Babies and shopping carts

[Penny4Them]

Do you put your baby in shopping cart seat, or do you wear your baby? For those that use the seat, do you use soft material cart thingys, or not? If you babywear .... what age (if ever) will you put your baby in it? I'm curious about this b/c with my 6 mo old I have no inclination to ever put him in one. Both my Dds went in w/o the material thing, and I don't remember them ever getting sick as a result.

[starling&diesel]

My DD is quite small, so she only went in the cart recently at 10 months. She loves it! And we don't use any cover or anything. I see it as just another way to build her immune system. She was always in the Ergo before that, but she loves being in the cart now.

[Masel]

Whenever DD1 could sit up reliably I put her in the cart seat. No cloth cover.

[lifeguard]

I started putting ds to sit in the seat around 5 months (when he could sit up unassisted). I would bring my ring sling & tuck it around him to give him some extra support & if he got tired or fussy I'd sling him for the rest of the trip. He LOVED sitting in the cart - you could just tell he was so proud!

[Turquesa]

It just depends on the kid. They sit up at different times, come in different sizes, and show interest at different times. I used the cart cover simply because it's softer than that hard seat.

ETA: I baby wear and just gauge my children's interest in sitting there.

[onyxravnos]

i wore ds up until about 4-ish months ago. only because i wanted him to get used to sitting in the seat for when i need to wear his new baby brother. I never had one of those seat covers though...

[VroomieMama]

If only those cart seats comes with multiple seats.. I'd put them there!

[felix23]

My girls hated babywearing, so I used the cart seats as soon as they could sit up. I do use a cart cover because dd2 likes to chew on the edge.

[annekh23]

I never used a cover with my first two, but my baby is particularly mouthy and I'm probably a bit more paranoid these days! I was going to buy one, but didn't like the fabric on the cheaper one I found, so thought I'd make one instead, happened to mention it to a friend and turned out she had one she was no longer using! As I posted in another thread, DD is not a great sitter, so if I do use it I have to roll up my coat to prop her up, but mostly I wear her, or if she's asleep when we get to the shop, put her car seat in the cart.

[gossamerwindweb]

I wore my daughter until she was 2 years. I wear my son and will probably do the same with my son

[marrymeflyfree]

I wore older DD in a sling until she got a bit too heavy to wear for extended periods of time, which was ~8 months. I debated getting a different carrier more suitable for a bigger kid, but at that point I discovered that she really enjoyed sitting in the cart. We didn't buy the fancy cart cover. At first, we just carried her into the store with a blanket and used that - it was winter anyway, and she was so drooly from teething that it was handy to have something to wipe her up! Then as she got bigger and no longer tried to eat the cart, we just put her in it as is.

[pumpkin]

We use a cover. DD chews everything so its pretty necessary. Started around 6 months.

DD loves riding in the cart. Absolutely loves it.

When she gets tired of being in the cart she reaches for me and I pop her in the sling. It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

[mamadelbosque]

I forget when I stopped babywearing and started using the cart more with DS1 - probably ~ 5-6 months when he could sit up. I definetly never used one of the cloth thingies and still don't (he still occasionally sits in the cart at 33+ months...). I imagine DS2 will be around the same - he's 4 months now and weighs 15#s and I can't wait for him to be able to sit up in the cart so I don't have to mess with baby wearing in the freezing cold...

[Pookietooth]

Can't remember but around a year or so sounds right.

[Kelly1101]

I wear the baby, sometimes in the grocery store if it's a short trip. But she's too big a baby, and I'm too small a woman, to wear her for an extended grocery store trip. Started putting her in the cart for those as soon as she could sit upright on her own, about 5-6 months.

Haven't used a cloth cover-- all the grocery stores I go to provide sanitary wipes, so I just wipe down everything really well (it IS cold/flu season). I think she may be getting a cloth cover for Christmas from my mom, though, so we may give it a shot then.

Having a toy that links to the cart (so she can't throw/drop it) for her to chew on helps to keep her from chewing on the handle of the cart.

[SamiPolizzi]

Originally Posted by lifeguard

I started putting ds to sit in the seat around 5 months (when he could sit up unassisted). I would bring my ring sling & tuck it around him to give him some extra support & if he got tired or fussy I'd sling him for the rest of the trip. He LOVED sitting in the cart - you could just tell he was so proud!

This is exactly what I do. For the most part he likes being in the cart, but if it gets to be a longer trip he sometimes gets frustrated with it. That's when I switch to the sling.