The Boba Buddies

“Feeling a child’s weight increase as she falls into a deep slumber, the fabric of the carrier hug your shoulders, a small sweaty head press against the skin of your chest, this is bliss. This is indescribable.” -Unknown

A lot of you who know me know that I'm pretty into a lot of "natural" parenting ideas.  I'm a proponent of natural childbirth (although, due to Joseph's fetal distress and emergency c-section that didn't work out the first time, I hope to get another go at it in the future).  I am a major breastfeeding advocate  I cloth diaper.  I feed Joseph organic food.  The list goes on.  So, it should really come as no surprise that babywearing is my thing, too!

 So, just what is babywearing?  Wikipedia has the following to say about it: "Babywearing is the practice of wearing or carrying a baby in a sling or another form of  carrier.  Babywearing has been practiced for centuries around the world."  Simple put, babywearing is just as it sounds - "wearing" your baby on you while you go about life.  Joseph and I both LOVE babywearing.  He is far more content being "worn" than he ever is in the stroller and, consequently, we don't do a lot of stroller time (although the stroller is useful for super super hot days when I'm just too hot to have him up against me, or when I'm doing something like going to Belk to try on clothes and taking him on and off repeatedly wouldn't be practical).  He is so happy when he can be carried up against mommy.  With Joseph being a "high needs" baby, I'm not sure how we would have survived without babywearing, or how I'd ever get anything done.  I wear him while I do housework, and when I run errands.  I get to keep both hands free for things like cooking, shopping, laundry, or, like yesterday, just perusing through the public library near our house.   Carrying his extra weight around gives me a good workout, too!  The benefits of babywearing go on and on.  It soothes fussy babies.  It is educational as you take them around the world closer to "eye level" where it's easy to talk to them constantly and explain things to them.  It enhances bonding between mother and child.  Children who are worn tend to have better weight gain and a more consistent body temperature.  Keeping the baby so close to mom fosters the breastfeeding relationship throughout infancy, and in the early days of having a newborn makes the crucial "skin to skin" contact easier.

There are tons of different carrier types for babywearing.  When Joseph was little, I started out with two different types - the Moby Wrap and the Baby Bjorn.  The Moby Wrap is great.  It's a very, very long strip of fabric that you tie around your baby and your body.  I love it, because it's so snuggly.  It's supposed to be usable up to 35 pounds, but a lot of mommies have told me they can't make it work with babies over 6 months old.  We're 10 months old, though, and going strong with it.  I tie it really tight so Joseph feels nice and secure.  As to the Bjorn, after having it for a month or so I found out through some friends that the Bjorn and other carriers similar to it really don't have the best design for a baby's body and for their spine alignment (you can read more about that here: http://www.becomingmamas.com/why-you-should-avoid-crotch-dangler-baby-carriers/ ) .  I had no idea!  I immediately ditched the Bjorn and looked for something that would be better for Joseph.  I settled on a Boba, the same carrier that my good friend Jessica has.  They come in a variety of designs, and I went for the cute little "Tweet" design with a colorful birdie on it.  David liked the feel of wearing the Boba so much that we ordered him is own Boba eventually, his in a very manly camo print (if our next child is a girl, I can't wait to see her riding around in "Daddy's camo" lol).  In the Boba, you can wear your child on your front, or, once they get to a certain size, you can wear them on your back.  Joseph, Mr. Snuggly, doesn't like the back carry much right now.  He likes to be on my front where he can easily see me.  Maybe he'll like the back carry when he gets bigger.

My friend Jessica, the one who turned me onto the Boba, is my babywearing buddy.  She shares my passion for a number of natural parenting ideas including babywearing.  Her little guy, James, is about a month younger than Joseph, and every week we walk with the boys in the Bobas.  We call Joseph and James the "Boba buddies."  Often, when we are walking and wearing them, they stare at each other in their Bobas.  It's so cute.  So last week, we finally decided to go walking in my parents neighborhood and have my mom take some pictures of us wearing our two little cuties.  I love the way they turned out!

We started out with the boys on our backs.  Like I said, Joseph doesn't really like this position, but I managed to talk him into it long enough for pictures.  James, on the other hand, does great on the back!

Look at these sweet boys!!!  LOVE THEM!!!

One we flipped them to the front, Joseph was back to his happy place.  :-)

I love babywearing and encouragege all mommies and daddies to check it out!  I feel more bonded to Joseph because of it, and the benefits to mom and baby are endless!!!