Experienced baby wearers - help a newbie out :)

[Squish3]

Weather is starting to get nicer so hoping to start getting out and about with baby in the carrier. Very lucky to have the beach on our doorstep and lovely country park/glen behind our house for walking! We’re on the west coast of Scotland though 🥶😅 baby is 4 months old and we’re using an Ergobaby 360.

What should I be dressing baby in? In the house would be in a short sleeved vest and either a babygrow or leggings/long sleeved top/socks. What layers should I be adding? 😊

Also...I believe it’s advised that they face you until 5 months? Does that sound about right? I’m assuming you need them to have very steady head control when you’re walking before they go forward facing?

I never forward faced mine in a sling - they stayed facing me until they went on my back!

Remember the sling classes as a layer and they will be next to your body heat. I would just dress them in what you would dress them in in the house and see if you can get a coat big enough to go around both of you (either proper baby wearing fleece thing or I often wore one of DH’s coat which was big enough to cover both of us. Hat and then leg warmers are great for the exposed bits!

If no coat over both of you then I would do house + cardigan, hat and leg warmers.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/baby-wearing-hoodie-fleece-small-/174620740409?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

This kind of thing!

Layers are good. Remember that the sling counts as a layer too. I usually dress DD in a vest, trousers, socks, cardigan, hat and a Tuppence and crumble star wrap in the current weather (5-9 degrees ish). If I feel that’s not enough, I zip a hoodie over the two of us so I can remove it if/when we warm up a bit. Remember if you’re using a footed sleepsuit that it should be nice and loose on the feet. Padded pramsuits or snowsuits can be an overheating risk and make it hard to get a good position in the sling.

Re: forward facing, personally I think it’s a bit of a gimmick. It’s not so good for their hips or spine so shouldn’t really be done for more than 15/20 mins at a time. They can’t sleep forward facing which takes away from one of the massive bonuses of babywearing! Back carrying is great once they get good head and trunk control.

I really recommend the Babywearing UK Facebook page!

Please don't face baby out, it's really bad for their spines.

Everything that @PotteringAlong said and remember not to use baby grows with feet as it can scrunch their toes. I knitted booties for my dc to wear in the sling.

I add thick socks or booties, and thick cardigan. Hat. Thin mittens if cold.

At 10 months we don’t really face outwards. I think the ergo actually says face outwards only for max 20 mins, not when tired etc.. so for us it’s fairly pointless. I sometimes put him in and face outwards if I’m just putting him in at home ie to take bins out, or hoover etc as it’s mainly just so I can be hands free.

Just to add, I found outward facing much harder on my back too, it’s not ergonomic. Their weight is too far forward. Was probably an issue from around 1 year, though my baby was small. Mine did like outward facing though. I never got on with carrying her on my back, it was fine once she was on but I couldn’t never get her on myself and I hated if she fell asleep I couldn’t see to check on her!

Thanks for all the info 😊 I actually didn’t know that about forward facing so that’s really helpful! I’ve never been a fan of the idea but DH firmly believes baby should be “seeing the world” 🙄🤣 I’d rather have the cuddles tbh 🙈🤣

@LolaNova I forgot about our T&C star wrap!! Baby might actually be too big for it now, especially when in the carrier but I’ll have a look!

Think we’ll try it out today. Baby is already in vest, long sleeved top, leggings and socks. Expected to be about 7 here today so if I add a cardigan, mitts, hat and maybe an extra wee pair of socks that should be ok? I’ve got a big oversized fleece that I’ll wear open then I can close that round us both if needed? 😊

I’m also in Scotland. I take mine out in a long sleeved vest, baby grow and Snow suit at the moment, with a hat and mittens.

Sounds fine. It’s about 3 here but sunny today.
I took ds out for 30 mins already and he was wearing tights, knee high wool booties, long sleeve vest, thick cardigan, thin mittens, hat. My jacket covered him a bit from sides as well. Came in and he was asleep and toasty. Advantage of him not in too many layers meant I could just remove his hat, booties and mittens, and take my coat off he was semi wrapped in when indoors and he stayed asleep another 15 mins without overheating

Dh finds it comfier than me outwards. He’s much taller than me, so maybe short and outwards is just off balance.

www.sheffieldslingsurgery.co.uk/2014/11/10/snowsuits-scarves-slings-and-safety/

Please don’t put snowsuits on a baby in a carrier. It’s not safe and not necessary. @Carolina24

@Caspianberg That’s the problem we always have with the pram! Baby wakes up when I take off the layers then nap time is ruined 😅 or I need to walk around for an extra hour to extend the nap lol. I’ll give the carrier a try today and see how we get on. Won’t be far from the house anyway so if it’s a bit cold etc we can just come home. Think I’ll order some leg warmers just now though so that we have some for future!

