The trouble with learning something is that now you have to go out and SHARE it with people.

[conuly]

Here I am, in the B&N the other day, and I urgently had to run in, pee, run out and go home to pick up the nieces. I was on a Very. Tight. Schedule. And as I was going up the escalator I saw a woman on the first floor with her baby in a sling. Something about how she was holding the sling made me notice her.

Soooo... I turned around and went down the *down* escalator to confirm she had no idea what she was doing and to fix her sling for her.

*sighs*

Two things:

1. When you're adjusting your ring sling, pull the tail *out*, not *down*. If you pull the tail down you increase the risk of your sling twisting, you move the rings from their ideal spot, and you shove the sling up into your neck. Not comfy.

2. If the sling moves away from you when you bend over or walk, it's not tight enough. People are always reluctant to tighten their slings at first, but the tighter it is (more or less), the more secure the baby is - and the happier you'll both be! The baby just spent nine months INSIDE you (or inside SOMEbody, anyway), they don't want to be free and easy just yet! After the first few minutes using a new sling (when you feel awkward and weird and it's expected) you shouldn't feel like you have to constantly put your hand there to keep your kid safe. The whole point is that your hand doesn't have to be there. Also? Keep the kiddo's head where you can kiss it. If you can't kiss the top of the sweet little head, the baby is too low.

I explained all this to her and managed to make it to the toilet before peeing on myself, but really, no matter how much she thanked me I know the truth: I am, in fact, kinda a buttinsky.

Comments

[sayga.livejournal.com]

I <3 you!

I extolled the virtues of a mei tai to a woman carrying a baby in a bjorn who complained to me that soon her baby would be too big to carry in that thing. She sounded interested; hopefully she remembered the name long enough to get home and google it.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I'm not clear on whether there is a safety issue in how she was using it, but if you made the baby safer, that was a really good thing to do. And Judith Martin herself has stated that one has an obligation to act on safety issues even when it means correcting strangers. (Although she still argues you do it politely, of course.)

[conuly]

It both was and it wasn't a safety issue. I mean, she couldn't use the sling to hold the baby the way she was doing it... but most people using a sling improperly can *feel* that it's not secure so, practically speaking, the baby won't fall out anyway because Mom's arms are around them anyway.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Okay, so it may not be justifiable under that reasoning. Just under the reasoning of making someone else's life better. There are worse things to do.