This is the first in a series of posts aimed at helping parents with special needs. Here, we look at babywearing with a shoulder injury.

You’d like to wear your baby or older child, but red-hot pain is holding you back. Depending on the extent of your injury, it may be possible for you to wear your child while supporting the healing of the afflicted area. In this post, I’ll take you through babywearing with an injured shoulder(s). It’s an area of personal experience for me. My right shoulder has had (at various times) bursitis, tendonitis, a thinned distal portion of the rotator cuff, dense calcifcation in the tendons, possible cartilage damage and “changes to the tendonopathy of the region”, whatever that means. I didn’t understand much of the preceding, but my GP summed it up nicely when she looked at the xrays: “this shoulder is stuffed“.

If you have any injury, shoulder or otherwise, it’s important to define exactly what the problem is. I’m going to divide the possible problems into two areas: reduced range of movement and reduced ability to weight-bear. Each of these can occur independently or together, but the consequences for babywearing are quite diffferent.

Reduced Range of Movement

A reduced range of movement can occur for many reasons, but the main consequence for babywearing is difficulty in getting the child into the carrier in the first place. In this case, the simpler the better. In my experience with shoulder injuries, long wraps were disastrous- passing fabric to and fro was very painful and practically impossible. Simpler carries and carriers like short wraps, mei tais or SSCs were easier to get on with less pain. Ring slings and pouches may also be an option if only one shoulder is injured and you can bear weight on the uninjured shoulder.

When wrapping, your strategy depends on what portions of your range of movement are affected. Carries starting with a chestbelt may provide support while you wrap through your available range of movement. Alternatively, back carries tied under the wearees bottom may be impossible.

Lifting a child onto your back may be difficult in itself. It may be worthwhile reviewing other options if your regular method doesn’t work. Superman tossing is my usual method of initiating a back carry, but when lifting my arm above my head was intensely painful, lifting 9kg of baby didn’t seem sensible. The hip scooting method proved to be an acceptable compromise.

Reduced ability to bear weight on the affected shoulder

Let me be very clear: if it’s painful to wear your child, it may be wise not to do so if you want the affected area to heal. However, if wearing is important to you, there may be ways to get around the problem if you are unable to bear weight on the affected area. There are several options:

1. Avoid the area altogether. If you have two injured shoulders, it may be well worth looking into torso carries and carriers, which will eliminate any weight on your shoulder. These include torso carries with long, short wraps and straight-strapped podaegi. If you have a single injured shoulder, you have the additional option of one-shoulder carries in a short wrap, ring sling or pouch and modifying certain wrap carries (such as the BWCC with chestbelt) to avoid the affected shoulder (this was my personal favourite for extended carries. If anyone wants to know how it’s done, hit me up in the comments section!).

2. Reduce the weight on the affected area by distributing it to other parts of your body. Depending on the extent of your injury, you may still choose to bear weight on the affected shoulder(s). Carriers such as SSCs, chunei and mei tais tied tibetan or with straps crossed in front will distribute weight to your hips and across your chest, reducing the weight on your shoulders. Wrap carries with chest belts, tied tibetan or tied at the waist will do the same.

3. Teach your partner to babywear, put your feet up and wait to get better. More seriously, you may need to re-evaluate your babywearing goals. In my case, it became apparent that attempting to tandem wear 20kg+ of children at once was no longer the best option. I bought a better stroller and put babywearing on the needs-only list for awhile. It doesn’t make me a bad person! And, as a result, I’m now able to lift a coffee cup without wincing.  It was one of my better decisions!

Hopefully, this post gave you some ideas for babywearing with a shoulder injury. Look out for our next installment on babywearing with a back injury.

Have you continued to babywear with an injury or disability? What were the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them? Leave a comment and let us know!

 Birth doesn’t always go to plan. Sometimes it does go to plan and that plan involves a caesar. This can present its own babywearing challenges and Rae, who’s been there twice, lets us in on her strategies for babywearing after major surgery. 

