After the first few weeks, my mother returned home and my in-laws and husband went back to work. That is when I faced the challenge of looking after a baby while also doing my other essential routine activities. As babies grow older their sleep cycles are interspersed by increasingly long periods of wakefulness. As adults there is a limited time we can spend entertaining them (unless you have a nanny I suppose) - I mean I do massage the tiny arms and legs, squeak the squeaky toys, place colourful objects before my baby, read to her etc. But after that it must get extremely frustrating for the baby to be constantly lying on her back, unable to move or express wants or desires. So she cries and only quietens when we pick her up and walk around with her. During these sojourns I see her intently observing the walls and fixtures in the house or staring out of the windows.
The first time I inserted my baby into it, she howled. Moreover, given the number of straps and buckles, there was some confusion in trying it on - nor was there any instruction manual that came with the product or YouTube video to guide me. I was glad that I had not spent more than INR 2,000 for this item. I set it aside as a bad purchase. This was until a few days later, when I had to fix breakfast but my baby would not give me a break. By now she was a month old and weighed around 4 kilos. I decided to try on the carrier again - this time my baby did not howl, although she fidgeted a little. My husband pointed out that maybe the infant insert was making it claustrophobic for her and so we removed it. And sure enough, now that she had a good view, she was happy to look out while nestled into my bosom. And she quickly grew to love it - I hardly hold her more than 5 minutes before putting her in the carrier. It frees up my hands as I walk around singing lullabies or I stand rooted to a spot in front of the TV and sway gently to make her sleep. This is great for me to also hold my kindle and read or do stuff on my phone and basic activities like fixing myself a cup of coffee in the microwave (not safe to take her close to the gas stove) while having her in the carrier.
(Image sourced from Amazon India)
As our new born baby grew in weight I found it painful to be constantly holding her and walking around. That is when I started exploring the world of baby carriers. Now most carriers on the market are made for infants who can support their neck. There are a few that have an infant support for new born babies too - but these are quite expensive. Since I was going to do a trial run, I decided to try something relatively cheaper. After exploring websites like firstcry.com and amazon, and reading reviews, I settled on the LuvLap baby carrier.
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| (Image sourced from Amazon India) |
The first time I inserted my baby into it, she howled. Moreover, given the number of straps and buckles, there was some confusion in trying it on - nor was there any instruction manual that came with the product or YouTube video to guide me. I was glad that I had not spent more than INR 2,000 for this item. I set it aside as a bad purchase. This was until a few days later, when I had to fix breakfast but my baby would not give me a break. By now she was a month old and weighed around 4 kilos. I decided to try on the carrier again - this time my baby did not howl, although she fidgeted a little. My husband pointed out that maybe the infant insert was making it claustrophobic for her and so we removed it. And sure enough, now that she had a good view, she was happy to look out while nestled into my bosom. And she quickly grew to love it - I hardly hold her more than 5 minutes before putting her in the carrier. It frees up my hands as I walk around singing lullabies or I stand rooted to a spot in front of the TV and sway gently to make her sleep. This is great for me to also hold my kindle and read or do stuff on my phone and basic activities like fixing myself a cup of coffee in the microwave (not safe to take her close to the gas stove) while having her in the carrier.
My mother-in-law observed me with my carrier (the 'lap of love' as we jokingly refer to it at home) and started researching on a carrier she wanted herself. She absolutely refused to try on the LuvLap carrier and instead wanted something more traditional - a wrap or a sling. I had read many positive reviews of the Kol Kol slings so I decided to order one.
(Image sourced from Amazon India)
I ordered this is in sea green colour and it came within a few days. Now these slings are incredibly stylish although it requires a little bit of practise to get it right the first time. Once on, it is quite sturdy and comfortable - and becasue the baby is positioned on one side of the body, it is quite easy to support the baby's butt with one hand if at all you feel the sling coming loose (it doesn't). I proudly wore my sling in my building complex and I could tell people admired the look - some even stopped to ask me where I procured it from. I can also imagine buying ring slings to match different outfits. However, after wearing the ring sling for sometime, the shoulder where the sling is placed does begin to hurt somewhat. But on the other hand, this is far lighter and compact to carry and can be easily folded and carried in a handbag.
After the success of the LuvLap carrier, I decided to try a more ergonomically efficient carrier. The LuvLap, for all its success is not very conducive for the baby's posture. After a while (say a couple of hours - even with this the shoulders and back do hurt a bit). Plus, my husband wanted a carrier that would allow him to 'wear the baby' with her facing out. So with some research I selected the Lillebaby All Seasons carrier - I had read so many many positive reviews of the same on the
This is shipped from the US and takes a couple of weeks to be delivered to Delhi. I was quite excited when it finally did arrive. Now this carrier has even more bells and whistles than the LuvLap - but typical of everything in my life, I bothered myself only with the bare essentials - the waist belt and the shoulder straps and side buckles. Now after inserting my baby here, I felt very comfortable. All the weight is taken on the waist belt (so the pressure is concentrated on the lower back) and even after prolonged periods of time, the shoulders do not hurt. The cons are that it is a quite bulky and heavy to carry around. Moreover, while this is an all season carrier (for different weather conditions with mesh cover for breath ability etc), I found that when we were standing in queue in the passport office, even in the air conditioned room given the number of people standing around, it was very stuffy and my baby was quite uncomfortable. From then on, this became a rather clumsy appendage - I realised that I had left the bag to hold the carrier in my car. So I had to lug it around as I went from room to room for our passports, balancing baby, documents, photographs, and the heavy carrier (the buckles kept clanging or kept slipping on to the floor - but that is my fault becasue I just did not fold it up well - remember baby, documents etc in two hands??!!)
All said and done, I think the LuvLap carrier is the one that I use the most - Delhi is very hot right now and we stay indoors mostly. For indoors, the LuvLap is handy as not being too bulky, easy to slip on and a good way to comfort my baby. But once the weather improves, I can imagine us venturing out and I think for those occasions the LilleBaby will be very comfortable and useful.
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