How Babywearing Saved Our Sanity With A Newborn

If there is one thing that has saved us when our son was a newborn, and continues to save us 10 months later, it is babywearing.

Our son was screaming when he was forced into this world at 41 weeks, and spent most of the first three months of his life repeating that trend. If he wasn’t nursing, he had to be held close or he was crying. We tried everything. He wouldn’t take a pacifier, which I was fine with just because I was worried it would interfere with nursing. He would snuggle close and be so happy, but the second you put him in a baby bouncer or on a play mat, he screamed. Ditto for when trying to put him down for a nap. After just two short weeks, my husband and I were at our wits end with lack of sleep. I know, everyone says, sleep when he sleeps; but when life still moves and when he wants held all the time, it’s a challenge. Nothing was getting done around the house, we were running out of the freezer meals I had stocked up, and we just needed sleep.

Enter: The Moby Wrap. After a recommendation from a friend, I purchased one, still quite skeptical that it would help our situation. After all, we needed sleep, we didn’t want to carry him more!

It arrived, and I was overwhelmed at the site of it: all long, green, stretchy fabric of carrier. Thankfully, I went on YouTube and found quite a few tutorials so I could get the hang of wrapping it before I wrapped the baby in as well. Once I felt confident, in he went. It changed our lives. I didn’t think he would love the tight feeling of it so much, but he did. Every time I put him in it, he instantly fell asleep. He went from never napping to napping every 2-3 hours while wrapped up snug and tight on me. It was bliss. I finally was able to catch up on house work, finally start making more meals, and finally walk around the neighborhood with a sleeping baby securely wrapped on my chest. Then, from napping so well during the day, he started sleeping better and for longer stretches at night! I would actually have to wake HIM up to nurse! By three months, he had grown out of his need for constant holding and snuggling, and would bounce happily alone in his baby bouncer, or not scream during tummy time. But without the Moby, I don’t know if we would have made it to that point.

Now that he is ten months, we have graduated to the Tula. He just passed 15 pounds, and I was finding that the wrap was a little warm for the summer months. Plus, we are now able to be so much more on the go with him, I wanted something I could quickly strap on wherever we went. He still loves being worn, and we don’t have to worry about lugging a heavy stroller wherever we go, that he most likely would not want strapped into anyway. Plus, even my husband likes to wear the Tula! We are counting down the days until he reaches 20 pounds so that we can back carry! I’m so excited Kelly’s Closet now sells Tula’s that I may have to get another so I don’t have to adjust the straps after my husband is finished wearing him.

How has babywearing saved you?

Bio: Stephanie is a working mom to a 10 month old who loves everything about cloth diapers!


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