sling or pram...?

[blueberry69]

I have been trying to work out whether to buy a pram, a sling or both. I love the idea of a sling and as I live in London can't help but think it will be easier than a pram to get about with. But as this is my first baby i have no idea and wondered if anyone had any advice...?

well you defo need a pram so you can rock them to sleep, go out for a walk and put them down so you can do something different.

i had three slings, really liked the idea of them but my baby hated them all.

i live in london too, but i found my mountain buggy absolute godsend. really easy to push around london. loads of shopping and crap in. baby always fell asleep in it so could always take him out for a walk when he wouldn't settle and then go home and wheel him in to the house whilst i had a rest.

many of my friends got maclaren buggies but complained that their babes wouldn't go to sleep in them

Look into both options now but you don't have to commit until you need something - so decide which you prefer, then get the other if need be. I'd really advise getting along to a SlingMeet group if you can to see what options there are for slings - I had a stretchy wrap but only realised after DS was born in August that in summertime it's the equivalent of a hot water bottle being held against you with several layers of fabric! However stretchy wraps are good for getting baby in and out quickly as you don't need to re-tie them everytime. As baby gets bigger, you need more support and a non-stretchy wrap is better... in case you worry about having to get lots of wraps/slings, there is a thriving trade in 2nd hand wraps/slings (google 'UKbabywearingswap - it's a Yahoo group).

We just started off with the wrap and bought a buggy (Maclaren Techno XT) once DS was around 3mo (still just about using it now he's over 2.5yrs, he usually prefers to walk now. Still also have a sling - a Scootababy). I find living in a city that the sling was very handy most of the time esp when using public transport, but a buggy was useful to get DS off to sleep and give me time away from him once he WAS asleep! You can get good covers for slings, so they are fine in winter (in case you wondered).

I'm in London and I used slings pretty much exclusively for the first 8 months or so and then eventually bought a cheapish Maclaren.

My little guy loved the sling and had no problem sleeping in it, and I found them brilliant for getting around, particularly on public transport - my pram-wielding friends were often v jealous of how easy it was for us. Once DS was soundly asleep I could usually take him out and put him down for a longer sleep, or get on with whatever I needed to do with him strapped to me (a little bit of extra weight bearing exercise!)

It was a bit of a risk but I'm glad we didn't shell out for an expensive pram to begin with.

There's also this forum for 2nd hand slings:
Natural Mamas

Similar to sabinar, when DS was small I could take him out of the sling when he was asleep and put him down elsewhere to sleep (eg cot, or if out, lying him on the wrap and covering him over with it). It was only when he was older that this didn't work so well, ie over a year old. He slept OK in the Maclaren Techno too, and this is a boy who is NOT a fan of daytime sleeping! Just had to wheel him about somewhere really boring for a while...

I would say both is a good idea.
Depending on how much you walk.
If you like a nice walk in the summer a baby AND nappy bag and drinks etc all round your shoulders is going to tire you out.
I love having my pram, can throw all sorts of shopping into it, thankfully and all terrain, I'm a walker though.

if you drive a car you wont need a pram, but try carrying baby and your weekly shop home, jeez, I went out and did that once when DS was three months, incredibly exhausting.

With DS1 I gave up the buggy in favour of a sling at 4 months, and with DS2 I've been exclusively slinging. If you use public transport it is phenomenally much easier - I live a day trip from London and think nothing of doing it with a sling. The downside is carrying all the stuff and parephenalia of babies. That is a drag, but it's doable, and I prefer it to having to manage a buggy.

I would say this: until you have a baby it is impossible to know how you will manage and what temperament your baby will have. Buggies take up a lot of room and apart from the expensive ones depreciate in value very fast so the resale value is practically nothing. Slings take up virtually no space and you can pretty much sell them on for what you paid for them so buy a sling.

But also borrow a buggy. Pretty much any buggy will do so long as it's suitable for a newborn. You may find a buggy suits you better or the birth leaves you temporarily not up to slinging (though slings are actually better for bad backs etc. than buggies because they are more ergonomic). And I think the very best way of discovering what you need in a buggy is to push one for a couple of weeks and you'll be saying "I wish it folded like this, and had a handle like this, and reclined like this and had a pocket there" Then ask the pram experts to recommend one that matches your wishlist. If you find you need a pram/buggy at all.

I have to say if you walk alot and do shopping on foot, please, save yourself some hassle and invest in a good buggy straight away, I had about 6 of them break on all brand new various types around the £100 mark.

I got a phil and ted's this time (theyre around £200 second hand, £400 new) and it's a godsend already, can walk straight over feilds of grass with it's big wheels, load it with whatever I want to buy from shops, so relieving.
I got rid of that 'obaby' peice of crap a month or so ago and life is just much better basically.

I live in a city too and didn't get a pram until dd was three or four months old. Which she promptly hated. I hate it too - the wheels get stuck in doorways, there are loads of places I can't take it. Slings all the way!

