Moms of newborns, fear not! When you first deliver your baby, it seems like you will never, ever move from the couch again. However, after breastfeeding is established and you feel at ease latching on your newborn, it’s totally possible to walk and nurse at the same time! You don’t have to sit on the couch surrounded by pillows and snacks – that is, unless you want to.
How can you make it easier to move and nurse? While “grab your baby and answer the door while nursing” is one approach, and it’s one that I’ve used quite frequently, it’s a little easier when your baby is in a carrier.
The Ergo Baby Carrier offers an infant insert that allows your baby to sit sideways. This means that your baby is positioned in a way that makes it fairly simple to nurse. As your baby gets older, he can actually sit in the Ergo and nurse too. This happens once he has head control.
A ring sling or a pouch sling may need to be reworked a little so that your baby is in a good position to nurse. For a ring sling, this may mean tightening the sling slightly so that your baby moves upwards. In a pouch sling, you may want to give your baby’s bottom a little nudge to move him into nursing position. A pouch sling is helpful for taking the baby weight off one arm, but since it is not adjustable it won’t always position your baby perfectly for nursing.
A wrap sling is the most inherently flexible of the slings, because it is simply a piece of fabric. You can arrange it to have your baby in a sitting football hold, with his head supported or in a slightly more sideways position.
Slings can make it a lot easier to nurse your baby. How have you used them?