When I was pregnant I remember watching a woman at Sheffield train station put her baby on her back with a long length of fabric. I realise now that I must have been staring. I was impressed by her technique but just assumed that I wouldn’t ever carry my baby in this way. I didn’t even give it a second thought, in spite of seeing what a good idea it was.
I’m a new mum to Robin who is now eleven weeks old and I never knew there was such a thing as ‘babywearing’ until after he was born. Like most things with this journey into parenthood, I have picked up knowledge along the way.
Whilst pregnant, I liked the idea of carrying my baby in a sling and had read that it might be useful to have one as well as a buggy or pram. I bought a
Caboo Close carrier (a hybrid
stretchy carrier) from ebay for a bargain £25. I’m not sure what made me choose this one over one of the mass produced type slings but I read some good reviews and thought I’d go with this one. My husband and I spent hours practising with a doll but we never got around to actually using it until Robin was about two weeks old.
Whilst going through the images taken during the photoshoot Sheffield Babywearers organised as part of their celebrations for International Babywearing Week, I find myself contemplating this year's theme: Carrying on Traditions.
It strikes me, as I sit here perusing the gallery of images, trying to decide which images I like the best (there isn’t just one, there are many) that babywearing is hugely diverse - as diverse as the babies we carry. On the day babies, toddlers and preschoolers were carried in ringslings, mei tais, pods, buckles, and wraps; on their mums' fronts, hips and backs. In fact, a few preschoolers even did some carrying of their own - an oversized Tigger in a shorty wrap for an impromptu back carry, and a more appropriately sized scarf to carry a doll.
So I then find myself pondering the question: how can such diversity link all babywearers? And it struck me, babywearing traditions are not just about returning to traditional ways of carrying.