“I’ll be back in a minute…” so said my husband, as he popped his brand new baby, all of one hour old, into our nice, clean ring sling. It was new and crispy. I was exhausted and sore, and, well , very high on the drugs from the c-section. Those first days in hospital are truly amazing - the desire to keep our babies close is so overwhelming.

But how, post C section?

In those first days after the birth, the best place for Mum and baby is in bed, snuggled up skin to skin, getting to know each other. On our way out of the hospital, I finally got a chance to use that ring sling:

For the first six weeks or so at home, I remember being just SO sore, as my body slowly healed. The best sling for this period is just a simple ring sling. There are several ring slings commonly sold through baby stores, but they are all too structured for my taste - too much padding- they severely limit the comfort possible for Mum and baby. They are designed for a very loose cradle carry, which will sit just above the stitches - way too low for comfort!

A simple, unstructured ring sling can be worn initially in a cradle hold and also in a tummy to tummy hold. Both positions keep the baby well away from the incision site, and allow the Mum to sit down and rest in a chair whilst snuggling the baby - a definite plus in that hectic time of adjustment! Instructions are available to make your own, perhaps from a sarong or some fabric from Spotlight - a wonderful thing to do prior to the birth of your first baby!

Once the scar had started to heal, it was time to get some exercise… and the next sling we found really helpful was a simple mei tai. A soft structured carrier would be equally as good for this stage, as would a wrap - they each have their advantages. I have and love each of these styles of carrier:

• A mei tai is easy on and easy off, placing the straps comfortably for a front carry post c-section is very easy, a great help with muscles that are easily tired out.
• A wrap can be worn in Front Cross Carry, which was incredibly easy and supportive of those weak tummy muscles!
• Finally, a soft structured carrier is simply wonderful - there are some really comfortable ones out there. These two shouldered carriers are characterised by a lovely fit through the waist straps, and the baby being placed close to Mum’s tummy with very supportive, comfortable shoulder straps. The more structured waist, with some padding, can be a nice help to remind you to pull the tummy muscles in.

When our second baby arrived three months ago, after another c-section, I took out that ring sling and got to wear it all over again! Only this time, I was running around after a busy toddler all too soon..

This time, I really found a wrap worn in a Front Cross Carry was invaluable. It was so handy to be able to pop the baby in and out of the wrap for feeding, whilst being able to spend some time with my daughter.

This particular wrap carry is very fast and easy to learn, and provides lovely back support for those weak muscles! I also left it on all day long - so we could drive to the park or shops, then pop the baby back in, get the toddler out of the car - and enjoy some time together. Here we are at about 3 months post c-section.

Thanks to Rae for her insight into babywearing post-caesar. Have you had a caesar? Did you babywear afterwards? What worked for you? What didn’t? Leave a comment and let us know!

OK, I’ll admit I’m an addict. When I was pregnant with my second child, I looked forward to two things: the end of morning sickness and newborn babywearing. I hadn’t worn my eldest child as a neonate- we got our first sling when he was about 4 weeks old, so I was looking forward to the experience.

Our daughter was delivered on Sunday night. By Monday morning I was hungry and it was the first time in about 30 weeks that I didn’t feel like I was going to see breakfast twice. I was thankful to be doing this the second time around. No need to leave my baby in an unfamiliar tupperware container while I went to find food! No need to drag the cart that carries the tupperware container all over the postnatal ward! Just pop the baby in the sling and continue as normal.

And then I dropped cereal on her head.

But it was nice to have a cuddle and even to breastfeed her and be able to tend to my own needs at the same time.

Our baby had a nasty case of reflux. She spent her first six months utterly miserable unless she was carried. Some of our best tips and tricks on that can be found here. She had an intense need to be upright all the time and we found a tummy to tummy position in a ringsling great for those first two weeks.

