I am a Stay-At-Home-Mom to two beautiful children. My husband Jeff is a therapist and we have been together for 11 years. Our daughter is 6 and our son is 2 &1/2. When our daughter was a baby I wanted to try babywearing, but I honestly didn't know much about it. I didn't even know the term "babywearing" at the time. All that I had was a structured baby carrier that I bought at the store, a high needs baby that needed to be carried (And let's be honest... what baby doesn't?), a tiny bit of knowledge about the benefits of "high touch" care, and a desire to be close to my baby. The problem was that the carrier I had was SO uncomfortable! I couldn't wear it for very long and I felt like I still couldn't get anything done because she didn't feel secure in it. I couldn't bend over without her falling out and (being 5'1" with short arms) I couldn't reach anything in front of me anyway. I wanted so badly to put her on my back, but I couldn't find a single carrier on the market that allowed me to do that by myself. I searched and searched online, but was not looking in the right places and eventually gave up. It wasn't until she was over 18 months old that I discovered the Mei Tai (also known as an Asian Baby Carrier or ABC). I did a bit of research and finally decided to fork out the $90 to buy one. We did get to use it a little and it was really comfortable, but by that time she was older and didn't want to be carried very much anymore.
By the time our son was born I had learned a lot more about babywearing. I had the Mei Tai, which I probably would have stuck with except that he didn't seem to like it very much when he was a newborn. I was looking for different ways to carry a newborn in an ABC when I discovered wraps. I had no idea that you could tie your baby to yourself using just a long piece of fabric! Perhaps even more surprising to me was all the different positions that you could wear your baby with a wrap. I really wanted to try it, but most certainly couldn't afford to drop another hundred bucks on a new carrier that I wasn't even sure that I (or my son) would like! So, I searched some more and found out how to make one myself. My son took to it immediately. He loved the snug feeling of the wrap much better than the ABC and I couldn't believe how secure he was in it. It was only then that I truly understood the term "Hands-Free". Since then I wear him at least once at some point during the day (or night) and NEVER leave home without one.
It was never my intention to sell them. However, I never went anywhere without at least one person asking me about it. At first I started directing people to some of the websites that showed you where to buy one (or how to make your own) and how to learn the different carries. I kept warning people that to buy one is very expensive, but that they are worth every penny. I still believe that. The really expensive wraps and ABCs that you can buy online ARE worth every penny. They are usually made of very high quality material (which is why they cost so much) and will last a very long time. But my purpose is not to outsell these companies or to make a "better" product. My main goal is to promote babywearing the only way I can: by providing a product to parents in my community that works and is affordable for the average parents. I believe that more parents would give babywearing a try if they had access to a comfortable carrier that they didn't have to spend a lot of money to buy. I also believe that more parents would continue to practice babywearing if the carrier they had was actually comfortable to use. I know that I personally wish that I had known then what I know now when our daughter was an infant. With such a high-needs baby, all of our lives would have been a lot easier if I had worn her. But hey, you do the best you can with what you have/know at any given time. :-)
Babywearing has all but disappeared in our culture. Very few of us grew up seeing our mothers, aunts, grandmothers and the other women in our lives wearing babies. That fact makes it difficult at best and nearly impossible at worst for us to do it ourselves. For one, most of us don't even know what babywearing is. And even if we do know what it is, we don't know how to do it. It is a tricky thing to figure out all on your own.
The basic Pocket Wrap Cross Carry with a stretchy wrap (see instructions page for a video) is very quick and easy to learn. Back carries, on the other hand, take a little more practice. I spent many months when my son was younger watching videos over and over online and practicing again and again (over the bed for safety) trying to learn how to do back carries. Keep in mind that I had no one to show me in person. I am still learning, but I am much better at it now than I was at first. I put my son on my back nearly every day now. Sometimes a few times a day. I am no longer afraid of dropping him because it is now second nature. I am happy to share any knowledge that I have gained on my own babywearing journey with anyone that is interested. Maybe, as a result, by the time my daughter has her own baby someday, her journey will be a little easier.
