When I made it public on Facebook that I was expecting, a friend introduced me to a FB group, So-Cal Babywearers. In Asia, especially Korea, babywearing is very traditional. We have this thing called "Po-dae-gi" which is a large piece of fabric with long ties and you would wear the baby on your back. I am pretty sure my mom did it with me, and I used to see women wearing babies like that when I was living in Korea back in the 90s.
But this was a new kind of babywearing! Well new to me at least. Ring slings? Soft Structured Carrier? Mei-Tais? And they're all so pretty!!
Before Logan was born, I already bought a Baby Bjorn Air (the mesh kind), and a Infantino Mei-Tai, but because he was so tiny it was not ideal to wear him in those. Another friend introduced me to a Moby wrap, which led me to a Boba wrap, which I preferred because of the spandex content.
But in the middle of March, Southern California started getting warm. Like upper 80 degrees warm. I took a 15 minute walk with Logan in my Boba wrap one day and he came back home with heat rash on his cheek. It didn't seem to bother him, but I was sweating like crazy.
Photo by Moments by Frances Photography; at 3rd Anniversary So-Cal Babywearer Playdate; Logan at 3 weeks.
So I looked up what the fiber content of the Boba wrap was, and I think it was 95% cotton 5% spandex. I went to find some fabrics online and found 60% cotton, 35% bamboo, and 5% spandex at Girl Charlee. And made it into this wrap, which was thin and breathable, thanks to the bamboo content. It's too thin to replace Boba wrap completely, and it was getting too stretchy for Logan once he hit 10 lbs at Week 5 but for those 3 weeks I wore him in this wrap every single day. He liked it and slept in it often. And I loved the print so I wore it more like a tshirt haha. I think I'll turn it into his clothes as soon as I can start finding time to sew again.
And then I discovered ring slings. The wrap was fun but it was a lot of fabric (5 yards!) and it wasn't always convenient to throw it on in the parking lot. I wanted something I can put on, put the baby in, and move on. I bought a water ring sling first thinking it was perfect for summer, but learned later that it was not designed for everyday use. Still, I took a Ring sling class at a local baby boutique, Granola Babies, and soon after, scored this lovely Neobulle ring sling at a swap.
It even works when Daddy wears it!
This is what it looks like when you successfully transfer the sleeping baby from the ring sling onto his bed.
All these baby carriers are addicting. I also bought a Beco Gemini and another ring sling by Tula so far. There are so many beautiful colors and prints and materials.. It's hard to stop! And the most addicting part of it is how AWESOME it is to wear your baby. He would be fussy, or even crying, and you try everything to calm him down, until you remember the sling or the carrier. You put him in, and within seconds, he rubs his face against your chest and then falls asleep. It's like MIRACLE. At first my DH was a little skeptical about all these baby carriers I was buying. And then he saw first hand how it worked on Logan through his gas pain when his reflux was so bad during the weeks 3~6. Now whenever I am away in ballet class or something, he sends me pictures of himself wearing the baby, and always, the baby is asleep :D
I cannot thank whoever that first took the old idea of babywearing and turn it into this trendy, beautiful fashionable accessories. And I hope I get to experiment with more carriers in the future!