Back when I was "with child" I was a bit obsessed with researching all the various baby gear, and making sure I only bought stuff that was super practical (and ok, sometimes super pretty). I did pretty well, I think I had only one "mistake buy". So I thought I'd do a series of posts of my favorite baby things. Starting with:
ergobaby carrier.
Lots of mamas raved about this (none more so than Georgia of Gregarious Peach, that woman LOVES her ergo, check it) (my goodness, she's managed to breastfeed in it, and wear two kids at the same time - that's super advanced ergo-wearing!). So before Gus was born I purchased the performance version (apparently less sweaty) in a nice Tim-friendly charcoal.
We first tried it down at the beach when Gus was only a couple of weeks old. Fail.
Because he was little and didn't have head control, he needed to go into the newborn insert thingy which is a bit like a little doona that wraps around them then you pop them in. It felt pretty awkward getting him into it, then into the carrier. And once he was in he wasn't that happy and kept trying to push himself away from me. Plus it looked pretty hot in there!
I thought I'd made a rather expensive mistake, and hid it in the cupboard for a while.
BUT WAIT! A couple of months later when he was being particularly clingy and wouldn't let me hang out the washing without him, I tried again. I think he was about 3 months - his head was a bit wobbly but I put him in without the annoying insert. It was totally easy this time. Magic! He loved it! Kept looking up and there was mama right there! Awesome!
Since then we use it all the time. He loves being close to us, and often falls asleep in it. It's especially useful for the following situations:
- the supermarket - with a pram you can only put about 5 things into the basket underneath. The ergo means I can get a trolley and go crazy!
- travelling by plane - comes into its own once the pram has been loaded, and it frees up your hands for luggage etc. (I saw many an Ergo at the airport)
- going for walks on non-pram-friendly surfaces - the Ergo allowed us to do some of the shorter bushwalks at Wilson's prom
- caving - haha, we even took him down a cave in it (the top right photo)
- when you don't feel like dragging the pram in and out of the car
The downsides would be that the baby can't face forward, but that hasn't bothered him yet. It does hurt my back and shoulders a little bit, but only when I've been wearing it for a while (and you're not meant to wear them for hours on end).
The other good featurers: for older babies you can switch it so you're wearing them on your back, so I think we'll be using it for a while. It also has a handy pocket that I stick my wallet and keys into, and a fold out head-cover rain/sun shade thingy.
So that's my take on it, I hope it's helpful in case you were considering a baby carrier. Anyone else tried an Ergo or other baby carrier?
