I don’t even know why I’m posting this heartbreaking photo of two homeless children, I just came across it on Flickr and I cried my eyes out. Maybe because I have two little boys who could easily be these two if circumstances were different.
Please, remember those who are less fortunate than you and yours in these troubled economic times. Women and children are especially vulnerable.
How to Volunteer at a Local Homeless Shelter
Helena asked:
What do I do if the Beco hurts under my arms and my neck?
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Hi Helena,
Very difficult to say without seeing you in person, but you can try the following…this is what I check when I do fittings in person:
1) Loosen your shoulder straps, they could be too tight and are cutting into your underarm.
2) Tighten the straps that adjust the baby’s distance from your body (these have the two-handed buckles with the button on them), to bring your baby in closer. The closer your baby is to you, the less work your body has to do. If you feel that you need to lean forward or backward, then adjust these straps to bring your baby in closer.
Every single Butterfly wearer that I have fit has the two-handed buckle straps tightened up either *all the way*, or at most about an inch and half long. With my 18month-old, I wear those straps loosened up about an inch and a half. Even then, I could probably wear them tighter for comfort, but I like to slip him into the insert without unbuckling anything when I put him in, and it makes that process easier if they are a little bit looser.
Also, see #5 below. Until your core muscles adapt to babywearing, you might feel a bit wobbly. Luckily, they adapt quickly.
3) Is the chest strap right at the base of your neck (in front carry), or at your collarbone (in back carry)? If not, slide it up or down to be in the right place. Armpit rubbing can sometimes be relieved by wearing the chest strap *lower* than this, so experiment with positioning and see if that helps.
4) Are the shoulder straps resting just inside your shoulder cap? They should not be resting on your shoulder joint, nor too close to your neck, but right in between. If they are slipping out too far onto your shoulder cap, tighten up your chest strap.
5) If you are wearing your baby for the first time, and your baby is older, then your body will need to adjust to babywearing. Keep your babywearing sessions short until your back and shoulder muscles strengthen. Make sure your posture is good, and go for a walk with your baby instead of standing in one place.
6) Front carry is less comfortable than back carry. Humans are built to carry weight on their backs, not on their front. The Butterfly allows you to put even fairly small babies on your back easily, so if front carry doesn’t feel good, then give back carrying a try. I personally GREATLY prefer back carrying, except with very small babies. I don’t like having my shoulders pulled forward, and I don’t like not being able to see my feet. I had my second baby on my back at 2.5 months and it was great! Much easier on the back, neck and shoulders overall. Pulls your shoulder back so you can stand up straight and tall with good posture.
However, see #5…when you switch from front carry to back carry you use an entirely different set of muscles, so there might be a new period of adjustment for you as your core muscles strengthen and adapt. I’ve been babywearing for years, and it still happened to me when I went from primarily front-carrying to primarily back-carrying my babies. Adjustment should not take longer than 3-4 days at most though.
7) If you have tried all the above and still experience discomfort, then hey, it just might not be the carrier for you. All bodies are unique, and no one carrier fits everyone equally well. Also, I have found that later releases of the Butterfly feel much better than earlier ones, the shoulder straps seem to fit much better to the shoulders and the straps are also longer and therefore more adjustable. Allison is a recent print though, so that might not apply to you.
Hope that helps! I will put up videos on this topic soon, I promise…
Warmly,
Laura Hamilton
The Portable Baby
http://www.theportablebaby.com
Take your baby around the corner, or around the world!
I saw this lovely graphic on a T-shirt worn by a 7-8 year old girl the other day. A pink, sparkly T-shirt. Then I threw up in my mouth.
Can I just say…what kind of kid wears this? What kind of parent buys it? And don’t you feel sorry for poor ol’ Dad when he sees his kid with this broadcast on her T-shirt for the whole world to see? In general…WTF?
