Thursday, January 6, 2011

A year in the life of babywearing

Audrey recently turned one so I've been doing a bit of reflecting about the past year. She's growing up far too quickly (doesn't everyone say that!) and is being worn less and less. As she's going to be our last child, I thought I'd write a little piece about our babywearing journey over the last year.

In contrast to when Leith was born, I was well practised at wrapping by the time Audrey arrived. So less than 2 hours after her birth, she was snugly wrapped up in my Didymos shorty to come home from hospital.

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The first couple of weeks after her birth she was worn for practically the whole day, only coming out for feeds and nappy changes. It was so lovely to have a snuffly, tiny newborn wrapped against my chest again. This time around I was also a lot more confident about back wrapping, so on day 6 after birth I put Audrey in her first secure high back carry in my silk Indio.

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We flew to the West Coast for Christmas with my family when Audrey was 3 weeks, and wrapping proved to be indispensable during the trip. She could sleep anywhere, and having her asleep in the wrap in the evenings meant I could still spend time with my family.

I was also more confident about breastfeeding in a wrap this time, and fed Audrey in one for the first time walking around Thorndon Fair just after she was born. Since then, I've fed her while pushing Leith on the swings, while walking around the supermarket, while out shopping...basically anywhere, anytime.

Evenings for the first few months were relatively easy - I'd feed Audrey then put her in the wrap and bounce her to sleep on a swiss ball while Stu put Leith to bed. This way we could spend time together in the evenings without worrying about getting her to sleep or her waking up. From about 9 months or so, however, she was harder to settle like this and it's now easier to feed her to sleep in bed.

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With only 19 1/2 months gap between Leith and Audrey, wrapping has been really important for letting me still do things with Leith. In the early months, Audrey would sleep in the wrap while I took Leith to playgroup or music group, or be content to look around while I took Leith to the playground. We didn't have any jealousy issues when she was born and I think a lot of this is down to this. Having her wrapped on me also meant I didn't have to worry about her brother accidentally hurting her or waking her up. Also having her on my back has meant I can pick Leith up if he wants a cuddle.

As she's got bigger, the amount of time she has spent in the wrap each day has steadily decreased. I still wear her once a day or so while out and about places but she hardly ever naps in a wrap these days. She's been walking since 10 1/2 months and when she wants down, she wants down! I've stopped obsessively trawling TheBabyWearer to drool over latest limited edition wraps and have even started thinking about selling part of my stash! That said, whenever she's sick, cranky or teething, I'm very grateful for wrapping. And big girl wrap snuggles are the best. Having seen people still carrying their much older children, I hope we've still got lots of wearing ahead of us!

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7 comments:

  1. Squeee! What a beautiful wrapping journey, and gorgeous pictures too! Audrey truly is a wrap-baby, I can't wait to see photos of her wearing her children when she is older!! ^_^

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  2. That's lovely Emma, I can't wait to carry my baby in a wrap- looking forward to learning lots of wrapping techniques at the babywearing meets and also when I see you in action. Your post just goes to show how invaluable babywearing is, especially if you have a toddler to run around after.

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  3. Thanks! I'll be keeping at least one wrap so that she and Leith can wrap their children (hopefully!). She's already enjoying wearing her mini Moby!

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  4. Yay! Lovely update, beautiful pics and are they William Morris curtains I see in the last pic?

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  5. Thanks for sharing! V inspiring for people like me who still say to people, "no thanks, I don't need or want a pram just now. MAYBE a stroller later on." :)

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  6. What a cool post! I can sooooo relate to so much of this post - being a keen wrapper myself. What gorgeous pictures too :)

    You have the CGW rebozo sorted - I couldn't quite get mine to work for me and had it ring slingified in the end! You may end up seeing it sometime soon - I have lent it to my sister who is expecting no 2 and I have pointed her in your direction for help :)

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  7. Well spotted Hester!

    @Kerry - yes, CGW is still going strong - it probably gets the most use as it's my 'car wrap'. Definitely happy to help your sister (and check out CGW in slingified form!)

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