I would like to describe how it happened that I became a wearer of my Helenka. The description will be quite extensive as I would like to remember everything as it happened. Indeed, I found out that the capacity of my brain is limited and that I tend to forget recent events (I blame the breastfeeding, of course). I hope this is just temporary.
When Helenka was born, she was just perfect – 3,380 grams, 51 centimetres. Due to my flabby arms, it was sometimes a problem to carry her. That is why I usually just sat with her, holding her in my arms, or having her at my breast. To be honest, rocking or bouncing does not work for her, so I gave up on it pretty early and started to solve all our problems by nursing (the situation did not change until now – Helenka is one year old).
I have never thought about babywearing or attachment parenting. My baby slept in her cot – when she woke up at night, I got up and took her to the living room, where I nursed her – quite idyllic, isnˈt it?
Who knows me, will be aware of the fact that I am not the type of person who enjoys walks or tourism, not even with the stroller around the city all day long. At the beginning, I had trouble with breastfeeding, and that is why we stayed at home for the first three months – I think we went for a walk with the stroller maybe twice. Hard to say if that was the cause or the consequence, nevertheless, Helenka never fell in love with being in the stroller. By the time I was able to overcome my panic attacks (I have to go out – oh my god – where will I nurse? where will I change her nappy?), my lovely baby started to scream hysterically after 30 minutes in the stroller. A pacifier helped for a little while – letˈs say that the screaming was postponed for the long 5 minutes. Our walks looked like this: I almost ran from one bench to the other to be able to plug my dear babyˈs mouth with my breast when she started with her screaming concert. Sleeping in the stroller? That was a dream – it happened just a handful of times.
Yeah, finally, we are getting to the heart of the matter – I began to think about a carrier. When a lactation consultant came to visit me after Helenka was born, she showed me the Storchenwiege carrier. However, it discouraged me more than got me excited – it seemed very complicated to cross the shoulder straps on my back and tie them. I find it quite funny now, however, at that time it was an unbeatable problem for me (remember that I was a frightened first-time mother in the lying-in period). Moreover, my otherwise-quite-calm baby began to scream hysterically, thus I untied the carrier pretty quickly. The lactation consultant also said that a baby should be allowed some time to get used to baby-wearing – the sooner the better, or else it might not get used to it at all. This remark really did not help me. Well, letˈs say that it was an absurd nonsense and there is no use to continue to talk about it.
Thus … I warned you, it will be long. After not very successful strollering, roughly at the age of three and half months, I borrowed Manduca carrier from my friend to try it. The experienced already sense that Manduca is not the ideal choice for this age (moreover, for many wearers it is not ideal at any age). Thus I found out that babywearing could be our thing, but Manduca is certainly not. Another friend told me about the Czech babywearing community on Facebook (named ˈNosíme dětiˈ, i.e. ˈWe wear our babiesˈ), which was wonderful for me – I began to become aware of babywearing and some basic facts, such as Babybjörn is not advisable at all. I still was not clear about which carrier is okay and which is not – the advice from the experienced wearers did not help at all because the majority of carriers cannot be found in the brick and mortar shops.
After a thorough survey, I chose the KiBi carrier. The reason was simple – one of two shops in Ostrava, where you can buy a carrier, named V Bavlnce (i.e. ˈWrapped in cotton woolˈ), had the following choice – Manduca, KiBi, Storchenwiege. I have tried the Storchenwiege carrier once again – unsuccessfully. I got interested in KiBi, and Helenka also liked it, so I bought it. Again, the experienced sense that adjusting KiBi is a true hell, especially for an inexperienced person. Thus, I began to ask, post photos and solve via Facebook, which was – in the result – quite pointless. For the next two months, I barely used the carrier, because it simply did not feel right.
Then, my little one caught the sixth disease (Roseola) – it was awful, I was terrified and then the decision was made – I simply have to have a wrap or I will go mad. I persuaded my husband and our first wrap – Loktu She Bird Garden Apricot Ice Cream – came to our household. I simply fell in love with it when I saw it for the first time on the photos by Klárka and Terka on Facebook. The story about its (un)suitability for the actual age of my baby will follow. Nevertheless, it is my true love and I will never sell it. I coped with the basic carry – Front Wrap Cross Carry – fairly quickly and well using a tutorial on YouTube (the channel of legendary Vonzino1), and Helenka fell asleep right away. I was lost <3.
I got the real passion for babywearing when I finally decided to attend a metting of the local babywearing group in Ostrava (Helenka was about 6 months old then) – the group is called ˈNeseme děti Ostravouˈ (i.e. ˈWe wear our babies through Ostravaˈ) and is organized mainly via Facebook – I hereby warmly invite the inhabitants of Ostrava to join us, and those living elsewhere not to hesitate and find their own local group because it is simply wonderful. I found plenty of friends (for example Lenka :-*) and soul mates, and mainly, I began to enjoy being a mother!
