Monday, November 1, 2010

maya wrap vs. snugli carrier

My daughter is now over 6 weeks old. For the past week, she has developed a nasty habit of being excessively clingy and attached. At least, in my untrained and uneducated opinion, and compared to most adults' behaviour. For an infant, however, this may very well be par for the course. Where she used to go down for post-feeding naps quite easily, this past week her modus operandi has been, after falling asleep in my arms, when I put her into a bassinet or cradle to relieve my aching arms, to immediately wake up crying to be held. So I have had to resort to using a carrier to strap her to my chest during the daylight hours, because I honestly couldn't go another minute without the use of my ever-weakening overstrained arms.

I have both a Snugli infant carrier and a friend's Maya Wrap, and I have been alternating between the two, trying to determine which one is better suited for which circumstances.

 PROs for the Maya Wrap:
  • makes a small enough "package" that I can very easily still type; Snugli is too bulky to reach my arms around and see the monitor over the top of
  • has a large pocket: washcloths, binky, camera, cell phone, ventolin inhaler, etc.

PROs for the Snugli carrier:
  • MUCH easier to get baby into and out of one-handed and quickly; maya wrap is awkward to fit but once it is, you don't DARE mess with it or you won't get the baby back into it again
  • better distributes the weight of the baby to prevent backache 

My conclusion: they are pretty evenly matched; I am unable to choose one over the other. I'm glad I have both available to me.