Assume the Perpendicular

I’ve got a whole new reason to love our Ergo carrier. Today I decided to try out the hip carry position for the first time. Usually when I do housework I put Eleanor in the Ergo on my back, and while it is really convenient and supremely comfortable, I don’t really like having her back there because I can’t see her and interact with her. It makes me feel like I’m not spending the kind of quality time with her that I would like. I prefer to carry her in the front typically where we can see each other, but it limits my mobility too much while I’m cleaning and doing laundry. Sometimes if I don’t want to put her on my back I use our ring sling, but she’s getting so heavy that having all of her weight on just one of my shoulders was not comfortable. So this morning when I was deliberating what carrier to put her in while I vacuumed, I suddenly remembered the Ergo hip carry and decided to give it a try.

I watched this video, which shows how to set up the carrier and put it on. It was really easy and after getting it all adjusted we were good to go. Unlike the hip carry position of the ring sling that places the majority of the baby’s weight on my neck and shoulder, the Ergo places her weight on my back and hips just like it does in the front or back carry positions. After a while I did start to feel tired in my shoulder, but I was really impressed with the way the carrier distributed her weight so comfortably considering the position. It made bending over to pick things up and reaching up to hang laundry easier than if she was in the front, but I was still able to make eye contact with her and we had a lot of stimulating conversation while we tidied up. 

(Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, this is my 2,000th post!)