When you have a child with physical issues that affect their mobility, or a child whose special needs mean they need extra emotional attachment, babywearing can help. No more safety worries for children with mobility issues, you can get things done faster, and the closeness of carrying means emotional needs are met more easily.

The question becomes, what carrier is best suited for babywearing when you’re not wearing a baby?

Most traditional-style baby slings and carriers are designed to carry babies and toddlers. This means they are usually only stress-tested (especially the seams and any rings, buckles, or clips) up to 16-20kg. When carrying an older child, you can expect their weight to be around 20-30kg before it becomes too much.

The best place to start your child carrier search is to look for a style of carrier that wil suit the way you will most often use it. For a child who needs to be carried for long blocks of time, you might want to consider a two-shoulder carrier (like a mei tai or soft structured carrier) and you might also want a padded waist band for extra support. A child who needs to be frequently picked up and put down, but is still quite heavy, might be better suited to a carrier that supports hip carrying positions, such as a ring sling or a specialised soft strucutred hip carrier.

You may also need to consider the sitting position your child prefers. A child in a brace or with low muscle tone may be more comfortable in a specific position when being held, so it’s best to find a carrier that naturally supports that position comfortably for wearer and child, rather than compromising what is most comfortable for the child.

No matter what style of carrier you choose, you’ll be looking for sturdy fabrics. Rather than a mesh or thin cotton sling, you’ll want a thicker cotton or hemp woven fabric, or multiple layers in a mei tai or soft structured carrier. Forget about anything stretchy - some “give” in a woven fabric helps with a good fit over your shoulders and hips, but stretch jersey will just sag and need constant adjusting with a heavy child. When looking at woven wraps, it is well worth investing in a long wrap with proper diagonal give in the weave, rather than just using cheaper woven fabric bought from a fabric supply shop. A long wrap also means you can get more layers of fabric where you most need support.

Once you’ve narrowed down the styles that might suit, start trying on. Contact a local babywearing group, join the Baby Carriers Downunder sling library program to borrow carriers, or visit a shop with a proper fitting service. You may also need to contact the manufacturer of your preferred carriers to check that the carrier construction is sturdy enough for your purpose. The manufacturer can advise what weight they have stress tested for, and how seams are constructed or buckles have been fastened. The members at your local sling group or shop staff may already have the answers to these questions, but it doesn’t hurt to ask the manufacturer as well in case things have changed in their product’s construction recently.

If you’re thinking about carrying a special needs child beyond the usual toddler walking age, I wish you luck and hope you both enjoy the ride. There is nothing quite as nice as being able to meet so many of a child’s needs simply by holding them.

I posted a few weeks ago about our short trip to hospital this month and thought you could all use an update. Firstly, the procedure went well and our results were what we were hoping for. Baby girl is on a specific diet and all her symptoms are clearing up. Turns out, babywearing wasn’t the cure for her insanely high needs, but it did help! (OK, so she’s still very intense, but she’s much better now :))

We had some positive and negative experiences at the hospital while babywearing and this information is probably useful, so here’s our experience: I decided to take a short wrap and a pair of slingrings with me for our day trip. I’m very proficient with short wraps, but I do like to breastfeed hands free in a ring sling, so I thought this would cover me well for back, front, hip and breastfeeding carries.

Actually, instead of my streamlined approach, I wish I’d gone a little overboard and brought another carrier. Since A. needed to go under a general anaesthetic for her procedure, she was fasting for an extended period. A fasting baby smooshed up against lactating breasts isn’t conducive to calm behaviour! My intention here was to ruck (under bum or tie in front), but unfortunately, this isn’t the best back carry for a vigorously protesting child (read: tantrum). Short wraps do have some pretty wiggle-proof options like the strap carry and the short cross carry, however the former isn’t great for snuggling and sleeping, while the latter isn’t so quick to tie on a resistant child. What I really wanted was a wrap long enough to SHBC (or a mei tai!). In the end, I had to make do with front and hip carries to avoid a babywearing accident in a back carry and that wasn’t conducive to settling her quickly.

I also found that my no-sew ring sling idea wasn’t the best option under the circumstances. I spent a great deal of time popping my wearee in and out and these kinds of ring slings have a tendency to twist easily. They’re fine once you’ve got them settled, but take longer than a standard ring sling.

