Babywearing while cooking? - Page 2

[lilyka]

I also think the poll needs to have "I will only cook while they are on my back option" because i think there is a huge difference between having them onyour back and in front. I have had 2nd and 3rd decrgree burns from cooking. here is what i leaned from my experiance.

1)nothing is more painful than a burn. not childbnirth, not broken bones, not deep jagged cuts, not kidney stones, not anything, . I swear to you.

2) it happens fast even when you are paying attention. You are not incomtrol of where your baby moves her hands and feet. You just never can know when they are going to lunge.

2) no body spills hot sauces or boiling water on themselves on purpose. No one ever puts thier hand on a hot burner or pan on purpose. it i always an accident.

3) stuff splatters and pops and splashes.

4) haveing a fabric cover such as a sling will not help. If you burn you hand what do you do? You either quickly wash or wipe (which by the way is a very bad idea - experiance) the offending hot stuff off. If your baby is in a sling (or you spill on your clothes - again experiance) you have to get them out of all the fabric, out of any clothes they are wearing and then to the sink. the entire time that hot stuff is on them it just keeps burning. and then you have to peel the fabric out of the burned area. yeeeoouch!

I do carry my baby on my back but when push comes to shove I will eaiter post pone supper/change planse ot a cold supper or omehting that can cook without my attention or let my baby fuss/cry a little bit until I can settle them. It is just way to risky to cook with them strapped to the front of you. Now I don't have an issue with them on your back but still be careful of dangely little feet. I think having childrne in the kitchen while cooking at all is dangerous. And my dd has the scar to prove it. and i was just doing dishes. please be careful with little ones in the kitchen.

[Rainbow]

I sling with a child on my back. Then again my 3 yr old is allowed to help cut and cook- I think it is good to expose them to things they'll want to do and teach them to do it properly, so that one time they get to it without your seeing they at least know how to use it.
I also have a guard on my stove so they can't stick their feet up there or anything. I'm much to short for it to even be possible for them while they are on my back.

I have a picture around here somewhere of my slinging my infant while helping my toddler cut veggies.

[QDB]

I sling my ds (12 mos) on my hip while cooking, too. He likes to see and touch things. He gets to play with the vegetables, herbs, etc...likes to chew on garlic too - which I think is interesting

It makes me nervous tho but somedays it is the only way to get stuff done, ykwim?

On the other hand he loves helping me make cookies and breads and watching the food processor and mixer going!

[hnybee]

This one is a big problem for me. I've been wearing my baby since birth, but now he is 14 months and still loves to be worn (even when i'm cooking). But he is toddler now and won't sit still. He wants to grab at everything. Can you wear a 20lb toddler on your back? If so how?

Spam totally welcome (as always). I really need a solution. He is an octopus!!


-Melissa

[eminer]

Wow, I'm really surprised that this turns out to be so controversial! When I was wearing dd as a younger baby, I considered her part of my personal space. Her position was always in the corner of my mental eye, and I just automatically shifted her as necessary to do different cooking tasks. Sometimes I did this with a sling, sometimes directly in arms. As she got more active, I responded accordingly (shifting her to my back, sometimes putting her down/passing her to dh or having her stand on a stool, and by age one, letting her join in and help while I commented on what I was doing -- including e.g. "this is hot", one of the first words she learned).

I dread getting burned, but it doesn't cause me to swear off all cooking. In my mind, dd's risk of getting burned would be higher had I excluded her from cooking, because she would not have had the opportunity to learn naturally to judge heat. This came home to me in a new way the other day when my MIL, who raised 8 kids, saw dd somewhere in the vicinity of a hot pan and freaked out. She simply assumed that we would be equally freaked. But for a moment I couldn't figure out what she was talking about. Dd was just behaving in some rational, socially learned way (serving herself, I think? -- something like that) and was aware that the pan was hot for the same reason MIL was (dh had casually said upon putting it down, "Be careful, this is still hot," and it was emitting steam). She didn't learn this because I sat her down one day and taught her. She learned it by being our little satellite for 2 1/2 years.

Erin