Also if you don't already get shopping delivered, now before the baby comes is a good time to get to grips with online shopping, and put down really good systems so that you aren't constantly shopping, as it's a pain in the neck anyway however you do it.

If you go down the sling route most of the time it's handy not to have to carry too much stuff (though I know from experience it is possible to carry nappy bag on back, baby on front, six pints of milk on one shoulder and twenty kids' library books on the other it's not recommended really )

Thank you everyone - very helpful . We have been offered a second hand pram (12 years old though!) so perhaps we'll go for that and only go on to buy one if we feel we need one once the baby is born and we see what works best for us.

For the slingers..which sling(s) did you use/like the most? Do different styles work for different age groups - the choice seems overwhelming .

NumptyMums suggestion to join a sling group to find out more sounds a good one.

I've never understood 'nappy bags' - used my daysack/rucksack that I had for cycling to work anyway, got a small folding changing mat and just carry 2 or 3 nappies, nappy bags and a half-full bag of wipes. There's plenty of room left for food when it comes to weaning. I guess I don't know about bottles though, was able to bf which again cut down on stuff being carried around. I found the rucksack balanced the weight of baby really well (still just about does, and he's now pretty big at 2.5yrs - only do short trips now, but much easier than just trying to carry him on my hip).

I really did like the support from a wrap, it takes a little learning to do them up quickly but they give great support - and if you've a summer baby, there are lighter weight wraps (calin bleu, gypsymama). For a baby that can support it's head, ie a few months older, a mei tai or structured carrier such as my Scootababy is even quicker to put on than a wrap and because there's less fabric, perhaps a bit less hot-making - but many people will use a wrap throughout. Actual slings, ie over 1-shoulder, are less supportive (the weight isn't distributed as well) but they are good for quickly picking baby up, putting baby down, picking reluctant walking toddler up, putting squirming toddler down... really is worth going to a SlingMeet but you WILL find people rave about their own slings, as of course everyone has their own preference!!

Hi OP,
I really recommend a sling, I used one with my DD exclusively for the first 12 months, and it was brilliant! She had her naps in it, I took her everywhere in it: shopping, day trips, country walks etc. Getting around is SO much easier with a sling than a buggy or a pram. And I always had a backpack so carrying any baby paraphernalia wasn't a problem either. We now have a buggy but it is such a pain to get around with it and my DD definitely preferred the sling. I have a Baby Bjorn, plan to use it again for my secong child.

DD1 went in a pram sometimes, but by 3 months she was nosy enough to want OUT, but too little to be sat up. So I more or less ditched the pram and used a sling - and we never really looked back. She's 3 now and I'll still chuck an 'emergency sling' in if we're going a long way!

I started out with a stretchy wrap. I found it spread her weight really well and because it was stretchy it was reasonably forgiving of how I'd tied it. Once she got up to about 17 lb it was really starting to struggle and I got a woven wrap (didymos), and then a few Mei Tais (I got a BBO, which we found great, a NapSack, which is pretty good, and a Mei Tai Baby, which just never worked). I probably started using the MT's by preference at about 18 months. However, although thats what worked for me as others have said, its very hard to predict what will work for you and your baby until they're here and you try them (the most bizarre thing I heard of was a baby that hated going in anything covered in stripes!)

A lot of women find pouches or ring slings are great for newborns - they're both 1 shoulder slings, but with a little baby that's not so bad and they have a minimal learning curve (although personally I could never make a ring sling work )

Slingmeets are fantastic as a way to experiment with willing and experienced hands to help you and for minimal cost. Buying 2nd hand can be fantastic - you can think of it as an extended trial and if it doesn't work out you should be able to resell for about the same price so you only loose postage.

Another useful site is The Baby Wearer - its USA based, but they have reviews of just about every baby carrier ever made. They do have a very active For Sale or Trade board where you can track down just about anything, although much of it is in North America - then again with the right exchange rate that can lead to real bargains.

Good luck - just be warned that slings can become addictive

ps - DD never subscribed to being rocked to sleep in a pram. She'd usually drop off if I walked far enough, but 'far enough' could be up to an hour...

pps - shopping trolleys are no longer the sole preserve of OAPs. Assuming you don't have too many steps to deal with they can be a godsend for transporting shopping / books / emergency potties while carrying a small child. And you no longer have to get one in a dodgy tartan pattern Unless you want to

the baby bjorn was good at first when ds was tiny, and once he had good head control the moby wrap has come into its own. when he was tiny i used the moby sometimes but would obsess over whether he was still breathing! he gota bit lost in it. the bjorn was more rigid iyswim. but when he got bigger the bjorn killed my back - the moby is lovely - no back ache and he's 20lb now! he loves it too!

also have a pram which i use everyday. my husband was worried that i wouldn't use it as it was quite expensive but have used it everyday to cart ds round in - he loves that too it seems! ;-)

hth

I think it's brilliant for little babies to be kept close to their mummies, but I wonder how yall have the energy??
My son felt like a ton of bricks after half an hour, I walk around for severel hours in the summer too..
is it not tiring?

