It has been an exciting, busy, rewarding, and sad week... Sad because Elle had her shots this week. Exciting because we found out that we will move to Rio de Janeiro in April 2017. And busy and rewarding because we have 10 nieces and nephews (ages 7-18) and 4 adults visiting. A picture of the whole crew is below. Unfortunately, my fourteen year old nephew is blocking Elle from view who is snuggled up on her Dad's chest in our 5th (and best) baby carrier -- the Beco Gemini.
I have blogged about baby carriers a lot but just wanted to summarize quickly some conclusions. In order of best to worst (in my opinion):
Beco Gemini
Pros
- comfortable (for both me and Elle)
- can easily nurse while wearing
- Elle feels safe and secure
- When Elle is older, she can ride facing outward -- the primary reason that I purchased this carrier. Elle can't face outward for any of the other carriers so that is a major con that I won't repeat below.
Cons
- bulky (like any soft carrier)
- hard to get used to putting on (have to cross straps and buckles have a safety feature)
The Beco Gemini seems to be much more comfy for Elle. For me, it is super comfortable. I am also a huge fan of being able to easily nurse from both sides.
Ring Sling
Pros
- super low profile - easily fits into diaper purse
- can wear in the water (because I have a mesh one)
- can nurse on one side
Cons
- Elle doesn't seem as comfy
- I don't always feel that Elle is as secure
- there is a learning curve to knowing how to use it.
I love the simplicity of the ring sling but using it well isn't simple. I also hate that I can only nurse on one side at a time and need to change the sling around if I want to nurse on the other side.
Baby Bjorn
Pros
- Easiest carrier to just put on and go
- Elle seems safe and secure
- Elle seems pretty comfortable
Cons
- Can't nurse while wearing it
- Becomes uncomfortable for me
- And as stated above, she can't face outward after she has better head control.
Wilson likes this one the best for giving Elle her nighttime bottle and hanging out for the hour until she is really, truly asleep. This is his fav.
Boba
Pros
- Snuggly
- Can nurse both sides
Cons
- Learning curve
- Pain to tie/wrap 6 feet or more of fabric
- Gets hot for both of us fast and so it is not good if you have a summertime baby
Ergo (3 carry-position-- not the 360 so no face-forward position)
- have to use an infant insert until Elle has head control
- Elle hated the infant insert so I have never had her in there long enough to learn any pros..
I am so glad that I have the baby carrier options because it is difficult to host, or even be a contributing player when you have 16 people (my sisters, their husbands, their 9 children, my brother's child, us) and a 2 month old baby. Only 7 people (including us) are at our house and then the other 10 are in rented condos within walking distance. But still we eat breakfast and dinner at our house and go on various adventures during the day. To manage that, it has been key to have the baby carriers. Elle has also had a lot of fun playing and hearing all her older cousins. It will be very lonely when we have to say goodbye.
The other great thing about having the family here is that my two sisters (very experienced and fabulous moms) could help us through the shot experience. Yuck! It is pretty terrible to watch a needle almost as long as your daughter's thigh be stuck into her thigh. Elle was understandably very upset after her 2 needle pricks (we opted for a combo vaccine to cut down on needle pricks). She screamed very loudly and after calming down while nursing, let out a displeased grunt to signal how she was still very unhappy about being hurt like that.
The bummer about vaccinations is that the discomfort is not over with the needle pricks. Many babies feel ill and run a fever after the shots. Elle was no exception. 5 hours after the shots, she became implacable and luckily my sisters were there to help me give Elle Calpol (the Bahamian/British version of tylenol). She seemed better very quickly and was ok for the rest of the afternoon/evening until around 7 hours later. We gave her Calpol again and she slept from 10:30 pm -5:20 am with only one brief wake up at 3 am for a pacifier soothing.
Speaking of pacifiers, Elle has started grabbing her pacifier. I am not sure if it is intentional or not but she seems to be holding it in at times or even holding onto it herself. It is neat to see her grip progress from instinctual to grabbing and holding objects herself.
The busy-ness of this week has led to some gaps in my calisthenics routine and exercise in general. I did get to do a 3 mile run along the beach with my 18 year old niece and sister. And to my surprise, I kept up with them. Granted, they were probably taking it easy on me but it was nice to run normally. Other than that run, I haven't done too many others. On calisthenics, I have done my push-ups, pull-up hangs, planks, and squats 5 out of the 7 days. Not terrible-- but I thought that I wouldn't miss any days my first week. Well maybe, this second week, I won't miss any days. We'll see.
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