Tummy to Tummy Hold with a Mei Tai

I'm finally posting a mei tai video! (I made this video first thing this morning and it shows! Sorry!) I think the mei tai (otherwise known as an Asian-style baby carrier or ABC) is the easiest to learn and use. Personally, I don't use it for hip carries (I prefer a selendang or rebozo for that), but it's great for carrying your little one on your back, tummy to tummy and for nursing.

I put a few pictures up of Little E in the Mei tai after I tied it in the back. Just to give you a better look of how it looks in the front and back.

Well, our babywearing journey continues. I think if someone had told me I would still be doing this on a daily basis when Little E was almost a year and a half old I would have been shocked! I remember talking to a babywearing mama at the farmer's market one day who had her 19 month-old in a ring-sling when E was only 4 or 5 months old. I was amazed and pretty much speechless! I think I was impressed, but also thinking I wouldn't be carrying Little E in a sling at that age! Ha, ha! Well, here I am so many months later STILL carrying him.

Now, that I'm here it seems like the most natural thing! The main thing is I love the closeness of it. Little E is asleep right now in our Storchenwiege wrap. This time I have with him is fleeting. I intend it enjoy it while I can! It's inevitable that he will grow up and become his own independent person. I feel that being so close now is laying a strong foundation for his future. I've said it before, but I'll keep saying it: babywearing is all about love!

Another thing that I didn't think about when Little E was tiny is that toddlers often need to be contained or ,um, restrained. So, your choices usually are holding them in-arms, using a stroller or wearing them. Well, I'm so used to wearing Little E that using a stroller now seems kind of silly for us!

So, we've done lots of babywearing this week. I'm trying to use the Storchenwiege as much as I can to soften it up more, so E's been taking some naps in that. I've been using my new Kozy mei tai, too. A selendang is always handy for hip carries. And I've been using the Mexican rebozo. Little E fell asleep in it yesterday and slept for 3 hours! Wow.