some folks call her a kaiser baby, although technically that'd be "kaiserin baby."
Hey, Japan has a new prime minister all of a sudden. Why?
(Don't send me your answers. This is just a little way to expand your horizons. Honest.)
Forum topics:
- Prompted by a comment I got in e-mail recently (in the past), I have decided to add a section to "Why Web Journals Suck" about how to increase the hit count for your journal page. Or any page. Please give me your suggestions, facetious and serious.
- Recommend a movie for me and Darin to see (should we ever see a movie again).
- Go ahead, tell me what a bad parent I am. I must have entered a new phase of my life, 'cause I won't believe you.
Have I mentioned how much I love my baby sling?
William and Martha Sears, authors of The Baby Book (among other prenatal and postnatal baby books), are big promoters of "attachment parenting," and one of the tenets of attachment parenting is "babywearing." You know, you wear your baby, your baby knows you're nearby, everything's copacetic. Reportedly babywearing leads to a lessening of crying, though Sophia seems to forget how much I've worn her during the day when 7pm rolls around.
Attachment parenting aside, babywearing is saving my sanity. Instead of having Sophia squirming in my arms all the time, she squirms in the sling. If she needs me, I'm right there; she can smell me; everybody's happy. And, most important, I have my hands free. I can do other things. Like I've said before, gazing into my baby's eyes only goes so far as intellectual stimulation.
We also have a Baby Bjorn, but I don't like it as much for a few simple reasons: now that I know how to use a sling (and it took a while), the Bjorn is much harder, it's much hotter, and I can't nurse Sophia while she's in it. Reportedly you can nurse a baby in a Bjorn; I just can't figure out how to do it.
| Sling | Baby Bjorn | |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | It took me a while -- mostly because Sophia is so little she can crumple up at the bottom and that worried me -- but now I just throw it on and go. | Straightforward, although doing up all the snaps by yourself can be a pain. |
| Comfort | Way comfortable. Nice shoulder pads, nice distribution of weight, easy to turn it (and her) around. | More comfortable for Darin than for me, partially because I provide Sophia with a face rest Darin doesn't. So she breathes right on me (making me hot and humid), whereas she turns her face to the side for him. |
| Nursing | Trivial. (Well, provided nursing itself is trivial.) | I can't figure it out. There's a way to do it, I just can't master it... |
| Portability | Easy. Very light, folds easily. | Easy. Very light, folds easily. |
| Positioning | Waist height. Convenient for resting on laps, inconvenient when sitting at a table or around a lot of countertops. | Chest. Convenient most of the time, except when the baby yaks down your blouse and you have to take the whole thing off. |
I bought an Over The Shoulder Baby Holder sling from Wearsthebaby.com on Tamar's recommendation. There are slings available in every baby stuff shop though.
The answer to Monday's question: Here I go, asking tough questions whose answers are not found in the very same New York Times article that prompted the question. I know I studied the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in high school history...
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Copyright 2000 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com