How many carriers does one baby need?

By now, I am really convinced that every child is different that you just can't hand down one baby item from one sibling to another. This includes the carrier. The carrier is one of those things that I never thought I needed, but ended up as one of my lifesavers. Unless you have an extra pair of arms, you know you can't carry a baby every waking hour. A carrier makes you a supermom - it helps you do multiple mommy tasks (running after your toddler, folding the laundry, texting, etc.) while keeping your baby close at the same time.

With the first child, I had already set my heart on a SaYa wrap even before he was born. My husband bought a total of three carriers for him (bought on three separate occasions). One was a Red Castle wrap that I never used, not even once. That was because it was too long that putting one on felt like a herculean task. I did not have the patience to learn how to use it even with the instruction manual and the tutorial videos available online.

Red Castle Fil'Up is made of a meshy-y fabric.

The second carrier was the SaYa wrap, which was easier to figure out (simply because I was eager to learn it).

SaYa wrappin' until about 6 months

I stopped using the SaYa when my husband bought me the soft-structured carrier, which for me was more convenient. You simply buckle it around your waist, put the baby on its seat, buckle the back part, and you're ready to go.

The soft-structured carrier is ideal for travelling.

Easy to put on and take off

When we moved to Singapore, we transitioned Thirdy to a stroller because the city is wheelchair and stroller friendly. Also, because I got pregnant, it was no longer safe to use a structured carrier.

When I had my second child, I thought I would also use the SaYa and the structured carrier for her. I also learned to use the Red Castle wrap. But we both hated it the first time we tried it. So we were left with the SaYa and the structured carrier. The SaYa, however, was no longer how it used used to be. The material became so stretched that it was no longer safe to use it. As for the trusted black soft-structured carrier I used with Thirdy, it was still too big for her to use. 

So I shopped for another carrier. I was drawn towards a sling ring because I read that it is the most ideal carrier for a newborn and the most breastfeeding friendly. I bought one from EcoSnuggles and learned how to use it. 

EcoSnuggles ring sling

Then, my cousin-in-law gave me a Babymama ring sling, which I opted to use more often because the material is softer, and it isn't as long as the one from EcoSnuggles.

Babymama ring sling (thanks Mama Helen Joy!)

The ring sling should be used with caution. As a child's head is exposed when worn, you have to find ways to protect the head when wearing it. When we got down from the plane on Bambam's first trip, my husband accidentally hit her on the head with a bag as he was removing it from the plane's cabin. For safety and health reasons, I decided to stop using the ring sling because Bam has outgrown it already it seems and wearing it for a longer period gave me sore shoulders and hips. So, we bought the award-winning Baby K'tan. 

XS is still too big for elfin moi

Buy the right size when you want a Baby K'tan.

The K'tan is similar to the SaYa, yet I have no pictures to show of me wearing it because we bought the wrong size. I should be XXS but we bought XS. It only fits my husband. He likes it so much, but even then, as you can see, it also looks a little bit big for him as Bam's body is unsafely dipping downward. 

LOST IN TRANSLATION. My husband asking for directions of Baby Slings and Carriers store

By now, my husband thought we have spent a fortune on carriers alone that he decided not buy anything online anymore. We found a store that specializes in carriers alone. It is called Baby Slings and Carriers (http://www.babyslingsandcarriers.com/), and they have a babywearing consultant. We set an appointment with them, which costs 10 SGD. For a store that sells baby products, it is ironically located in an industrial building.

No taking of pictures and eating allowed

Construction-like service elevator inside the industrial building

When we got there, the owner/babywearing consultant charged us $10 more for the consultancy. The over-all $20.00 will be deducted from any purchased item. He let me try an Emei Baby carrier, and it fit me perfectly! 

Broke the rule of not taking a picture inside the store

He also let me try the other carriers like Manduca and Gemini, but the Emei Baby was the most comfortable. Emei Baby is a hybrid carrier as it combines the ring sling and the soft-structured carrier. The fabric used is also hand-woven, so it doesn't come cheap.

The Emei Baby fits us perfectly because it is designed for petite moms (and babies)

He's smiling here, but Emei Baby's price is inwardly making him cry. 

 Lovely tree design

This will be the last carrier that we're going to buy (I hope). I was thinking of our third baby when I decided on the color. Here's hoping that I'll have another baby boy in 4 years' time.

So to answer the question, how many carriers does one baby need? I'd say consider buying a wrap or a ring sling from birth to 6 months, then move to a structured carrier when the baby has learned to hold its head (around 4 months). So that's a total of 2 carriers. I do hope our third child will agree with this. 

On Kindness

In 1989, I started Kinder 1 at our local parochial school. Wearing my pigtails and blue-and-white uniform, I joined the afternoon session. There was this school rule where we could not get inside the campus, unless the gate had been opened and our guardians were given the go signal to usher us in. Naturally, as children, we considered this as an opportune time to outdo each other. So, when the gates were opened, we would all rush to our classroom with a scream and see who could get in first. There were no winners or losers, only that proud feeling of satisfaction that you were, well, the first to get inside the classroom.

I would never forget that time - that time when I learned that a kind person would literally pick you up. It was like any other afternoon. My classmates and their guardians were all at the town plaza which is located just across the school. When the gate was opened, we all rushed to get to the classroom. I was one of those who mindlessly ran. At times like this, my legs had a mind of its own. The next thing I knew, I was flying and I held my breath as I landed face-down on the pavement. The world stopped spinning for a moment, and when I looked up I saw a nun staring down at me just a few meters away from where I landed. Some high school students were also looking at me. My face felt hot as I realized that my skirt was in a position where my underwear was exposed for the whole world to see. I was too embarrassed to stand up. My heart sank when I saw some of my classmates beaming proudly because they were the "first" for that day. I could have been one of them if only I was not stupid enough to trip. I must have stayed there for a minute, but no one bothered to help - not the nun with her rosary beads and penguin habit, and not the high school students who were now laughing at something, probably at me? I was still rooted on that spot when someone, a classmate, put her hand around my shoulders and helped me up. And just like that, she walked with me to our classroom, still with her hand around my shoulders like I was her best friend. The rest of the day followed without any more significant 'trippings' on my part. And because of what she did, I actually forgot that I did something silly and embarrassing on that day.

I am writing this now because I never got to thank her. Her name is Elisa Labrador, and even though we became classmates again in second grade, I was not able to show my gratitude to her in any way. It's funny because we never really became buddies. Sure, we were classmates, but that was just it. But every time I think about my kindergarten days, she is always one of those memories that would surface, and I am flooded with gratitude. She saved me that day. Maya Angelou said people will forget what you did and said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. Elisa made me feel that I was OK even if I tripped. And for a kindergartener, that meant the whole world already.

I am also writing this now because my son has recently joined a Summer Camp and will start with Kindergarten this coming June, and I do hope he will encounter a kind person like Elisa, too. Better yet, I hope he will be kind like Elisa.