Babywearing and Me

When it comes to baby carriers, I tend to prefer simple.  No complex constructed carriers – just the basics.  My go-to carrier for the first three babies was the Maya Wrap (or similar homemade sling) – a simple ring sling.  No padded rails.  No fancy anything.  Just a long piece of fabric with rings on one end.  With the first two, I’d never seen anyone use a stretchy wrap, so they weren’t even on my radar.

When the third baby came along, I tried a stretchy wrap.  Sort of.  The one I bought was soooo heavy.  I’m a pretty small woman, and the fabric itself for this wrap was just such a burden.  I couldn’t even imagine adding a baby’s weight to that!  I knew there must be something better “out there”  – after all, I had friends who swore by their stretchy wraps – but I wasn’t sure what I needed to be looking for.  Then I found the Boba Wrap.  (I think this is the same carrier that used to be called the Sleepy Wrap.)

The Boba Wrap

I could already tell that this was a better option the moment I pulled it out of the box.  It was sooo much lighter than the other wrap I had!  Just look at the difference in how much fabric bulk there is!  (The black one being my other stretchy wrap; the “natural” colored one being the Boba.  Sorry ’bout the baby doll that snuck into the photo. 🙂 )  I just weighed myself with each one.  The Boba is under 1.5 lbs.  The other wrap is almost 4 lbs.!  (I know, 4 lbs. isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things – but when all of that fabric is hanging, stretchy, from your shoulders, it feels like a lot more!)

So, the Boba Wrap is pretty easy to use.  It’s not super-bulky and it’s not heavy, so I can readily get it wrapped around me and tied in place.  Well, readily is a little bit of a stretch (no pun intended).  Did I mention that I’m small?  I can wrap the tails around me a whole extra time before tying them.  In practical terms, that means that I’m dealing with a good bit of extra length as I try to get these over my shoulders, criss-crossed, etc. in all the right places.  It’s not complicated, but it is a little bit of a learning curve.  I imagine that, as with anything else, you get more coordinated with greater familiarity.

Speaking of the learning curve, you can see in these photos that I loused it up.  This was my first attempt, and I thought I was having an awful lot of trouble pulling the outer piece all the way up to Livvy’s armpits/neck.  I discovered when we came back in from taking the pictures that I’d somehow gotten her legs on the outside of this piece.  (I’m pretty sure they’re supposed to go inside this part.)

(They can stick out the bottom, for a larger baby/toddler like Livia.  But they’re not supposed to stick out the top.)  She wanted to get back down and run around, though, so we didn’t get corrected pictures.

Maybe I just didn’t get the whole thing snug enough but, honestly, I did feel as though she weighed on me a bit, and slightly prefer my woven ring sling.  (Livia’s a bit over 20 lbs.; this goes up to 35.)  These are supposed to be especially good with newborns, though, and friends who have had babies in the NICU love them for kangaroo care.  These are also easier (as I understand it) to keep on and pop the baby into and out of repeatedly when you’re out and about running errands.

So there are strengths and weaknesses.  For myself, I think I’d prefer it for a tiny baby.  When baby gets a bit bigger, my preference is for something woven that doesn’t have “give” – but your preferences might be totally different from mine!

As with other slings that are mostly or completely flat, this has the added advantage of being extremely versatile – use it as a playmat, blanket, carseat cover, etc. – any time you just need a flat expanse of fabric this will fill in. 🙂

Disclosure: I was provided with the Boba Wrap you see above, to facilitate this review.  The Boba Family has also graciously provided a wrap for giveaway in the Baby Shower for Jesus.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Please follow safety instructions when wearing your baby, and practice with a given carrier several types before depending on it to keep your hands free.  As you can see in my example above, it’s easy to mess it up in the beginning, and you want to be sure you have it right before your trust your baby to it!  Use common sense and wisdom and take responsibility for the parenting choices you make with your own baby.