Okay, this took way longer than I ever intended it to, but here goes...the long awaited revelation of the must-have baby item!!! It is the common denominator in the following photos:
Considering how much use this thing got during the first few months of Julia's life, I was kind of surprised to discover how few pictures we have of me wearing it. However, I've just gotta say...the MOBY WRAP is the best thing that happened to me (and Julia) in her lifetime (at least, so far)!
In case you're not getting the connection between this and the title of my post, let me fill you in. I love this so much that I decided to get one for my little sister, who just had her fourth baby. When she got it in the mail, her husband took one look and said, "Oh, look. The hippie wrap." I have to confess, myself, that the first few times I wore it to church (yes, I wore it to church all the time) I thought for sure there were people thinking, "Oh, so she's one of those parents." I guess it's true. But just let me fill you in on what a sanity saver this has been!
Julia was a peaceful, contented baby until she was about 3 weeks old. Suddenly my happy, sleepy baby turned into a complete wreck. She screamed almost all the time. In a frenzy, I started trying to figure out what the problem could be. I modified my diet, which seemed to help, but then it didn't help anymore. I tried everything I could think of. She wanted to be held all the time, but it was frustrating because she still fussed, just less than if I didn't hold her. And I still had two other kids to take care of! The only thing that made her happy was putting her in the moby wrap. Once I figured this out, I started wearing her in it almost constantly. I remember one day when she was in it 12 hours straight, except for when she needed to be fed. Sounds awful, right? Actually, it wasn't. I didn't mind much. In fact, there were ways I enjoyed it. Here's why. First of all, it is extraordinarily comfortable. I had a Baby Bjorn carrier with my first two babies, and it was okay, but after wearing it for 30 minutes or more, my back would start to cramp up. The moby wrap, on the other hand, distributes the baby's weight so well that even after wearing it for 12 hours in one day, my back wasn't sore. Tired, yes. Sore, no! Aside from that, there are several different ways to hold the baby. Julia's preferred hold up until now has been the cradle hold. If I had her in the wrap in the cradle hold, she would sleep and sleep and sleep. If she even started to get fussy, she was right there. I didn't have to run into another room to help her. I could just pop her binky right back into her mouth, bounce around a bit, and she was fine. And the wrap holds the baby so securely that I could do almost anything with her in it. I cleaned the house, cooked meals, and even changed Weston's diaper while Julia slept happily. I had also worried, prior to Julia's birth, about how I'd manage grocery shopping with 3 kids in tow...no problem! I'd put on the Moby before heading to the store, and when we got there, slide her into it. I could hold both boys' hands while walking through the parking lots, and there was no baby car seat filling up my grocery cart. If I was having a hard time getting her to sleep at night, I could swaddle her prior to putting her in the wrap. Then once she was asleep, I could slide her out, and since she was already swaddled I could transfer her to her crib without disturbing her. Seriously, the moby wrap saved my sanity. Julia has been a hard baby, but the moby made it so much more manageable! And one unexpected benefit...I've never been the mom who just loves carrying her baby around (that's my sister). But I realized once I had the Moby that this was probably because of all the limitations that come from having the baby monopolize your arms...and all the things I couldn't get done while holding a baby. Once that wasn't an issue, I found that I really, really enjoyed having her close to me so often. It felt surprisingly great! And made for good mother-baby bonding that I hadn't anticipated.
Now that she's bigger, she's outgrowing the cradle hold. But she's growing into other ones. All with this same wrap, you can do a forward facing carry, a rear facing carry, and when the baby gets old enough to sit on your hip, you can even do a wrap that will hold the baby there, leaving your hands free. It is such a lifesaver, especially with the other two kids to keep tabs on!
I have friends who have tried other wraps...the Gypsy Mama and Mei Tai are two I've heard of that people like. I haven't tried them so I can't say for sure what the comparison is, but for anyone who currently has a small baby or anticipates one in the future, I highly recommend checking into baby wraps. There is a bit of a learning curve...learning how to put the wrap on takes some effort at first, and then there's always a period of figuring out what baby and mom like best in terms of holds. But in my opinion, it is well worth it.