Once I got it settled, I found a ring sling (albeit a no-sew variety) was great for settling a child coming out of her anaesthetic. Wrapped up by the nursing staff like a baby burrito, she was popped into a cradle carry and the requisite monitor was easily accomodated. She slept off the drugs, woke up and demanded milk. After that, she woke up some more and demanded food. From that point, it was obvious she was back to her old self in record time.

Although babywearing was ultimately a very positive part of our hospital experience (and well regarded by the staff), I would do things differently next time. I’d accept from the outset that some carriers do different things better than others and that, even though we were only in hospital for a very short time, it wouldn’t have killed me to have another carrier on the day. Or two. Three at the outside

Have you worn your child in hospital? What was your experience? Leave a comment and let us know!

You may have noticed, this blog has been a bit quiet. I’ve dropped the ball on this one, but I know you’ve all forgiven me already. Things have been a little tough around here lately.

My little one is not 100% well. She’s not nearly as ill as some of the BCD babies have been in the past (their stories are here and here), for which I’m very grateful. But we’ve been taking steps to make life better for her.

She’s going to have a (very minor) procedure done in hospital sometime this month. Of course, the first thing I thought was what am I going to wear her in? Because if she’s naked in hospital- meh, it’s not like there’ll be ice on the walls. But there’s no way I’m walking in there without a carrier of some kind, that’d be… not me. I’m perfectly capable of forgetting clothes, nappies, the day of the week. But not a carrier. Ever.

So I’m opening the floor. What would you take to wear a 12-month-old in for a day procedure where she’ll be under general anaesthetic? I’ve had some ideas, but I’d value yours.

(For those of you who are concerned about A., she’s fine her usual self. There’s nothing seriously amiss at this stage, but we’re going to make sure it stays that way Thanks to Lara for a beautiful photo.)

Continuing with our theme of newborn babywearing, one of our most-loved BCD members, Esther, shares her son Noah’s story. Despite planning on wearing Noah right from the start, it was a long time before they had the chance.

In late 2005, when I was pregnant with my fifth child, I knew I wanted some kind of baby carrier for my new baby. I just had no idea how to go about finding one. Baby-Carriers-Downunder didn’t exist yet and I didn’t know about TheBabyWearer back then. I ended up buying a pouch when I was about seven months pregnant in anticipation.

But it would be a while before I could use it.

My baby boy was born at home on 6 May 2006 without complications. Or so we thought. By his fifth day my baby Noah was very sick, so my midwife raced him and me to the nearest hospital. Nobody had any idea what was wrong with him. The doctors ended up putting Noah on a helicopter to a bigger hospital. He spent one day and one night there where it was discovered my newborn had major heart defects. He needed open heart surgery and fast. So he was put on the helicopter again and flown to Starship Hospital in Auckland. He underwent two open heart surgeries in his first month, with more than three weeks on a ventilator in intensive care.

Needless to say it was a scary, difficult time. One of the hardest things for me was that I was barely allowed to hold my little baby and was even told at times not to touch him, as it would stress his little heart out too much. It just broke my heart, all I wanted to do was hold him…

He left the intensive care when he was exactly one month old. We still had a few rough weeks ahead, in and out of hospital with mainly weight problems. But once he was home, I couldn’t wait to start wearing him. It was a bit tricky at first, as he still had some tubes. But it was so good to be able to hold him now! Wearing him also helped making up for all the lost time in hospital and enabled me to attend to my four older children and still hold Noah.

Wearing him also has helped his development. I was told to expect his milestones later in his first year due to all that he’d been through. But Noah never listened to that, was happy to be worn which must have helped him heal faster. He was sitting up at five months, crawling at eight months and walking at thirteen months! All this for a child that had his chestbone cut open twice…

 
I believe that babywearing helped strengthen the bond between my youngest son and me after his difficult start in life. Noah is now nearly three years old and I still wear him at times, when he lets me. He’s a picture of health these days for which I’m eternally grateful.

Thanks to Esther for sharing her amazing story. Do you know any special kids? Have you had a sick child? Have you worn your sick child or was it not possible at the time? Leave a comment and let us know…