Snuggles

So when I was expecting my son, I was already imagining how I would carry him around. I had seen people with a very "hippie" looking contraption and I really loved the way it looked, and the fact that the babe was carried so close to mum/dad.

I managed to track this down and it was a godsend! When my grandfather passed away, at the glorious age of 92, I had to travel from South Africa to Ireland for the funeral. There was never any question of whether I would go or not, and I had no choice but to take my 4 month old baby with me. Flying to Ireland also involves a change-over at London Heathrow and I was going to be doing this on my own.

I remember sitting on the plane and thinking "What on earth am i doing?!" while I pondered how I would cope with making bottles during a 12 hour flight, with no help from anyone. It turned out my son was a complete angel and I was complimented a number of times on how "well behaved" he was (um... yeah... because a crying baby is misbehaving!).

Anyway, the baby wrap that I used was brilliant because it allowed me to be able to collect luggage, wrestle my passport out of my bag and even fill in a form at one point, while keeping my son perfectly happy.

On the way home I stayed with my sister in London for a week and we did some traveling while my son happily slept in the wrap!

On days when he really struggled to sleep, it was also a great way to settle him. I'd stick him in the wrap and walk into the back garden and before I'd reached the other end of the garden he'd be out cold. Magic!

So now I recommend this handy (oft "life saving") device to anyone I know who is having a baby. I also mention that I have back problems (from being thrown from a horse) and this is one thing that was comfortable to use do to the way the weight is distributed. You can continue to use it until the child is quite old as there are different methods of using it that allow you to use it as extra support for carrying a toddler on your hip.

My one is a Yazo Wrap

but you also get one's from overseas called:

Moby Stretchy Wrap

Alternatively I know of another cool way to snuggle your baby called The African Baby Carrier which I might try next time around (i didn't know about when I was having my son). It also looks like a good one for people who might struggle with back problems (depending on what those problems are obviously).