Does anyone do hip carries?

[marinak1977]

Hi everyone, I would love some advice on hip carries.
DS is almost 4 months and is at a stage where he loves to look at everything, gets fussy if he is in a tummy to tummy carry unless he is sleepy. I have carried him facing out (in a ring sling, and a mei tai, and standing supported by me in the ergo) for a little while but worry about long term effects to his and my backs. I'm curious to try the hip carry - and wondering at what age I could start doing it. I have a maya wrap, a mei tai baby, an ergo and a moby (don't use it much though, as I don't like wrestling with it). What are my options? Any advice? I also heard that a high back carry may work, but have no idea how and when. I'd use a mei tai for that.
I'm looking at a Pikkolo, but it seems that it's really not much more ergonomic for the outward facing carry than a mei tai. Is there another carrier? I probably won't use a wrap as I don't like getting things dirty and it's wet a lot here and we have dogs, so things that drag on the ground would get icky fast.
Thank you for any advice!

[octobermoon]

i think the baby has to have good head support and upper body strength. i think you'll be able to tell if baby is ready by trying it out. DS is 7 months and we started the hip carry around 6 mos. we use a Hotsling for the hip carry.

[marinak1977]

cool, thanks! He may be getting ready then (he is a very strong little man). Sounds like a sling is best for the hip carry. I wanted to get a slingling or 2 so they may be a good idea for this.

[KristyDi]

I think I remember that the ergo has a hip carry option. If not then yes either a pouch or a ring sling is great for hip carries.

And since you mentioned it here are a few videos on high back carries in MTs. Personally I prefer to tie tibetan and I'd choose the back carry over the hip carry because it's more hands free. With a kid on your hip you really only have full use of one arm. I started wrapping dd on my back around 4 months. But she spent plenty of time on my hip in the ring sling too.

[Asiago]

At four months my son wanted to face outward also. He had decent head control so I used the kangaroo carry and front carry. Recently though he began to try to stand up, he's quite strong for his age (6 mos.). So we have been using the hip carry more. A padded rail on the bottom of the sling seems more comfortable to him than the slings that do not have it.

[happysmileylady]

I almost exclusively hip carry, with or without a carrier. It's just the most natural or comfortable for me. IMHO, the best carrier for that is a ring sling. If you can sew, they are pretty easy to make, and if not, I think they are usually the least expensive type of carrier.

As for when you can hip carry, it really is dependant on the baby. They need to have pretty good head and upper body control. With a hip carry (really with most carries) you can adjust the rails of the sling to come up as high or as low and you want, so for babies with less control, you can give them more support by bring the top rail up and sung fairly high up. As the baby gets older you can pull his arms out and just have it sit up under the armpits. My dd is 18 months now and I have been hip carrying her since she was a little over 4 months, probably coser to 5 months.

[mommy212]

I started hip carry at about 4 months. It all depends on head control. They should also have a little back control for hip carry, in my opinion. My baby is like yours witht he tummy-to-tummy fussiness but he loves the hip carry. If you use the ring sling hip carry just make sure you start the rings out higher on your shoulder than you want to wear them because when you adjust it they slide down.

[jecombs]

I used to do hip-carries with my Ergo. We started when DD was about 6 mo. old. But, to be fair, that was when I bought the Ergo; I didn't have a chance to test it out when she was younger. It took a bit of practice to get the Ergo straps situated just right, but the carry was very comfortable. It was especially good when I was working in the kitchen and needed a hand free to do stirring, measuring, etc.

[SilverFish]

i do a hip sling carry with my stretchy wrap with my 10wk old. the instructions are on the moby website. she's a little young for it, but it's a nice change of pace from a front carry, and it's good for when she's a bit more active. if you don't already have a ring sling, it might be a good way to try out the hip carry and see if he's ready for it.

[cc_mama]

I do hip carries: hip cross carry with my wraps, rebozo hip carry and hip carry with my pouches. It can also be a convient position to breastfeed older baby. I don't like it when they are sleeping though and would not call it hands-free - I like to keep an arm around them.

[marinak1977]

Thanks everyone - I do have a RS so I can try it. And I did try a high back carry with my MT today and DS did really good and felt secure (despite pulling on my hair). It was also our first back carry period so we're very proud.

[mambera]

I loved the hip carry in my Maya wrap between 5-8 months. She wanted to see everything I was doing in the kitchen and wouldn't have stood for a back carry. I was a little slower with only an arm and a half but it was way better than listening to a frustrated baby who just wanted to *see*.