So your tiny newborn suddenly hit the stage of wanting to see as much as possible. Maybe he cries when in the sling facing your chest, or spends his time always leaning back to look at something. I am sure people have asked why you are not carrying your baby facing out, or maybe when you are going to start doing it!
Front facing, world facing, facing away, outward facing… what ever you call it, you’ve probably heard about it, and maybe with bad conotations. Lets talk about some of them and deal with some of the misconceptions and myths before we talk about the actual carrying position its self.
You might think of a traditional narrow based carrier when you think of facing away. You know, one of those ones you can put on with your baby already in it like you are hanging them up in a bag, with their legs dangling straight down, because there is only a narrow strip of fabric between their legs, instead of them being in the lovely ergonomic position we are told is the best. Those carriers get a lot of bad press, and I will do a post on that sometime, explaining why they are not all bad. anyway, those narrow carriers did the face out position I was originally talking about, but a lot of things have been said about them being bad for baby’s hips because their feet hang down like someone sitting on a high bar stool with nowhere to rest their legs, which is is exhausting by the way, trust me I’m the shorty who knows it!!! yes, so those carriers got the bad name of being bad for hips. OK so this needs a longer time to go into than we have in this post, but unless your baby is actually known to have a problem or a potential problem with their hips, there is no real research to say that dangling legs are a bad idea. think about when you carry baby in arms, you don’t always hold them in a strictly ergonomic way. sometimes their legs will dangle, sometimes they will be curled up, and sometimes wrapped round you. Which brings me smoothly on to my next point actually.
Front facing carry has also got a bad name for being overstimulating. Think back to what we were talking about, carrying in your arms. Quite often we will face a baby away from us, to watch what’s going on, or even to say goodbye to someone. sometimes baby’s will be like that for longer than the designated 15-20 minutes at a time. When they sit in their bouncer, swing or buggy, they are usually world facing, and they don’t get over stimulated then, so why is this a thing in relation to forward facing carries? who knows! I’m guessing though that in actual fact, the whole time limit thing, is actually because this position is really not the most comfortable. and I speak from experience there!
Because the baby is facing away from you, with the potential to lean slightly away from you, the centre of gravity has changed. The closer you keep your baby the more like one person you will feel in a facing in carry, tummy to tummy. The baby is chest to chest with you and is more supported by your body and the 2 of you are a unit. Facing out, there is much more strain on your back! even with shoulder straps crossed, or spread out over your shoulders, the weight isn’t as easily distributed. Baby actually feels heavier in this position.
You will also not be able to interact with your baby, and might miss cues that he or she is sleepy. A big no no for this facing forward thing is that babies should never be allowed to sleep like that in a sling. Their head will end up on their chest, and their airways will be restricted Their head will flop about and be unsupported.
That said, If you want to do forward facing carries for short periods there is nothing wrong with that. nothing wrong with the carry itself. There are even ergonomic carriers which accommodate this position with the baby’s legs being wide apart with their knees supported by the carrier in the m shape we all know and love. We have a few in the library. The Ergobaby 360, the Ergobaby Embrace and the Beko Gemini are the 3 which spring to mind as I write this. They are all great carriers, and support other positions as well, such as tummy to tummy (facing in), hip carries (facing in) and the 360 and beko support back carries too.
Talking of back and hip carries, both are really lovely options for letting your baby see the world and are much more comfortable and sustainable for the carrier than facing out. Hip carries are great for cuddles and interactions while baby can be nosy! and back carries are great for older babies who love peering at things from the same direction as you. If you would like to talk about any of these carries, or the carriers I have mentioned then please get in touch.
The take away from this is that facing out carrying is not bad for all the reasons widely publicised, but it is harder work for the carrying person, and babies must never fall asleep in a forward facing carry. But it is not so bad after all!
The-carrying-life 
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