What you're planning sounds perfect. I'm in the same part of the world and if I was still front wearing that's what I'd go for.

Mine is now on my back so she gets a thin all-in-one as she's not so tucked in. I did try outward facing a couple of times which she loved but I didn't.

When you come to back carry with the Ergo the 'simplest' way seems to me to put the Ergo on a seat, sit the wee one in it then sit down, do the waist strap up and then the arm straps. I cannot do the official method without nearly strangling myself!

@TimeIhadaNameChange that’s great, thanks! I’m always concerned about I’m getting cold in the dodgy west coast climate but we’ll see how we get on 😊
Great tip about back carrying 👍🏻 Thank you!

For pram, I have found a really good footmuff thing is best for the same reason. Can then dress similar to in sling, add hat, tuck blanket in around shoulders if really cold, then zip up cosy footmuff. Then when home, can usually unzip footmuff and open up, and pull back blanket a bit if needed and they can continue sleeping without roasting.
Same for when your in and out shops or cafes ( not like that’s been happening that much this year, but hopefully next winter)

Sounds perfect to me - definitely no snowsuit in a sling!

@Caspianberg I’m just waiting on the footmuff being delivered for the pram so that we can do that 😊 still using the newborn bassinet at the moment 😊

@PotteringAlong I knew snowsuits were a no-go but was at a complete loss as to what to put on lol.

Safe to say our first carrier experience did not go well 🙈😅🤣 Baby was not impressed at all! We didn’t even make it out of the house 🙈 straight into the pram and out a nice long walk to calm down 🙈 will try again tomorrow when it isn’t nap time 😊 I think someone might have been a little overtired 😅

I'd rather my dd got too cold than too hot. She agrees 🤣 and loves the wind in her hair (has done from wee - one sling walk she got her head out between the gap in the middle and refused to let me put it in again!). We were out on a really cold day last week and she ended up hatless. She wasn't bothered in the least!

Weather been about 2 degrees here today but still. Yesterday and today I did pram walk then left her outside in pram and I sat with cuppa then pottered in the garden. She had such a lovely good long nap outside. Made me think I should try and do more outside garden naps. Poor baby struggles to nap due to toddler noise but didn't seem to care outside. Also saved the removing layers issue when home.

Definitely try again - maybe just around the house for a bit?

@brokengate I’d love to be able to do this 😓 I know my little one would sleep so well if left in the pram! We’re in a maisonette so although we have a large private garden, it’s downstairs 😓 wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving the pram even for a second so I’d be stuck outside for the nap too lol

@PotteringAlong Tried in the house when it wasn’t nap time and got on much better 👍🏻 Torrential rain yesterday and today but will try and get out for a nice walk in the glen at the first opportunity 😊

Once she is in the carrier start walking right away, they often complain at being bundled up and constrained when the scenery isn’t changing...

@Cupoftchaiagain Will give that a try now that we’ve got the hang of putting the carrier on 😊 think he was just frustrated with us gagging around lol

*faffing

Good plan :) enjoy those walks, I miss those times!

@Squish3

Thanks for all the info 😊 I actually didn’t know that about forward facing so that’s really helpful! I’ve never been a fan of the idea but DH firmly believes baby should be “seeing the world” 🙄🤣 I’d rather have the cuddles tbh 🙈🤣

@LolaNova I forgot about our T&C star wrap!! Baby might actually be too big for it now, especially when in the carrier but I’ll have a look!

Think we’ll try it out today. Baby is already in vest, long sleeved top, leggings and socks. Expected to be about 7 here today so if I add a cardigan, mitts, hat and maybe an extra wee pair of socks that should be ok? I’ve got a big oversized fleece that I’ll wear open then I can close that round us both if needed? 😊

The baby can easily see the world when they are ready to look around when cared facing in.

If you can get a baby wearing coat. So much quicker to get ready to go out and if the baby falls asleep in the sling you can take your coat off and keep them asleep in the sling. When in the hardcore winter months and doing the school run long the exposed NE coast I would wear a baby wearing hoodies and baby wearing coat.