Out and about recently with my little cheeky monkey I spied three mum’s getting ready to take their little ones for a walk around the zoo. I smiled to myself remembering just how as a new mummy the choice was endless as to the best way to go about transporting them around. Pram, car seat, sling, papoose…mind boggling choices each with pro’s and con’s. This group of ladies had all decided on a papoose.
Now there are two main forms of papoose. The style that a certain 80’s tennis player lends his name too, and the ones that I will just summarise as “The Others”. This group of ladies had gone for the latter option.
What I witnessed brought me to the following conclusion. “The Others” should only be worn by skinny women. Unfortunately these women did not fall in to that category. Each child was strapped in with their legs firmly wrapped around their mothers’ waist……scratch that…..each child had their legs popped out of the sockets so that they could wrap their legs around their mothers’ waist. In fact I would have struggled to put my legs around their waist! I swear that these poor babies were doing the splits. I was clearly witnessing a baby gymnastic session as I sipped my coffee. Any new mum a size 10 or under – you lucky things – can get away with one. The rest of us, do your little one a favour and stay clear. Unless of course you are grooming them as a child star in gymnastics at the next Olympics!
As for you, what started off as a good idea soon becomes a burden. Flashbacks of being a student and having to carry your shopping home on the bus spring to mind. It doesn’t seem too much of a problem at first, but after you get off and have to then walk a mile further down the road you wish you hadn’t taken up the 3 for 2 offers.
And don’t even get me going about the “boil in the bag” implications of a papoose. Regardless of weather conditions your little one is strapped to a warm body, sweating with the strain of having to carry a weight around on their post-pregnancy frame. It is no surprise that your little one is going to fall asleep. It is no doubt suffering from heat exhaustion!
Papoose or not to papoose? Well I think you know my answer. But that’s just my honest opinion.
Love
Harry’s Honest Mummy x