Is that a baby in your handbag or are you just glad to see me?

Erin writes in about how a baby is like a handbag. "Not in the way that you can pre order in your favourite colour and your choice of size (though the way things are going…)...baby is always with you, you would be in a pickle of you left baby behind, and above all these things, first and foremost, without baby you feel completely and utterly vulnerable."

She reckons that on those nights you do get a babysitter that you spend the evening "folding and refolding your arms, as it’s been so long since they’ve been free of carrying an 8 lb weight." Her advice: carry a couple of bags of sugar in your purse as compensation.

Or you could try the Baby and All bag: just sling your baby over your shoulder and take it anywhere. I really like this bag, maybe because it makes me laugh. "Ideal for the school run or shopping trips", plus at £50 you'd still have money left over to visit your chiropractor.

Comments

[supermother]

It passes so fast, that stage when they want to be up close to you although it doesn't seem so at the time.

[Busy Mums]

Its lovely feeling close to your kids- but just sometimes when you are feeling tired - you just don't appreciate the close contact. I guess thats why we all need a little time out and space for ourselves.

[supermother]

It's really important to carry and cuddle children. Many a time parents are out even with a double buggy and each carrying a toddler. That's normal. The child wants the warmth and comfort of your body although it can get a bit tiring for the adults.

[Lazy Mummy]

The problem with a side-carrier is it's worse for the adult than some other designs like a sling that can be moved around or a baby backpack. Unless you have back problems, piggyback rides or shoulder rides are better for the carrier than carrying the child on one side/the front. Or so my pilates teachers tell me. Of course, if you have a child like mine that flat-out refuses to be carried on the back, you just get lopsided anyway, but it doesn't last forever.

The carrying in from car/to bed thing seems fairly common, fond memories of that myself. I think it makes the child feel cosy, warm, safe. All those things they learned as a baby and want to still feel. It's the same as wanting cuddles really, isn't it?

[NS]

I don't have this particular product but I still use a hip sling for my toddler sometimes if we're just going on a short trip or want to use public transport at a busy time. It's so much easier than trying to ram a pushchair through tiny doors and aisles and having to wait for three buses before there's one with room for a buggy. And it doesn't hurt my back at all. If it fits properly it shouldn't.

[Katherine]

Sometimes a child can’t walk as far as an adult and sometimes there isn’t a bus. If you can pick them up what’s the problem? For example, we were on a walk round an arboretum and my boyfriend’s six-year-old nephew was getting tired. So I put him on my shoulders for a bit; it gave him a rest and a second wind to walk some more. I can’t see that this is any different - as long as you aren’t going to do your back in. A child can’t walk as far as an adult; to them it’s further. Surely it’s a question of picking them up only when appropriate and not letting them be lazy.

I have to admit in the picture the child doesn’t look like she’s actually sitting on the hip; and I would definitely want to be using my hip to support her.

And as for obesity – at least it’ll help the adult burn a few extra calories!

[j]

Oh for heavens sake, what complete waste of energy and oil will they invent next?

If your toddler won't walk any further what is wrong with catching the bus? (not getting at you Sandra- I know it may make sense for you, but generally....)

Agree on not wanting to be touched the entire time, also not wanting to be yakked at constantly.

[mumoftwo]

Yes, my big-for-her-age four year old does still love to be carried up two flights of stairs when she is tired or ill, but she's absolutely on the limit of what I can carry now; it's funny how being carried is still important to her (being a baby I guess). I still remember pretending to fall asleep in the back of the car on the way home from my granny's every Sunday so I would be carried in and put in bed which seemed quite special at the time, I'm not sure why!

[supermother]

I loved having a baby in a sling although it wasn't possible with the twins. I just remember the feeling of being over touched with particularly the very first baby who was a very physically attached almost 24/7 breastfeeding one or perhaps with the first you are less confident in knowing when it's just tired and can be put down. That phase doesn't last long.

Carrying older children is nice sometimes too. It's sad when they get too old to be picked up. At 9 the twins are too large now. The carrying me upstairs cannot happen. I've always thought one reason I have strong arms is from years of carrying big children, rather than very heavy briefcases although I've done more than enough of the latter too.

[margot]

I'm more impressed that she can balance a large child on one hip on a nasty plasticky looking handbag while wearing those rather high heeled boots!

[Melissaria]

I'm not sure it would work for a child the size of the one in the picture, but from where they can sort of sit up a bit, to being about 20+lbs or so, you can just make a sling out of any old sarong - you just tie a knot in it, slip it round you like a sash and sit them on your hip, using the material to hold them there.

You only get the one hand free, but for a quick fix, it's a lot cheaper than some of those fancy pants slings out there. Everyone used to stop me and ask where I got my 'really funky sling'!

[Sandra]

I actually have this bag/carrier and find it great for it's convenience. It means that I can go out with my toddler without a pushchair and when she gets fed up with walking or is bored when I'm waiting in a queue I just lift up onto my bag. Honestly it's been a godsend and I highly recommend it.

[Mel]

What a weird and essentially useless product this sling-thing seems to be. I would possibly use a sling for a baby (even though I've suffered with back problems since my teens), but when my child is as old as the one in the picture I will expect him/her to walk the same as everybody else.
I wonder what myriad other child & baby products exist that could arguably contribute to the 'obesity epidemic' we are supposedly in the clutches of??

[mumoftwo]

I've wondered whether this is actually related to hormones, I remember reading about it making you over-sensitive to touch so things you normally enjoy feels unpleasant and 'too much'. Certainly in pregnancy I had times where things like stroking my hair, which usually I love, just feel too much. I'm sure that isn't the only reason (that 'not another person needing something' feeling is pretty universal, I think in the early days!

I also found I simply didn't want to stay in contact with my babies physically all the time, I loved cuddling and breastfeeding, but then liked to put them down, which is how I knew continuum parenting wasn't for me at an instinctive level.

[mumoftwo]

I've wondered whether this is actually related to hormones, I remember reading about it making you over-sensitive to touch so things you normally enjoy feels unpleasant and 'too much'. Certainly in pregnancy I had times where things like stroking my hair, which usually I love, just feel too much. I'm sure that isn't the only reason (that 'not another person needing something' feeling is pretty universal, I think in the early days!

I also found I simply didn't want to stay in contact with my babies physically all the time, I loved cuddling and breastfeeding, but then liked to put them down, which is how I knew continuum parenting wasn't for me at an instinctive level.

[Claire King]

Yes!

Do you know, I thought it was just me.

(3 month old currently attached to breast and toddler 'helping' me type)...

[Melissaria]

Oh it was awful. They always want the physical attention, just as you're thinking 'thank God, twenty minutes without another human being attached to me' and then get all hurt and offended when you try and explain it...it's very hard indeed.

[Jennifer]

I think that's one of the hardest things for partners to understand - that you don't want a cuddle or a romp. You just want to be left alone sometimes.

[supermother]

I certainly remember that feeling of being "over touched" by a baby such that I wanted a break from it, even as a full time working mother of babies.