Babywearing: MOBY wrap

I'm starting my posts on specific baby wearing carriers with the MOBY wrap because that is where our baby wearing journey started almost 6 years ago! It's a wrap I still recommend to all new moms. The MOBY isn't a buckle carrier you quickly put baby into and snap on. It's in essence a long piece of fabric similar to t-shirt jersey material. Folded in half width wise you then "wrap" it around your body and insert baby. Unlike the more expensive and non-stretchy wraps, the carrier is usually put on before baby is inserted because it can stretch to accommodate baby being placed inside. Once wrapped baby is secure and has no way to fall to the ground for those worried.

A new MOBY wrap can easily be found at lots of mainstream stores. Target, BuyBuyBaby, Babies R Us, and more all carry it in some form. It retails from $40-$60 depending on the designs and types you choose. If you visit a Once Upon a Child or check your local swipe swap site (or one of the plethora of baby wearing swap pages on Facebook), you can easily find one for $20 or less. A used MOBY should pose no harm and has no parts to worry about being damaged from use by others.

I purchased my first MOBY before Nolan was even born and practiced wrapping it while waiting for him to finish growing!! While it looks complicated, for most carries you use the same wrap technique. Luckily, it can be wrapped on you in the comfort of your home and worn out to the store or wherever before inserting baby. Until I was well versed in wrapping, this is just what I did.

How the wrap looks when secured on you without baby. From the MOBY website. 

Many times when Tim and I would first go out in public with newborn Nolan wrapped in the Moby, people around us wouldn't even notice the baby strapped to me. It was great for keeping stingers from touching in those early weeks. Babies usually fall right to sleep once comfortably wrapped on you too.

When Nolan was still a newborn I wore him in the MOBY to Walmart. As I was walking in the door an overzealous greeter came rushing my way yelling. I ignored her until I realized she was saying "You can't bring that in here," and was about to touch me. I quickly stopped her and flabbergasted said, "My baby? I can't bring my baby in here?" She looked a little shocked and hopefully felt bad for jumping to conclusions. he then said, "I thought it was a dog." I laugh about but have to wonder who wears their dog on them?

Newborn Oliver sleeping on mom during his second week of life. 

Oliver in the picture above has an open airway, was kissable, his face was unobstructed, and I had a direct view to check on him! Refer back to my safety post here and always read the instructions included with any purchased baby carrier!!

This isn't a sponsored post. I have a MOBY and enjoy it and want to share the baby wearing love!

Allergies

As you know if you've read my posts before, Nolan is gluten intolerant. He does not have celiac's but he definitely reacts to gluten. Carter is doing great on the weight gain front which is much different than his brother. He was, however, having some issues.

He started projectile vomiting almost daily. No fun for either of us. He was also very gaggy most of the night. You'd hear him grunt and grumble and then choke and wake himself. I quickly thought reflux but was hoping it wouldn't be something he'd need daily medication at such a young age for. We also experienced body and diaper rash and congestion.

After a few days of the projectile vomiting, I took the doctor's suggestion and cut out dairy. Two weeks later though, he had improved a bit but then was starting to decline again. Last Friday we had an impromtu appointment to discuss everything  and get baby some help.

At 5 weeks 1 day C weighed in at 9lbs 6 oz. That was up from 8lbs 3 oz at 2 weeks 5 days. It turns out he likely isn't having reflux from over acidic stomach acid but from positioning and overeating. To combat that, we purchased the Fisher Price Rock n Play sleeper which lets him sleep safely at a 45 degree incline. I'm not sure if it's a fluke but the first night he slept 6 hours straight! Second night he did all 4 hour stretches. That's much better then the two hours he was doing. We are also trying out pacifiers hoping he'll suckle those instead of always me! He would want to suckle then get upset when milk came out and he was already full. Crazy baby!

As for the rashes, our doctor suspects some sort of allergy/intolerance to something I'm eating. Since dairy doesn't seem to be the issue or possibly not the only issue, I'm doing a full elimination diet for him. This means no corn, soy, dairy, nuts, eggs, or gluten for the next three weeks. Then I'll slowly add one in at a time every week or so. I'm keeping a full journal of everything I eat/drink and charting his reactions, symptoms, and sleep habits. Hopefully I'll see improvement at the end of the 3 weeks and be able to figure out what is going on. All I can say is dairy elimination was hard but removing all of this is torture!