One more baby item I have discovered and just have to recommend will probably come as a surprise, but give me a chance to defend it...
CLOTH DIAPERS.
If you're anything like me, just the thought sends shudders down your spine. You envision awkward, leaky cloths wrapped around your baby's bottom, fastened by diaper pins that jab you several times per diaper change. You envision diaper rash. A pail smelling of ammonia and poop sitting in your bathroom. Trips to the toilet with poopy diapers, which you have to rinse in toilet water, holding your nose the entire time. You pity the centuries of deprived folks who raised children prior to the invention of disposable diapers.
Yep, that's what I thought. Occasionally I had a twinge of conscience about the landfills I was contributing to with my tons and tons of diaper waste, but it just wasn't enough to convince me that cloth diapers were worth the trouble. Until...I had a friend who used cloth diapers. I thought she might be crazy, but I asked her about it anyway, and found out that the world of cloth diapering has been revolutionized since our mothers were diapering us. Check this out:
(Grasshopper is just the name of the color, in case you were wondering.)
These babies go on just like disposable diapers. They wick away moisture from the baby's bottom just like disposable diapers. They have nice stretchy elastic around the waist and legs like disposable diapers. They have velcro tabs (no pins!) just like disposable diapers. AND...there is a one size fits all option, where you snap the diaper down in size for a little baby, and open up the snaps as the baby grows. Hard to visualize unless you've seen the diaper, but I know it really is one size fits all because Julia and Weston have worn the same diapers. They really do adjust well as the child grows. If you wash them appropriately, they don't retain any ammonia smell. There are easy tricks to avoid having to slosh them around in the toilet after a poopy diaper...I won't elaborate here, but let me know if you want to know more. Of course they do take a little bit more effort than a disposable, since you have to wash and dry them...but really, I have been shocked at how little effort it really is. And the expense...well, we figured that within about 9 months we will have broken even on the expense, so after that we're saving money...and if we use them on future kids, it's 100% savings there. What's not to love?
I hope this doesn't come across as a sales pitch. This is one of those things that would work well for some, and not at all for others, so it's just one of those things that, now that I've discovered it, I think should be out there for people to consider...so there you go. Now you know.
I just may be a hippie...
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
I Just May Be a Hippie
Posted by Karene at 8:15 PM
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11 comments:
The funny thing about the baby must-haves is that it depends on the baby as well as the mom! I've had a Moby since my first, and usually love it--but my current baby just does not LIKE to be held close to me. That, and the fact that at two months he's already pushing 20 lbs means my various baby carriers are not getting as much use this time around! But I have something I've never had (or thought I wanted) before-- a swing! And that has been my life-saver this time around...this child refuses to sleep, day or night, unless he is swinging back and forth.
I do like the really spiffy modern cloth diapers--but again, they're not getting used this time around. I'm not not on top of the laundry well enough to add that into the mix. I guess I wouldn't rank very high on the granola scale this year!
It's great to see you blogging again. I've missed you!
Woa, way to may exclamation marks in that last comment, I really need to tone it down...
I am afraid the day you become a hippie is the day we may just have to draw the line on our friendship. And that day won't come till we find out you are feeding Cole organic batteries.
So don't worry, you're still hip without the "ie" wearing your Mobie and disposable diapers : )
Hey, where's my shout out?? I was expecting a "thank you to my fabulously wonderful friend who just about saved my life..." HAHAHAHA, just kidding!!
I'm not surprised about the cloth diapers. I've actually considered them because I have a friend who uses them and has blogged about them so much, it was convincing. But when I asked her more about them, she said with her first, she used cloth exclusively. With her second, it became more difficult, but every once in awhile he was in disposable. With her third, she said she just can't make it work when they have to leave the house. She said that deciding it was okay to use disposable when she wasn't home was the best decision she's ever made because it was too hard and stressful otherwise. So I never ended up trying it out because I'm just not home that much.
So here's my question...how do you handle the cloth diapers when you're away from home?
P.S. Damon thinks Moby wraps are hippie too. He'll wear the bjorn, but wouldn't be caught dead in the Moby.
