Slinging along

I accepted arm-aches as an inevitable part of motherhood. I carried my daughter around for 2 years in the very tiring, upright position. After a while, your arm begins to throb. Then the baby starts slipping down, down down. Your shoulders rush to the rescue and with one immense heave, you haul the kid high with a burst of renewed energy. Then the shoulders give way too and the neck is next in line. All the while, the kid is enjoying the scenery of course. There have been days I have walked in through the gate and almost dropped my daughter on the cobble stones from the sheer exhaustion of burnt out arm muscles...

I first saw the "Kangaroo pouch" or "Baby sling" as it is called by top line baby shops, at a traffic signal. A beggar mother was knocking at the windows of cars. She had slung a bed sheet whose ends were tied together, over one shoulder. Her baby was peacefully sleeping in it. I didn't give the scene much thought. Till I became a mom.

When you have two really small kids like me, you worry when you take them both out together. While attending to one, the other one will be centimeters away from the headlight of a car. I had to find a way to keep my arms free to grab hold of the mobile kid while carrying the immobile one. That's when I bought a baby carrier. My son hated it. He would howl in it and spit on my clothes while squashed against my chest all the time. And worse, he would pull at his privates in agony. That's when I realized that the baby carrier with its tight harness between the baby's legs was serious torture on his manhood. I checked prices for a baby sling online and they were exorbitant. So I did what I usually do in these circumstances- I created one!

I made a Kangaroo pouch and for the past 3 months, have been slinging my son it. It is comfortable on the back and shoulders, distributes the baby's weight beautifully and the process of carrying your child around is no longer tiring. Also, because of its design, your hands are free and you can work while carting your baby around. The baby gets to be close to his mommy and be a participant in your daily activities than just a spectator lying on his back.

My son loves his sling. When he gets cranky, I slip it over my shoulder, place him into in and go about my work. He'll sit quietly, looking around. No whimper, no sound. If he is awake, he will sit up with his legs curled under him, like a J. If he's asleep, he'll be like a U. That's the only difference. Basically, he loves the feeling of being suspended ( Is this a symbolic pointer to the distant future when schooling beckons, I wonder? :-D)

I made my baby sling from the instructions on this site. So new mommies, who want to cart your little ones around without feeling too tired, go here:

http://mykarmababy.com/pages/BabySlingPattern.php

(Disclaimer: Be prepared for stares galore and advice about how your child will go through life with his legs frozen in the Lotus Position.)

Please do not use the baby sling for anything else other than the ease of carrying the baby. My brother sometimes uses the baby in the baby sling for ulterior purposes. Like when he wants to pinch the odd buck off his well off friends as you can see caught here on hidden camera. Very bad Moons, very bad!