After that, she got bigger and still wanted to be upright. A short wrap was our next most-used item in the stash. I found the hip cross carry, tied with the cross in front and the newborn tucked into the folds of the cross, froggied,  to be a great, poppable carry. It’s just as quick to tie as a ring sling and was more supportive since some of the weight is distributed to the waist.

Once she was two weeks old, my partner was back to work. It was time for the back carry! More on that in another post…

Have you worn a newborn? What worked for you? What concerns did you have? Leave a comment and let us know. If you are wearing a newborn or intending to, don’t forget babywearing safety!

A ring sling I found in an opp shop was my entré to baby wearing a bunch of years ago. Sure, friends had given me their old front packs, but they made my bulges look bulgier, and they seemed so rigid and unyielding. The ring sling on the other hand seemed simple and ‘natural’. Right from the get go it felt like I was holding my baby in a natural position where she was safe, secure and settled.
All this for just $4!

Over the years though, I have learned more about what makes a really great ring sling. Sure, the one I had was great, but I couldn’t get it tight enough, and it was pretty chunky. It had a lot of padding in the shoulder and the rails, which I’ve learnt is actually more hindrance than help. It doesn’t make you - or your baby! - more comfortable, but actually increases heat because the padding is a polyester fibre-fill material. It also meant there was a limit to how tight I could get the sling, because the padding wouldn’t slide through the rings.

Having my baby looser meant lower, which meant not at my core or centre of balance. I found I often needed to have one steadying hand on the sling, and it wasn’t truly hands free. The adjustability factor was something I just didn’t know anything about - until I did.

Like many areas of life, we often feel we’ve got the right tool for the job - right up until we find a better tool.

If you’ve been wearing your baby but are still hanging on to her with one - or both! - hands, or you’re experiencing pain, or you just can’t adjust your carrier to fit you, don’t despair! There are other options!

A ring sling with a shoulder that is folded specially is often a lot more comfortable, and less cumbersome, than a shoulder stuffed like a pillow. It should sit fairly wide on your shoulder, not against the muscles in your neck. Some people, myself included, like a shoulder that can be worn over the joint, cupping the ball of the shoulder and taking strain off the neck and collarbone area. There’s a variety of different shoulder folds, and they fit different body types in different ways.

A ring sling without padding along the rails can be adjusted for the best possible fit. It means you are not limited in how much fabric you can draw through the rings. It is also an advantage to have what is known as an “open tail”. The tail is the portion of the sling that hangs out from the rings; the “unused” bit! If it is folded and stitched closed, you are not able to tighten or loosen the top and bottom rails independently. This could mean you are unable to pull your baby firmly against you, which affects your centre of gravity.

Another factor to consider is the fabric used to make your ring sling. There’s such a wide variety of fabrics available, and it would be pointless to list them all, but you might like to consider breathability, warmth/coolness, synthetics vs. natural fibres, production sustainability, drape and aesthetics. If you thought the ring sling you found at the opp shop was the only style available, think again!

Seriously, if you are keen to wear your baby or you have been wearing your baby but you’re just not comfortable, don’t stop looking! Join the Baby Carriers Downunder group; our forum is a terrific place to find out how to make your carrier work - or how to find one that will - and meet a jovial and welcoming group of parents who are keen to help. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll find the perfect ring sling for $4, but you will be able to find a ring sling that keeps your baby close to your heart while you work, play, shop and exercise (assuming you exercise by walking and not riding a bike!). You’ll find a ring sling you can use while breastfeeding and doing all of those activities. You’ll find a ring sling to wear to a wedding and do all of those activities. And you’ll find a ring sling that doesn’t accentuated any bumps, lumps and bulges.

(Not having a photo of my original $4 special, here’s a picture of one of my favourite current ring slings!)

Resources if you’re starting out:

• Information on shoulder styles
• Information on positioning
• Sewing a ring sling
• Join us at the Baby Carriers Downunder forums

What’s your favourite ring sling? How did the experience start for you? Was it $4 in an opp shop? A self-sewn sling that changed your life? A gift? Leave a comment, let us know!