Is anyone else's dc impossible in a ring sling or am I missing something?

[TheSnickeringFox]

Ds (8 months) just will not go in a ring sling. I've tried umpteen times and he just twists, arches and tries to dive at my boobs. I'm quite confused as he sleeps in the Ergo without boob-diving .

He's ok in the Ergo for short periods awake but would rather be able to see the action. He likes his forward facing baby bjorn but obviously that's becoming less practical as he gets heavier. Also we don't like to use it for long periods because of the hip thing.

Any suggestions? Is there anything else I could use sling-wise?

Are you trying to make him lie down in the sling, or are you putting him in it sitting up?

Wrap? Ergo

How are you trying to carry him? DS won't do cradle carry but is happy to sit.

Hm, it ate my suggestion of Ergo on back.

I'm trying to get him in a sitting up side carry in the ring sling, straddling me if that makes sense (gosh, I'm really not hot on the lingo, eh). Def not the cradle carry, which I've just googled. He DEFINITELY wouldn't lie down :o.

Ergo on back...again he's too small to see much so while he sleeps perfectly well he's not keen on being there for too long awake. Plus the back carry gives me two stomachs :( :o

Is there such a thing as a forward-y ring sling carry?

I carried both my DC's in the sling with them sitting on my hip. I think that's the one you're describing as not working for him.
Would any of these suit him any better?

www.babyslingsandcarriers.com/babysling_carrying_positions

Ah, the kangaroo hold looks interesting, I'll give that a try.

Yes, it's the hip carry I was trying to describe. Every time I try to carry him like that he gets enraged by the very close and yet unavailable boob :o Monkey.

I hope it works out for you.
I carried both of mine in the sling until they were about a year old and would have been lost without it.
They never had a problem with boob-proximity, but there are probably many out there that do!!

Thanks Ruth. Yes, I would be lost without my Ergo as ds will not nap in the pram full stop (glorified shopping trolley) and often wants to be carried when awake too, he's a sensitive wee soul.

You're not in Japan are you? Random guess based on your name... My dh is and I was very pleasantly surprised to realise when we took ds over that baby wearing is much more common over there. Every second person has an ergo! And it also means my mil is very pro co-sleeping. Handy!

Apologies if you're not btw as that all probably makes very little sense...

TheSnickeringFox

I am no longer in Japan, but I was. That is, as you correctly guessed, the reason for my name. I lived there for 9 years and DH is Japanese. We moved to Belgium 3 years ago with DH's work.

You're right that baby wearing is seriously popular in Japan. No one has maxi cosi style baby carriers, they have baby seats that have to be left in the car. Many people therefore opt for slings rather than pushchairs all the time.
Slings are also a very traditional thing there, like in much of Asia.

Is your DH Japanese too? Whereabouts is he from?

Sorry, for some reason I missed your reply .

My dh is from Osaka but we live in the UK. Sadly, no matter how hard I try I can't get him to consider moving back for a while. He is worried about getting sucked into the long hours culture, which is probably true. And I'm sure I would get bored teaching English eventually.

I do miss it though...

Somewhat off topic, but I found DD went through a stage where it was hard to get her in a ringsling for different reasons (which I completely forget) and then when she was older, it came into its own again as a toddler hip-carrier.

Similarly, I found the RS great for DS until about five months when he became such a leg-straightening bouncer that it became a liability! Luckily he's far more content to go in a mei tai facing in, or on my back, than DD was at that age :) I expect that again, I will get future use out of the sling.

A friend of mine told me that you don't need a huge collection of slings but you do need one of every style, to cover every function and eventuality, and a simple collection of five will do. At the time, I was aghast (now ponders collection of about 25 slings) :)

Good point Squall. When tiny ds wanted to be held in an upright position and arched his back a lot. I was scared he would fall through the rs! He is now happier on my hip so as he gets older and less boob-focused maybe the rs will come into its own?

As for sling collections, I have:

Ergo
Moby
Kari me
Hugabub
Wilkinet
Hippychick
Ring sling
Baby bjorn
Couple of rubbish tomy carriers

9 times out of 10 I use the ergo!

Ooh just a thought - if you can't get any of the others to work as a hip carrier, have you considered a Scootababy? I found it great for the not falling through, but there was still the leaning forward issue, and I found the shoulder strap a faff. Easy to snag my hair in! And they're specialist enough that they might be harder to find and then re-sell without paying/losing lots.

I've got less use out of mine than I expected because by the time I got it for DC1, I'd nearly missed the window of usefulness, and I'm managing more with RS and back carries this time around. I used to carry DD on my hip in a long-strapped mei tai - not ideal but did the job.

Nice collection you have there, and I'm sure it will grow even bigger :)