Baby wearing - day and night sleep

[Nellie1027]

I have a 6 week old baby that I've tried to put in a sling a number of times but hasn't worked. Today however, I persevered for longer and she's been asleep for nearly 3 hours! Hoping this can become a daily thing as I've been able to do so much around the house and feel like myself again!

Those who baby wear during the day, do your babies sleep for long periods? Do you wake them up or leave them?

Prior to this I was only able to get her to nap on me and that only ever lasted for 1-2 hours as inevitably I'd need the loo or something to eat and I'd have to put her down and she'd wake up. Now I'm not sure whether I should wake her up at the 3 hour point or leave her?

Also, do you find your babies sleep well at night too?

You need to be careful about them sleeping that long in a sling in one go - their head position can easily alter and obstruct their airway causing them to asphyxiate. I don't think there is a hard and fast rule on it but car seat guidance for the same reason is 2 hours max at one time. It also isn't good for their hips to be in the sling position for prolonged periods of time. I would probably get her out after 2 hours max personally and keep a v close eye on head position while you're carrying her.

Agreed. Be careful. Loads of mums swear by slings but I was always too afraid to use one because of this reason. Baby needs time to lay flat and move head/arms/legs.
babies that young need to feed often too so I wouldn’t leave it much longer than 3hrs.

A good sling with a proper frog leg position and head positioned well is an ideal position. Babies were designed to be held.

The sling manufacturers themselves recommend against excessive constant time in a frog legged position, and there are other ways to hold a baby. I think balance is key OP - they are great to enable you to get on and do stuff but I wouldn't rely on it all day and would probably set some time limits that you are comfortable with.

DD2 spent the first three months of her life in the sling during the day pretty much! Only way to manage with an active older child around. She would sleep for hours in there. I never woke at that age, just let her sleep when she wanted! She's now 6mo and has been crawling for a few weeks and I miss that inactive little toot I could carry around. She protests heartily now when she's confined!

There should be no risk of positional asphyxia with a proper sling position by the way. Chin to chest is what causes that.

I think the longest nap mine ever had in one was 5 hours, but that was a one off. It didn't impact night sleep though.

My second would have days where she'd only really come out for nappy changes as she'd even feed in the sling.

Providing you are following baby wearing guidelines, there is no maximum time they can be in there.

It also takes perseverance to help your baby learn to sleep on their own in say a Moses basket then own cot and this also frees up your time and lets you do things. I could never get anything done with a baby strapped to me and eventually they get older and harder to get to sleep whereas you could just start teaching now how to sleep without a human pillow.

I think it's great you've figured out the sling, as long as it's an ergonomically sling and baby is in a good position then they can stay there as long as you like.

I would wake to feed after 3 hours though regardless of where baby is sleeping as they need to eat regularly in the day otherwise they'll be playing catch up over night!