@Paula: That's a good point. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure Cole would have liked being in the Moby. I guess there's no way to know for sure though! It would probably be a good idea to borrow a Moby and try it with your baby before buying one, but if a mom is planning on having more than one more baby I'd say it's worth the risk. I would bet that more babies like it than don't.
I can't believe Mark is already almost 20 pounds!!!! Julia is a big baby, but at her 4 month visit yesterday she was only 16 pounds. Cole and Weston were both still under 20 pounds by 4 months (though Cole was close) so you've got me beat! Impressive!
I didn't notice all the exclamation points until you pointed it out, and even then, I don't think you were too excessive. :)
@K&J: Darn it! I have organic batteries on the menu for tonight. I guess I'll have to think of something else to feed him, for the sake of our friendship. Thank goodness I saw this in time! ;-)
@Amber: I know you were kidding, but I'm not when I say that I meant to give you a shout out! I really did! And now I'm a little mad at myself that I didn't, what an ingrate I am. Well, you at least know how grateful I've been, right? THANK YOU! Not only for the tip on the Moby, either, but for a million other invaluable tips. You are a great source of parental advice!
Your friend has a point with the cloth diapers, though it hasn't been much of an issue yet because we just don't go out that much at this point in our lives. When I have had that issue, what I've done is keep scented diaper baggies in my diaper bag. I wrap the used cloth diaper in the baggie so that it won't stink up my diaper bag, and that has worked pretty well, though she's still got the totally inoffensive breastfed poop at this point. And I do carry disposables rather than cloth in the diaper bag, which is easier if I have to change her while we're out. At that, though, I still only use maybe one disposable per week.
What did your friend think was the most difficult part of using cloth away from home?
Okay, and now I realize I also owe a shout out to Beth for the cloth diapering tip. THANKS BETH!!! :-)
My dad tells me I must make Jersey milk (apparently Jersey cows produce milk that is higher in cream content); in any case, Mark was 18lb3oz at his 2 month check-up--almost double his birth weight. If he keeps up the trend of gaining a pound each week he'll have easily passed 20 lbs by 3 months...
Esther tells me my milk tastes like Ice Cream, which could also explain why I have not yet succeeded in weaning her. Who would want to give up ice cream for a snack several times a day??!!
Man, those are some high aspirations, thinking you might be a hippie, but I have to say, I'm impressed. You just may be a hippie. I'm not, but I think it would be cool if I were.
Thank you so much for the wrap. I LOVE it! Garrett is a fan as well now, too. I don't think I could ever get him to wear it, but he's fine with me putting it on now. Thanks for telling me about this. Kadie loves it as well.
Sorry this took me so long to respond. I just went through all her cloth posts, and she doesn't elaborate too much about why cloth is difficult away from home. But I would guess from her comments it's because if she knows she going to be gone a long time, she doesn't want the poop sitting in the cloth diaper and not getting rinsed out for who knows how long. Because she takes care of those things right away when she's home. She also made some reference to it being similar to plates vs paper plates. Sometimes you just want the ease of being able to throw the gross thing out, instead of having to wash it. And I don't know if she's discoved the scented baggie things or not, so maybe she doesn't have that option. But I think it's mostly because she can't clean it right away, and finds them much more difficult to get completely clean if they're able to sit for a long period of time.
We borrowed a Moby wrap and tried it on Jorryn, but he wasn't overly impressed. Perhaps my kids are spoiled by having a dad who will carry them around all day. I wonder if Jalen would have taken to it. He did hate everything (including being carried), so it's hard to say. Jevan is insisting on being carried around a lot now, so if I was home with him, I may have to try a Moby or something.
Those diapers look pretty cool, but Jevan poops 20 times a day (he may be down to 10-12 now, but still...) and I never get to the laundry as it is! I would have to buy 100 of them! Jonathan usually has the boys out at least once a day, and never takes dirty laundry out of the car, so I would have a car filled with poop! (And, judging by the bottles and laundry left everywhere, a house too, probably!) Also, people tend my kids a lot, and I don't know that I would want them to have to deal with the poo. Still, I do like the look and idea of them.
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