Well..our oldest is about 3.5yo and that's how long I've been babywearing.
Here's one of the first pictures of me wearing D. We loved it!
I debated wether or not to post this picture because I now know that the sling I'm was using then isn't the smartest most ergonomical babywearing choice.
But we all start somewhere and this was my start (ok my mom carried me in a Didymos Indio as a baby so I think that officially was the start (better and more ergonomical for sure)..
Anyhow..I switched to a stretchy wrap soon after and when D was about 1yo I really really wanted to do back carries so I bought my first woven wrap (a Girasol #8) and thats when things got out of hand 😁
I went from thinking 'why do people need more than one wrap? You can only use one at a time', to knowing you definitely need 2 wraps in your base size -for spit up and blow out disasters (those wraps take a looooong time to dry)- to wanting to try each size because of the different carries, trying out different blends, wanting the wraps to match my outfit etc.etc. 😣😂
I'm going a bit off topic. Back to babywearing consultants: back when I started I didn't even know babywearing consultants existed. I just thought myself with the use of YouTube videos. I joined some babywearing groups on Facebook and posted pictures for review there. Through a local babywearing Facebook group I met some awesome babywearing mommies, a few of whom are actually babywearing consultants. Since by then I already 'knew' all the carries I never did end up having an 'official' consultation myself. But a close friend who is a consultants has shown me many tips and taught me better and safer ways to wrap my kids and truthfully, looking back I wished I would have decided to get a consultation when I was still pregnant so I'd have known about all the different options and leared how to safely carry my babies from the get-go.
So..when I'd gotten submerged in the babywearing world, I looked into becoming a babywearing consultant. Since I'm a pretty outgoing person and I both like to help others and spread the babywearing love, this seemed like a logical next step. However, the courses are usually not taught close to where I live and you cannot bring your children along -it would be too disruptive, plus you use a demo doll because babies aren't always as cooperative as you'd like (duh)- I never had the chance to do it before (with nursing etc.)
But..now is the time! This time the course is being taught super close to where we live and thanks to my wonderfully supportive husband who'll watch the kids, I get to go!🎉
I'm so eager to learn more about babywearing in general and how to properly (!) teach others and can't wait to help even more parents to feel confident in wearing their baby.
I say confident because from experience I can tell you that the #1 reason people list as to why not to babywear (or I should say, not to use a woven wrap) is the parents' fear to drop their baby (which really: you won't! And seriously thats one of the reasons why you practice with a demo doll..so you can let go of that fear).
To finish this blogpost I will not go back to the song I started off with: because I am not about to lose control🎶. The whole point of doing this course is to stay focussed and in control..so I'll just stick to being excited 😉😃