A stroller might be able to get to the railing overlooking the Grand Canyon, but from there all you get is a view like a postcard.  While we would love to hike through the canyon, my husband and I are saving that for when the kids are older . . . Possibly moved out.  Today we settled for plunging down into the canyon only a short way.  Enough to get a sense of the immenseness and a taste of the craggy winding way. Here’s a picture of the trail, complete with icy patches:

So David wrapped 2 year old Annabelle in a front wrap cross carry (our 4.6 meter EllaRoo just makes it around them for this carry) and took our seven year old by the hand to help her navigate the icy trail.  I popped Cassidy (9 months) on my back in a Short Double Hammock Carry with my 3.1 meter Inka Storchenwiege  (video below) and threw the kindercoat over us, leaving my arms and hands free for balance, and photography (whichever seems most urgent at any given time).

Wrapping allowed us to get the experience we wanted, and it allowed all three of our little ones to get an experience they wouldn’t have otherwise (like sleeping through the Grand Canyon).  Because, life is for living, no matter your age, and there are endless possibilities waiting to be experienced in every juicy detail!

So you can use your baby as a pillow when you fall asleep!

The first winner of my photo contest is Melissa.  Thanks for contributing to my project with your example of things you can do in a wrap!  The pendant you chose is on its way to you for your prize.  Anyone else have something to say about the freedom wrapping grants to parents and babies?  Two more winners will be chosen, and I am still accepting submissions!

Details here: http://wrapyourbaby.com/blog/2011/07/where-has-wrapping-taken-you/

When your little one grows enough that he or she is no longer content always nestling against your chest, pulling one of your baby’s shoulders and arms out of the wrap keeps him close while giving him a little more of a view of the world that is beginning to catch his attention.  This age (3 months, in the picture) wonderfully combines the cuddly closeness of babywearing with the burgeoning awaereness and absorption of the world and your activities.  Before you know it, your baby’s sharp eyes will be taking in everything, whether it’s a natural wonder or how to pay for groceries.

Education isn’t just for big kids–it is a constant process for any human being and the younger you are, the faster you’re learning!  It’s no coincidence that my love of wrapping my babies progressed to a discovery of the unschooling philosophy!

Keeping your baby close in your wrap means that your baby is learning from your every move–whether his muscles are learning balance from your muscles, or he is taking in the delicacy of human interaction.  When you see an old friend, how does your breath, heartbeat, and body language change?  How does your voice sound, and what expressions do you make?  How about when you interact with a panhandler in the parking lot.  Baby notices the differences and is learning all the time, effortless for both of you.

How cool is that?

So, when wearing your baby out on hikes or other outdoor adventures this summer, I think my family photos can provide an easy to remember babywearing endorsement:

Wrapping makes it easy to hike and nurse!

See what can happen if you don’t bring a wrap?

Gently Rocking Diana's Belly

At our Mom’s Circle, my friend Evelyn has taken the rebozo to my pregnant belly a couple of times.  SO RELAXING!  I’m looking forward to having this tool ready during labor, when my husband can use our rebozo to help me relax my body and allow the baby to do what he or she needs to do to come out.

More information from SpinningBabies: http://www.spinningbabies.com/techniques/activities-for-fetal-positioning/rebozo-sifting

This one was super nice too–made me feel real loose, just like I want to be in labor.  It was a fast rigorous wiggling of, well, my bottom!

The Wiggling of the Bottom

I remember reading in Spiritual Midwifery about squeezing the hips at a certain point in the birth to open things up, and I bet a rebozo could be used toward that end similarly to how its demonstrated in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QyQGBwFWMM

Just make sure you know what you’re doing, because as I recall from the book (and no one’s quoting me on this, right?), the squeeze is like squeezing a clothespin–it closes the bones at one end and opens them at the other.  You want to make sure you’re opening up the right end at the right time.  No need to make baby’s passage any tighter than it needs to be!

I tend to feel a lot of lower back ache during labor, though, so I may have to remember to try it for that, as they’re talking about in the video.

I’ve not used a rebozo in labor yet, but I’m hoping to get the opportunity this month!  I’ll be sure to let you know!  In the meantime, does anyone else have rebozo-in-labor stories or information to share?