I was looking around online for a similar T-shirt so that I could post up an image here, and I did NOT, in fact, find a T-shirt. At least not for a girl. But I did find a T-shirt with this graphic on it…for a DOG. I don’t know if that’s more or less disturbing. Thinking about it makes my brain hurt. On the one hand, it’s a dog. On the other hand…who ascribes that kind of utter shallowness to their pet? Bizarre.
But wait, because the graphic above?….people, it’s a CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENT. Yes, that’s right. Because nothing expresses the family values of Christmas better than selfish greed, right? Especially from kids. Season of giving, as long as you’re giving to ME, Daddy. That’s so cute and adorably funny, let’s put it on our Christmas tree this year.
Ewwwwwww.
Alisha asked:
How can I be sure that putting a baby in a carrier is safe? I was told by someone once that you should always use slings for babies, because their legs aren’t supposed to be spread apart.
It is actually very therapeutic to have your baby sit with knees up and legs spread. You never want to *force* the legs apart of course, and a newborn will want to stay in a fetal position for a while after birth, but very quickly babies are fine sitting with legs spread. This position is the same one used to treat hip dysplasia in young children, and promotes correct development and alignment of the baby’s hip sockets by deepening and strengthening them.
Check out this page on hip dysplasia and scroll down to see illustrations of a baby undergoing therapy. Treatment involves wearing a harness or even a cast
that holds them in the exact position as the standard sitting position of the Beco, Pikkolo and Patapum!
On the other hand, if you look at a child in a Baby Bjorn or similar carrier (especially in facing-out position), you will see that he/she is actually suspended by a strip of fabric across the crotch, with legs dangling straight down and back slightly arched. This is a position that places excessive stress on the base of the baby’s spine and the crotch, and can possibly cause a painful condition known as spondylolisthesis. Not therapeutic at all.
Imagine being suspended in a parachute harness for more than 20 minutes, just dangling there with your legs hanging down, and you can imagine that you might want to pull your legs up and sit to get some relief.
The key is to have your baby always sitting with knees at approximately the same level as their seat. That’s the general rule for proper ergonomic seating of your baby in a carrier.
If you’re still unconvinced, check out any baby over six months being held on his mama’s hip. Those legs are spread WIDE around the hip. Babies are built for that.
Slings that hold your baby’s legs tightly together are not OK, except for maybe the newest of newborns. When you force a baby’s legs together, it torques the tops of the thighbones outwards at the hip socket, and makes a hip dislocation or dysplasia more likely.
For this reason you should also avoid swaddling your baby’s legs tightly together. Swaddle the arms and upper body tightly (within reason, of course), while leaving the legs only loosely swaddled.
Some of you might remember that the Pikkolo Baby Carrier offers a facing-out position. So what gives? Is this as bad as a Bjorn?
Well, the Pikkolo is still wide enough at the base (even when cinched to its narrowest point) to support the baby’s bottom and upper thighs. The baby doesn’t hang by the crotch with legs hanging straight down, there is actually a bit of a seated position.
Facing out is definitely not the best carrier position ergonomically for either you or your baby, but it’s not too bad if you have a relatively wide base with some support for your baby’s bottom and upper thighs.
*Your* back will still be griping though, due to the baby’s heavy head, legs and arms all extending out away from your center of gravity, which forces you to lean backwards to compensate.
Probably more than you wanted to know, but I like detail! 
Here’s something every infant girl age 0-6 months needs…trashy leopard-print high heeled crib shoes. Heelarious, right?
Call me a mom of Two Boys with no daughterly experience, but seriously…this creeps me out big time. If you are that eager to sex your baby girl up and put her in high heels (even fake ones) before she’s even 6 months old…yikes.
I love lipstick and eyeliner, heels, lingerie, jewelry…all kinds of feminine accoutrements…but hello, I’m an adult woman. Not an infant. Yuck. S-k-e-t-c-h-y message to be sending to, well…pretty much anyone! Better be careful what you fish for, you just might catch it. Ew.
Is this the precursor to the pole dancing kit?
