Babywearing Mama Profile – Shannon

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.

When did you start wearing your baby/young child? My husband was actually the first one to wear our baby in the Moby when he was just a day or two old. While I was in bed recovering from the birth and resting, he put him in the carrier and was able to cook dinner. It was a lifesaver!

What is your favorite carrier? My favorite carrier is the Ergo. It has been the most versatile of our three carriers, and we’ve been able to use it the longest. The way it distributes weight and has nice padded shoulder straps is great too.

What is your favorite carry? Currently our favorite carry is on the back with the Ergo. When E was younger, he loved to be in the forward facing kangaroo carry in the ring sling, so he could look out at the world.

How did you first learn about Babywearing and what were your initial impressions of it? The first I heard of babywearing was in the Hippie Housewife’s series on attachment parenting when I was pregnant. I had some friends who used carriers before that point, but I had never thought of it as a greater philosophy of attachment and peaceful parenting before reading that article. That idea really resonated with me as I already knew I would be the type of affectionate parent who would never want to put my baby down before I ever heard of AP. Little did I know at the time that I would have a baby that would never ever want to be put down either.

How many carriers do you own and what are they? We have a very simple ring sling that I used for the first two months. I love how quick it is to take baby in and out, and it was easy to wash in the explosive newborn period. We used the Moby for the first four months until Baby was about 20 pounds. I would often just leave it on all day and put E in and out as needed. We graduated to the Ergo when he was about four months old as we needed something that could resist his wild back diving.

Do you have a favorite babywearing story/scenario? I credit babywearing with keeping me fit. Life is busy as a new mom. Even when there’s no time or energy in my day for a formal workout, babywearing is an integral part. Carrying a 25 pound baby while being on your feet all day can really add up to a lot of calories burned.

What is the strangest or funniest thing you’ve done while wearing your baby? I’m sure a lot of moms will relate to using the restroom while wearing their baby. Please tell me I’m not the only one! When you have a baby peacefully asleep in their carrier there is no way you want to wake them up. But when you’ve gotta go…

What is your favorite thing about wearing your baby? My favorite thing about babywearing is the peace that it brings to my relationship with my son. If not for putting him in a carrier, he would have been left to fuss and cry a lot because sometimes you simply must get things done. As much as I’d love to focus 100 percent of my time on him, we have to eat and have clean clothes. For me, hearing a lot of fussing can start to cause detachment from him, as I just have to steel myself against it and keep going with my task. Instead, I’ve been able to keep our relationship close physically and emotionally through babywearing. We are both much happier this way.

Anything else you’d like to say about babywearing? Babywearing has absolutely been essential to my life as a parent so far. Even now with Baby at 13 months old and 27 pounds, babywearing is a happy part of our daily routine. I have no idea how previous generations of American mothers survived without it!

Shannon is an architect turned work at home mom learning to live simply as she grows her family. She is passionate about green living, natural birth, knitting, cloth diapering, and of course her own lovely little family. She blogs about it all at GrowingSlower. Find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Google and sometimes Twitter.