Small 3 month baby

[teenytinybubba]

I work in a private day nursery, and there is a baby boy due to start in the next couple of weeks, he is 3 months but as he was premature he is very small, the size of a newborn infact and a small newborn at that.

We want to protect him from all the other babies, as he is the smallest by far so we plan to erect a travel cot in the room to put him in, as well as using a sling, but we have never used a sling before, so i thought i would ask you kind mn what is the best sling, if any to use for a small newborn sized baby?

My prem son loved the babasling that I had, but any fabric sling should be fine - prem babies often like to be held upright not in the traditional cradled in arms position - watch out for refluxy symptoms as they are really really common in prem babies - lying flat can make them uncomfortable, so maybe a fairly upright bouncy chair might be useful?

We do have bouncy chairs, that we were planning to put him in, and then in the cot, but i thought when they are that young they needed to be lying flat instead of raised, will probably do a mixture of the two.

Sorry - don't mean too upright, like sitting, but tilted up. Cots in Special Care are tilted and we were sent home with the advice of tilting Moses basket or cot.

I actually read too uptight it left me very for a bit there.

Oh ok good, so if we use the bouncy chair on one of the lower settings, not flat but slightly raised!!

How big is the baby? Mine was bone 5lb8 and so can't even go into a baby bjorn at birth. I have a moby wrap for the first month so I can rock her and walk around the house. Are the parents going to provide the sling? These things do cost a fair bit.

He is around 5lb, people have suggest a wrap so i think i will look into that. The nursery will provide the sling the parents have enough to pay what with fees and such, i think it is only fair the nursery provides the sling.

You can pick up stretchy wraps like Moby, Kari-me etc on ebay or at NCT sales much cheaper than new.

They are suitable even for tiny babies. There are lots of videos on youtube of how to use them. An upright carry is safer than a cradle carry, and most babies prefer it anyway. Occasionally you'll see a video suggesting to do a cradle carry up to 3 months old, but there is no reason at all you can't carry a newborn or even premie newborn upright.

You need to tie the wrap tighter than you think....it is stretchy, so you use the stretch to fit the baby in - don't leave a gap. He should be close enough to kiss not dangling down - see guidelines here www.babyslingsafe.com/

OOh thanks pootlebug, i completly forgot about the NCT sales, that would be perfect

oh whoops i had changed my name so not to out myself, and i have just outed myself

My daughter was only 4lb 10oz at full term and as soon as she got to 5lb I started using the Close ring sling - would imagine it would work well as very easy for different people to use (I'm 5ft 2" and my hubbie is 6ft and was easy and quick to adapt). Very easy to just throw in the wash too! Used it until DD was 6mths when I swapped to a Beco Gemini.

... might be worth trying to hire slings from Slumber-roo or similar company to try before the nursery commits to buying.