When to put legs out in Ergo?

[Evergreen23]

Hi all,

DS is 13 weeks and about 15 pounds. I'm wondering when we can put his legs out in the Ergo. We stopped using the infant insert because it made him scream like a banshee and he has pretty good head control. If I wear him in the Ergo with his legs out, he doesn't fuss, but when DH tries, he goes crazy. I think it hurts DH's feelings!

Is it OK for him to have his legs out/splayed this young? I haven't been able to find a consensus online. When did you go "legs out" with the Ergo?

Thanks!!

[tbone_kneegrabber]

we went legs out at 8 weeks.  but ds was a huge baby.  we did it as soon as it was comfortable for him.

[Evergreen23]

Thanks! That makes me feel a little better ... I don't want to hurt him or mess up his hips.

[crayon]

I find that legs out should happen naturally- if your carrier is snug and supporting the whole body of the carrier the natural legs out should happen between 3-5 months. Depending on the size of the baby. Until then they are froggie, knees up or semi-standing style.

I try to explain it as if you were to hold your baby naturally without a carrier, where are his/her legs?  They should be close to that in the carrier as possible.

HTH

[BlueSkyDay]

I'd agree with holding off.  Their hips are so little, splaying them that wide with feet out seems like too much.  An alternative is to have one leg out, the other leg sort of sitting in front of baby like it would if the baby were sitting Indian-style.  My daughter is 11 weeks and we've just started doing that.  It works well.  Worked well with my son at that age, too.  It works for a bigger or a small baby.  The baby sits down lower in the Ergo so there's less need for the infant insert, but you don't have to worry about damaging little hips.

[wolfmama31]

So glad you posted about this as I've been having the same issue. DD was 1 ounce shy of 10 pounds at birth so a big girl and the infant insert always made the ergo feel funny on me. Not so great funny. Like it pushed it out too far which made my body kinda curve in and stick out in unnatural, uncomfortable ways. But I was worried about her legs so I kept using the insert until about 10 weeks though this limited my ergo usage to only when necessary, like long walks not just around the house. But then the ring sling was getting hard on my body and she was starting to reject it and I saw another young baby in his ergo with no insert and so felt I had permission to break the "law" of 3-4 months and go insert-less.

Long story short, DD's still standing or froggy-style in it and she just turned 3 months yesterday. Her legs sometimes splay that far when she has a cloth diaper on but she protests if I put them that way in ergo and I agree with her, seems just a little too far at this point. She's somewhere around 18 pounds and over 24 inches so not sure if height is the secret or just individual baby readiness? And I do worry about forcing her hip joints. The only problem I have with froggy or standing style (apart from feeling like I have to hold her in at some moments) is that her head will be really high up, like touching my face, if she's not in there right or it's not tight enough etc. Usually I can shimmy her around to make it work but I'm hoping that she'll move to splay before she gets much taller!

[TiffanyToo]

Ergo does not recommend thier carrier for young babies without the heart to heart insert.  Baby is usually old enough to be worn in the Ergo without the insert when baby sits well. 

The heart to heart has two pieces, I would suggest taking it apart and only use the base to get baby into the proper position of knees about level with babyb's belly button, spread about shoulder width apart and knees about 90*. This position promotes proper development of the hip, and femur as well allows baby to stay in that rounded back shape perferred by baby. http://www.ergobabycarrier.com/media/pdf/heart2heart.pdf