was happy with the backpack. It seems to bring him in closer to my body and just might allow me to carry him a bit longer. Any tips on using it? I have tried a couple of different ties, but I just don't seem to get it tight enough unless DH is there to help. And if DH is around, he can carry DS in the backpack, so that doesn't really help!
Sorry this is long winded. I suppose I am just looking for reassurance that I am not some weirdo and it is perfectly normal to feel like this. Most other people are happy to use prams and buggies. Why am I not?

Message withdrawn

I carry my 11 month old and my nearly 4 year old on this (she sort of sits on the handlebar very comfortably) - a combined weight of 4 stone. No problems.

I did a sling until ds was 14 months and around the same weight as your ds is now. We still use a hip seat and he's 3.6 years and weighs around 16.5 kilos. Obviously the amount of carrying is much less now he can walk further so his increased weight is offset by his decreased time on the seat.

Thanks for all you advice ladies. I think what I will do is wait until we come back from our holiday and then hire an ergo to see how we get on. I will take the buggy on holiday because my PILs are coming too and they can't carry him anyway, but we will also take the wrap sling in case we want to go anywhere that we can't take the buggy. We were planning to visit some caves and also a maze. Neither of these would be fun (or possible) with a buggy.

Just to further complicate the situation, I am about to start childminding and may well need to get a second hand twin buggy. But, that is for another day!!