Babywearing Mama Profile – Elizabeth

Each week I’ll be introducing you to a babywearing mama (or papa!) during A Little Bit of All of It’s Babywearing Series. Find out more about this mama at the end of the post. (You can be included in a future post by filling out the Babywearing Profile form.)

When did you start wearing your baby/young child? Started in 2009 when my first son was born. (We Mobywrapped him in the hospital.)

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Elizabeth

What is your favorite carrier? My woven wraps – all of them!

What is your favorite carry? I like a short rebozo carry for snuggles, and a double hammock for sleeping. My older son insists on a double hammock to go to sleep.

How did you first learn about Babywearing and what were your initial impressions of it? I first learned about it as a way of bonding with adopted children. I was immediately on board – it made sense from an emotional and evolutionary standpoint. When I got pregnant, the amount of baby gear we “needed” scared me – I actually cried when confronted with the endless aisles in Babies R Us. Wearing our baby was simpler. I told my mother I was never going to put him down. She rolled her eyes and told me to “Jjst wait.” Now she has been known to wrap up a baby!

How many carriers do you own and what are they? I have waaaaay too many woven wraps in a constantly churning stash! I prefer Ellevill Zaras and Diva Milanos right now, but the wraps that will never leave are both Didymos: the cashmere Nautilus my husband bought me on my first mother’s day, and the primula Indio shorty I used for my second son’s first ride.

Do you have a favorite babywearing story/scenario? I love helping a new mama wear her baby. Often baby is fussing and squawking. And then, all of sudden, the carrier’s adjusted perfectly, and baby just snuzzles right in. Then he immediately falls asleep while his mother sways back and forth – everyone always sways when they wear a new baby – and says, “Oh, NOW this feels great.” And she and her baby are hooked on that perfect synch of swaying and cuddling. And kissing baby heads. I love wearing a baby and kissing his head. I find myself just doing it without thinking.

What is the strangest or funniest thing you’ve done while wearing your baby? I climbed a mountain wearing my older son. I also crawled under a pipe and down a narrow gangplank to see a heron rookery in Richmond,VA.

What is your favorite thing about wearing your baby? Definitely kissing their heads. And that moment when they fall asleep on your back, and go perfectly, snoringly limp.

Anything else you’d like to add about babywearing? I think it helped keep me from postpartum depression – I had high risk factors for it, and the sheer amount of touch Babywearing fostered was really a protective factor. We focus a lot on the benefits of Babywearing for children, but it really helps mamas, as well – and not just so she can clean up a little while baby naps.

Elizabeth has an MFA in fiction, a two and a half year old, a baby, and the best husband in the whole wide world (seriously, he cooks and wraps the kids while looking hot and drawing silly pictures of the dogs). They love their Catholic, hippie life in South Carolina, where it is too hot to breathe all summer, but believes in sweet tea to go, pimento cheese, and divine pulled pork barbecue.

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