[kfillmore]

I am wondering what mamas use for a 21/2 year old. When we go to places like the zoo or walk from one place to another, or actually anywhere, she wants to walk for 5 minutes, get picked up for 10 minutes, down for 5 etc. It is very tiring because in the end I am lifting her and carrying her quite a lot.

I have an Ergo and a mei tie and a few other (obi, homemade wrap etc). They all are pretty cumbersome etc to wear empty.

Any suggestions?

thanks

 

[Monkey Keeper]

Ring sling. For sure. Easily portable, doubles as a picnic blanket/changing pad/sun shade and is easy in, easy out for a hip carry. Look for a "toddler width" and fabric with a little heft. Jan at Sleeping Baby Productions recently had some toddler width linen slings that would be good. Or if you can find a pouch that fits *just right*, that would work too. Maybe even a shorty?

But me, I'd go with a ring sling.

 

[EcoTykesMama]

I also like pouches for the up-down, up-down or a short wrap.

Pouches are really compact and tuck away nicely in a small purse or bag. You know if it's the right size pouch for you if the curve of the pouch falls at the top of the curve of your hips. You can get them really inexpensively second-hand. Ring slings also resell for about the same price as a pouch.

With a toddler, if they're too long to "lift" up and over into the sling, have them stand and lower the fabric over their head and under their bum.

A short wrap can be a blanket too, just like the ring sling, but without the rings.

 

[kfillmore]

Can you give me a name of a pouch that might be good?

I am really not sure a ring sling would be good for us. I know everyone likes them for toddlers but they seem hot and cumbersome. I would be spending a lot of time without DD in it.

 

[LaughingHyena]

I had one of these hip seats. I liked it for short trips where DS needed the occasional carry or lifting up to see animals at the zoo. It wasn't too bad to wear without using. I didn't find it comfortable for longs though, I think since I still had to keep an arm round him at all times. Also it was hopeless if he did not want to be carried. A short wrap and hip carry kept him a little more contained.

 

[bwaybaby918]

Just to chime in, a double-layer linen ring sling (or a slingified wrap, or a shorty tied rebozo for a hip carry) is going to be more supportive and MUCH less hot than a pouch. Pouches are great for ins and outs, but they are all made of a stretchy fabric that is going to pull hard on your shoulder whenever she is in it. I vote for the ring sling, but my other suggestion is to find a short wrap (you can try to make your own with gauze, but I'd get a stronger fabric for a rebozo hip carry). If you don't want to fool with the rings of a ring sling and like the idea of a pouch, you might like to do a rebozo hip carry and that will function like a pouch, but with more support.

 

[mamayogibear]

My go to carrier for my dd when she was that age was a short woven wrap, Didy Yew size 3. It takes me just as long to put her in a ruc as it does to buckle the buckles on an Ergo. That and she can use it as a blanket on the ride home And it makes a stylish belt or scarf for me to wear when she is walking