But I also thought of the influence each of us makes just by stepping out our doors with a comfortable, safe baby carrier.  The people who see you may have never heard of such a revolutionary device.  You are changing minds about how convenient babies are!  You are giving parents ideas of how they can make parenting less stressful, or maybe even leave the house more often.  You are normalizing incorporating a baby into your actual life.

This goes against either end of the parenting extremes:

1. Becoming a parent means giving up your life and you’ll never be able to do anything fun.
2. With today’s conveniences, becoming a parent doesn’t have to change your life at all.

Instead, we babywearers are casually depicting a third option.  We are demonstrating, without preaching, the joy of keeping your baby close, coupled with the convenience of going out for work and fun.  Our babies are getting all the nurture they need, from the people they need most, and also being exposed to the world they are growing up to be part of.

Just think, babywearing is a way you have found to improve the quality of life of your baby and yourself; and is also showing others around you how they too can have an easier time of it, and we may even be orchestrating a large-scale cultural shift in the way society thinks of and treats babies and children.  Imagine if people in line at the airport or restaurant didn’t groan when they saw us coming.  Imagine if they smiled instead, seeing the next generation of amazing, resilient, compassionate, imaginative, humans being raised right in front of them.

And what about our children, and their friends, clever little sponges growing up to wear their babies and change their worlds?

For such worthwhile contributions to individuals, families, and societies, in the action of babywearing and any other mindful examples set by you, I hereby commend each of you and award you with the title Remarkable and Influential Person and encourage you to get an ice cream sunday!

That’s not the confession part.  The confession is that babywearing has gotten to be too much for me.  Don’t get me wrong: it’s always been and still is more comfortable than in-arms carrying.  I still toss Annabelle on my back in a quick rucksack for the walk from the car to the store…where I put her in a shopping cart.  And I still bring the wrap every time we go somewhere in case she insists on getting out of the cart, or on being picked up.  But I try to talk her out of it.

The fact is, I’m in a frail zone that was never a part of my previous pregnancies.  I attribute this weakness to the fact that my pregnancies were close together (Annabelle was 7 months when the new baby was conceived) coupled with the fact that I am still nursing.  Oh yeah, and chasing after a very adventurous one year old (day AND night).

I’m working on getting my strength back with extra attention to nutrition, supplementation, and rest.  I think I’ve just hit the point where I’m drained, but I’m confident I can be replenished.

And I hope to locate and dust off my video camera in the next month and make some pregnant wrapping videos because I think pregnant babywearing is a beautiful, valuable, comfortable thing for many pregnant mommas, and an option they should know is open to them.

I was embarrassed at first when I agreed to use the rented stroller at the zoo last week but not anymore.  That’s what I’m here to (finally) say: Babywearing is great and should be comfortable when done correctly.  But if it’s not comfortable, don’t do it, and don’t be ashamed.  Whether you’re pregnant or not, your body deserves to be treated well and you need to find where babywearing fits into your own family’s balance of caring for babies and caring for parents.  It might be a greater or lesser tool than in some other family.  And if it doesn’t make your life easier, it’s not a tool at all–more of a hairshirt.  I do not endorse hairshirts.

Most often, discomfort caused by babywearing can be fixed with practice or the help of a more experienced babywearer.  Sometimes you just need to put that baby down.  It’s a good time to play on the floor together, or cuddle with a book on the couch.  You’re still a super-mommy.  Just ask your kids.

http://www.sleepywrap.com/2011/02/strollers-baby-carriers-and-infant-stress/

It also covers positioning in a carrier.  Obviously, having a baby in a carrier isn’t enough.  The material isn’t magical.  It’s using the material to hold your baby in an appropriate position that leads to optimal growth and development.  As for magic, that’s in the human touch, body warmth, eye contact, heartbeat, synchronized breath, muscle symmetry . . . all this breeds wonderful, magical physical, mental and emotional benefits that will lead to happy babies and happy caregivers.  If you’re as impressed by all that as I am, please pass on the information and spread the love. Happy Babywearing!