Adventures in Babywearing

We've always loved the convenience of babywearing. We started wearing Sebby a few days after birth because he fell asleep so easily in there and the carrier was far easier to bring with us than our big, shiny stroller. 

Sebby in the Beco at home (2 mths).

 

We wore him around the house, on walks, in the mall, to weddings and especially when we traveled.

Tucked in warm on a chilly, rainy day in Iceland (7 mths).

Our first day trip after moving to Scotland, a tour of Stirling Castle (8 mths).

 Edinburgh (10 mths).

Spain (11 mths).

We traveled a lot during Sebby's first year of life and loved our first carrier (a Beco Gemeni)

 because it was super easy to put on and comfy to wear. It was really convenient because  Sebby could go anywhere we went. 

As he got older and more adventuresome, he wasn't content in the carrier for such long stretches, though. On our Christmas vacation trip to Berlin, Prague, Vienna & Bratislava, he still spent the majority of his day in the carrier but Daddy gave some shoulder rides too

Berlin walking tour (12 mths).

In January we bought our second carrier because we noticed that Sebby was getting too big for our Beco and wearing him was starting to feel uncomfortable. We got a toddler carrier that was a similar design to our old one (a Boba 3G), simple to use and really comfortable to wear...until I got pregnant. 

Being pregnant, I feel really uncomfortable with anything tight around my stomach so the straps of the carrier that buckled around my waist weren't an option anymore. We started researching alternative carriers and I was able to borrow a woven wrap from a babywearing group in Glasgow.

 We loved the versatility of the woven wrap but we found that with a very wiggly toddler it was difficult and time consuming to put on.

Trying out the woven wrap in Italy. The Leaning Tower of Pisa (16 mths).

 We returned the woven wrap and continued looking for other options. I heard about Pod  carriers from another pregnant mom and although they aren't super popular, I was able to find one to try out at the babywearing meet in Glasgow.

As soon as I tried it, I knew it was the perfect option for us! A Pod or Podegi is a Korean style baby carrier that worked for us because it was like a combination of our favourite features of a buckle style carrier and a woven wrap...it didn't have to tie around the waist and was easy to put on quickly because it has a structure to it.

I started looking to purchase a custom one ASAP and found a Canadian woman on Etsy who made great custom carriers at excellent prices and said the carrier would be en route to the UK within a week after my order. I was so excited!

The Pod has been perfect for us because I find it easy to use and pack since he often wants to walk, I can easily tuck it in my bag.

During our time in the Baltics (Riga, Latvia and Tallinn, Estonia) this summer, Sebby loved wearing his little dinosaur backpack so he could be on the ground exploring.

Daddy & Sebby exploring Riga while wearing their backpacks.

 Sometimes he wanted to take a little "too much time" exploring, though!

Enjoying the sights and sounds as he rode on Momma's back in the Pod.

 And when he got sleepy so he took cozy naps on Momma or Daddy.

Sleeping in Riga (19 mths).

Our time in the South of France challenged our commitment to babywearing and the summer heat won out! It was in the mid 30's Celsius every day. We survived our first of two weeks carrying Sebby but we were both a bit miserable with him on my back. He kept waking up from his naps because he was too hot to sleep and I felt like I was operating in slow motion because I was too hot to move any faster.

We took a day trip to Cannes and after some shopping and a little walk around the Old Town, we ended up spending browsing around in various shops to see if we could find a cheap umbrella stroller.
 

Cooling off in a fountain, pre stroller purchase.

Probably the BEST 40 euros we spent during our trip, the umbrella stroller we got helped us have a much more pleasant second week of vacation! Sometimes the weather is just too hot for babywearing, especially for a pregnant momma who doesn't enjoy hot weather much to begin with!

Enjoying a beautiful & breezy walk to Monaco along the seaside.

Now that we're back to cooler, Scotland, I'm enjoying carrying Sebby on my back again. I love having him up close to talk with while we're walking. He continues to be really observant and is getting even more chatty as his vocab improves. Plus it's great exercise.

We'll definitely hold on to the umbrella stroller and will probably need to start using it more once Little Lungette is born. I'm not sure if my body will be up for tandem babywearing but I do want to give it a try.

And I'm excited to try out our new, secondhand, stretchy wrap (it's a Boba Wrap) with Little Lungette. Only a few more weeks to go!

Comment to share about your adventures in babywearing!