To be honest I didn't even realise I had left it behind until we had settled in our new town, my daughter had started full time daycare for the first time ever, her father was away for work for 6 weeks and we were living in a different house. That was when my normally exuberant and independent little girl started becoming very clingy and demanding.
I was struggling to cope with her new behaviour and close to pulling my hair out. I understood why she wanted to be with me so much with all the changes and upheavals but I was struggling to cope with meeting her needs for comfort and my need to be able to move around and do things. What I would have done for my Ergo!
The benefits for carrying infants are reasonably well known (well amongst babywearers at least) ; babies cry less, feed better, gain weight quicker, maternal depression rates are lower and general well being is higher. Many peer-reviewed and scientific journals make comment on the correlation between maintaining high levels of contact and "in arms" time and more independent, well behaved children with greater emotional stability and ability to handle stress in later life. Societies where babywearing is the norm have lower incidence of violence and children are more obedient, and are more emotionally stable.
However I had not really considered babywearing past the toddler stage. By around 2 both my kidlets were more than happy to cruise around independently and the need for the carrier decreased. But then we had never had so many upheavals as we have had this year.
As soon as I opened the box and pulled out our trusty old Ergo my daughter was ecstatic. We popped on the backpack and she climbed and there she sat happily chatting away for over an hour while I went about unpacking, putting away washing and doing homework with my older son. Both our stress levels dropped dramatically from what had been a guilt ridden flurry of activity while I attempted to rush around doing the domestic chores that needed to be done while trying to give my attention equally to both my kids to a pleasant calm experience where everyone was getting what they wanted.
Even my husband could see the benefits when he walked in the doors to a house full of happy family instead of the stressed out banshee family he has been coming home to lately and in answer to his comment - "Are you still wearing that thing? with a massive smile plastered across his face. I say a big heartfelt YES to toddler and small child wearing and encourage you to try it out if your not already!
If you would like more information about slings and carriers and what type would suit you and your family you can check out this link here
http://naturalparent.com.au/category_14/Babywearing-slings-and-carriers.htm
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