Wearing Adam

After the shoes came another project – making my own wrap.

Just as an intro, a wrap is a type of baby carrier similar to sling, Mei-Tais, Baby Bjorn and the like. A wrap in essence is just a simple piece of cloth which you can manipulate in many ways to wear your baby close to you. You can read about the advantages online. I was really attracted to a particular type/brand of wrap which is – Moby Wrap – which uses a very comfy stretchable material. I tried searching for this wrap in Malaysia, everywhere including online shops. I even went as far as suggesting to the moderator to be included in some online shops. But to no avail, as yet.

Recently I came across this website that taught you how to make a NO-SEW wrap. (pls visit www.mamatoto.org). Really, it didn’t occur to me it would be so simple. Unfortunately I found out that it’s very difficult to obtain the right material for the wrap (in Malaysia). Normal fabric stores here like Kamdar only sell familiar fabrics that you use to make baju kurung/langsir and the like. No selection of nice stretchy cotton – t-shirt like – material at all. So in the end I selected the best fabric I could find, which turned out wasn’t really good enough.

Adam - was initially happy/excited being in the wrap

backview (that's me gawking at Ikea cute fabrics)

Adam stayed happily in the carrier for quite some time…and then lepas tu he got either bored or uncomfortable, I’m not sure. Terus dia nak keluar. There’s a possibility he was just unfamiliar with the method (carried in a wrap). It seems like the material is a bit too thick/warm and a little rough for his skin. But it does have some stretch and it was comfortable for me to wear. I could’ve gone for hours wearing Adam with the wrap; I could hardly feel his weight.

p/s: Does anyone know where I can buy nice stretchable cotton?

A friend of mine is trying to buy a Moby Wrap for me off Ebay..but has to be from international sellers. Susah sikitla…

I wish I’d found out sooner about baby wearing. My baby loves to be carried and I would love to carry him frequently too but the problem is my arms cannot handle it for long periods of time. Of course in our culture people always say jangan angkat-angkat anak…nanti dia nak di angkat je all the time. Although I respect this, for me I don’t really believe in this, but this is just my opinionla. For me if the baby is given the love and attention when he needs it, he will be less insecure and more confident to be independent. It is the “ignored” babies that will become either attention seekers or less independent because of their feeling of insecurity inculcated by being left by themselves all the time. This is merely my own inexperienced view; pls do not feel insulted if you do not share the same belief. I’m positive that all mothers want the best for their children.

A good website for baby wearing is – www.thebabywearer.com. I found their link through www.muslimparenting.com (which is also another good website).

Just wondering, are there other mothers/fathers out there who wear their babies a lot too? Or would like to learn to wear their babies? I got the idea of forming a baby wearing group from the website I mentioned and I thought it would be great to share the many different techniques of baby wearing and experiences. Plus we can make it a baby wearing + breastfeeding support group. Pls tell me if you’re interested.