I had both. I bought a sling which was great but i had a large baby so really couldn't carry her around all day and it was nice to go to lunch or whatever and put her in the buggy to sleep so i could have ME time.

I just got a cheapish buggy (mamas and papas luna) which lays flat and has plenty of room and is comfy and when she was sitting up more i bought a petite star zia and sold the luna on gumtree. A sling saves my life when i travel because it lets you have your hands free and also great when she was tired, you could pop her in it in any situation and she settle down to sleep right away.

Hi OP- I disagree with some posters on here as I don't think you need a pram at all.

I've got an Ergo and it's absolutly fab!

You can use it from birth (with the newborn insert) up until your child is aged 3.

It is dead easy to use and so comfy you will hardly notice you're wearing it.

I still use it now, my DS is 19mths old and he weighs 2 stone. I carry him around everywhere and he loves it. He loves being a part of everything rather than just an observer, as he would be in a pram.

The Ergo can be used on your front, side or back and it is so simple. What makes it special is that it distributes the weight evenly over your pelvis so that you don't get any discomfort from it hanging off your shoulders, like so many slings.

I can walk for miles and miles with my son in the sling and when he drops off to sleep, there is a special hood which you can just pull over to support his head from lolling around.

You can also buy a rain cover for it. and there is a handy pocket on the front where you can store your keys, purse and phone.

I really don't think you need a pram at all when you have this sling as you can carry your baby around with you effortlessly to do the house work and its so much easier when out and about getting into shops/cafes is not a problem, nor is public transport or steps.

The Ergo only weighs a couple of grams and folds up really small so you can pop it into your changebag when not in use or just leave it attached to your waist.

It's the best IMHO and I wished I'd known about it when my son was newborn. I only had it 2nd hand when he was 12mths old. It would have made those early days so much easier when he was very attched to me and didn't want to be put down.

Carrying your baby around is proven to be better for there well-being and development and also helps with bonding.

I'm trying to convince DP to let me have a new one for when baby No2 comes along!

I have used a sling exclusively with my second DS- He is nearly 7 months- and am finding it far easier than I did with no.1 when he was in a buggy. I have a hug-a-bub sling (£10 off ebay) that I've used almost every day since his birth. It's the best thing I've ever bought.

I think both are so very useful as to be almost essential really. In the very early weeks my daughter would only settle in the sling really and I couldn't think why I'd bothered to buy a pram at all. But a few weeks in it really came into its own, not least by becoming the place that she napped downstairs. Some people want their baby in contact with their body at all times but for others being able to put them down, for a short while at least, without them going ballistic, soon becomes a holy grail of parenting! Rocking the baby to sleep in the pram/buggy and then being able to leave her asleep for a little while and go to sleep myself/do some essential chores/just have a bit of time to myself was a real milestone.

My sling is still lovely and handy and my daughter enjoys being in it. But she definitely sleeps more fitfully in a sling now (she's nearly 8 months) and I wouldn't want to be without a lightweight buggy on a trip out that was longer than an hour or two. She tends to wake up feeling cross when you sit down, for example, meaning that I end up standing, rocking from foot to foot for ages on end. And as others have said, shopping for more than a light carrier bag full of items is a bit rubbish with a sling unless you have a minion to carry your purchases.

So I would buy both, personally. Glad we did.

It completely depends on OP's lifestyle, and the size of her baby.
My son was 9lb5 and stayed in 90th percentile, the shops were a mile away and down a pretty big hill, I had to walk up the hill with all my washing powder, milk, potatos, etc almost everyday in the summer, I found carrying him ASWELL as shopping, nappy bag, drinks (with it being summer) really very tiring.
If you have the luxary of a car or dear partner to do these things then it's okay.
Baby's can get very heavy after 5-6 hours of being out and about and you can't pop baby on the floor while you have a break.

How the heck are you gonna carry a 2 stone child around everywhere?
You must be muscle woman

I think re weight of carrying baby, if you have a good sling that keeps baby really close to you it helps - I found/find that if DS is able to lean away from me too much it puts a lot more strain on everything (he leans now because he's over 2.5yrs and therefore no sling is really going to keep him that close!).

Plus actually carrying other stuff in the backpack helps balance the weight, rather than having something pulling you forward it is counterweighted by what is on your back. When he was under 1yr I could carry him, heavier supplies and shopping in the rucksack and lighter shopping in 2 carrier bags (but have very local shops!).

Or for those who master it, you can carry baby on your back too (in wrap or mei tai or structured carrier such as Ergo - not Scootababy though). I tried back carry, but because I use a backpack it left me the problem of how to carry around my stuff. However as someone has pointed out the 'old lady shopping trolley on wheels' are a good solution from this - and Ikea do them too!