On Monday, I touched on the Time Magazine cover seen round the mommy world. It got me thinking about my own brief stints with attachment parenting.
I live near a college town, which means attachment parenting is bigger here than in other parts of the country. Wearing your baby is common and I’ve seen a myriad of slings and contraptions to do so.
My firstborn, Will, was an awful sleeper. I tried anything that anyone told me to get that kid to chillax! When I joined a new mom group and everyone was wearing their babies, I tried that, too.
And I sucked at it.
I bought a $30 sling from Babies-R-Us. I watched the video (those slings are surprisingly complex!), got pointers from my new moms group, and tried it out with Will when he was 3 months old. My first day I walked around the neighborhood, hoping the lulling motion of my movement was preparing him for a wonderful night’s sleep and all the neurological development that babywearing supposedly encourages.
Instead, I think the lulling motion made him throw up all over me. Look at this picture. You can see the upchuck brewing!
Thaaar he blows!
I tried babywearing off and on for a few more weeks, but it just didn’t work for me.
When my daughter was born, I tried again. I went all out and bought the super-duper fancy sling that Cindy Crawford endorsed. This sling was a little better, but I still felt that my baby was going to fall out at any moment. I ended up only wearing it to do laundry. It was handy to have both hands free to stuff the washing machine.
In a nutshell, I was a complete and utter babywearing attachment parent failure!
My "detached" children
Did you try babywearing? What fabulous thing worked for all the other mommies but didn’t work for you?
