How NOT to Wear Your Baby

[MamieCole]

Oh my! I saw this picture in a slideshow on a site where I was researching baby rashes. I have to assume that this was totally staged and no one would actually wear their baby like this in real life. Right? Is the Bjorn designed to wear your babe facing out in a backcarry? And just what is that thing holding the baby on the left? Is that like a standing sling? I can't tell what is the "sling" and what is his clothing.   

Although I think it is totally cute how they are pointing at each other. 

[jimblejamble]

Err, yeah, the baby on the right looks like with a little wiggling it could flop out over the top!  :(

[Astrea]

I saw this ages ago and was shocked/amused.  A few weeks later a friend bought a Baby Trekker carrier and told me how much her baby loved being worn on her back, facing out.  I checked the website for the Trekker and that is how they say to use it.  Wha?  That... can't be good.

[thtr4me]

I could swear this was initially part of a commercial for some sort of skin product.  If I remember correctly, there was dubbed 'dialogue' for the babies, and it was actually quite funny.  I know it shows very bad (and unsafe) babywearing, but in the original context that I saw it in, it worked (in fact, I don't think the commercial would have worked as well otherwise).

[blessedwithboys]

I was always a ring-sling loving mama, but I have a friend who only ever used a Snugli, and her one of her babies loved to be worn this way.  Although...I do think the one on the right does look a bit precarious. 

[MamieCole]

Originally Posted by blessedwithboys 

I was always a ring-sling loving mama, but I have a friend who only ever used a Snugli, and her one of her babies loved to be worn this way.  Although...I do think the one on the right does look a bit precarious. 

Really? I can't imagine how that would feel. I would constantly be worried that my top-heavy babe was gonna fall out. Seems like it wouldn't be comfy for mom either. 

RE: the commercial...I can totally see how with the right caption this would make a funny commercial. 

[Smokering]

Ooh, I have another "how to not to wear your baby" anecdote! At a garage sale one time I saw a... product... still in its battered box... that was presumably designed by someone extremely childless.

It was like a little ledge attached to a waist strap. A little flat seat. No backrest or straps to support the child's back, or indeed anything to prevent him falling off. Apart from looking like a really ugly fanny pack, it was just a super-inconvenient way to carry your child on your hip - an artificial hip extension, I guess it was! But you'd still have to hold the kid, and the waist strap didn't have any shoulder straps or anything so it would be REALLY uncomfortable... and... well, it boggled the mind. I could see why it ended up on a garage sale table. :p

[LaughingHyena]

Ooh, I have another "how to not to wear your baby" anecdote! At a garage sale one time I saw a... product... still in its battered box... that was presumably designed by someone extremely childless.

It was like a little ledge attached to a waist strap. A little flat seat. No backrest or straps to support the child's back, or indeed anything to prevent him falling off. Apart from looking like a really ugly fanny pack, it was just a super-inconvenient way to carry your child on your hip - an artificial hip extension, I guess it was! But you'd still have to hold the kid, and the waist strap didn't have any shoulder straps or anything so it would be REALLY uncomfortable... and... well, it boggled the mind. I could see why it ended up on a garage sale table. :p

 Was it one of these? http://www.hippychick.com/index.cfm/children/Products.Details/product_id/15/subject/hippychick_hipseat

I used mine a lot. It was great when DS was wanting to walk but still getting tiered easily. You do have to keep hold of the child but it was much easier on my back than simply carrying him on my hip. The waist belt did a surprisingly good job at distributing the weight.

I can't get the facing out back carry though, even on my front I found facing out was uncomfortable.

[Smokering]

It looked like it might have been a cheap knockoff version of that - the waistband was pretty skinny and (IIRC) not padded.

[Ellien C]

I vote for staged - black and white babies? Skinny parents? and that bjorn thing all folded down so you can see the baby's expression? Look how they are perfectly framed so you see the same amount of each parent's head? And how the parents are perfectly angled with that 3/4 profile? Not to mention exactly opposite in the store? Neither babies hand is obscuring the other one's face? These things just don't "happen" randomly.