Woven wrap or stroller? Infant on a city break.

Every day we do not realize how quickly time passes. We did not notice when it happened but we recently foun out that Ola is not an infant any more. We don’t know when but suddenly she became a little girl. The time from her birth until the moment when she stopped being a newborn passed extremely slowly. But in turn the period of her infancy passed so quickly we do not know when. Fortunately, we have the feeling that we really took advantage of it, first of all because of the time we spent together. And if in addition we managed to visit several places together, the more happy we are. Thanks to those trips we gathered some experience in traveling with an infant and until we totally forget how it was to pack, get around and visit new places with such a little baby we want to share this knowledge with you. All you need to know about staying in hotel with a baby you already know.

We want to start today with the question: what to take with you for the city break to Paris, Moscow, Barcelona or any other beautiful place, a woven wrap or a baby stroller?

We put the question that way mainly because all different types of baby carriers or other backpacks for babies do not have the best reputation among physiotherapists and doctors because they do not necesarily correctly shape our kid’s spine. There are of course some type of those that will not hurt our baby but we were never sure if the one that we are looking at was really safe or it was just marketing. So as an alternative for the stroller we chose woven wrap which has very god opinions of all experts. We have to admit that this necessity of proper carrying for the babys spine became the priority for us and made us choose the woven wrap to carry Ola.

So let’s get to the main question: what to take for the baby for holidays when you will fly by plane, plan to do some sightseeing visit restaurants and so on, woven wrap or a stroller?

Each of this option Has its pros and cons. The most simple answer is: take both! But who will fit in addition a woven wrap to the carry on luggage? Surely nobody! You’d better spend few minutes on Reading this post and take the well thought decision before you leave.

Let’s start from the woven wrap.

It is actually quite a smart way of carrying babies. It allows in comfortable for mom and baby way cover different distances but it is not perfect in 100%. Pros go first:

• Taking woven wrap gives us the possibility of wandering the city for unlimited amount of time. If in different baby carriers experts suggest to keep infants as short as, possible. In woven wraps you can walk with the baby as long as you wish. Of course until you don’t get tired yourself. Although the weight of the child is not something that you feel that much, after some time of walking you will get tired anyway.
• And when you get tired it comes the time for break. Nowhere to sit? Just untie you wrap, fold it in half, put it on the grass and you will have a place to sit and rest for the whole family. Thanks to that you will easily change the diaper everywhere and let the baby and yourself rest.
• Rome or New York, Paris or Bejing, sooner or later you will want or have to use some kind of public transportation. Will it be subway, bus, a taxi cab or trolejbus it will be very easy to jump on it having your baby attached to your own body. You will be able to forget about uneven pavements or huge curbs in eastern Europe cities.
• Some will surely notice that baby tied to the parent (yes, dad can carry it too!) will seem to be more calm. It will be either the result of of being close to the parent for such a long time or simply the view. Imagine to suddenly get the possibility of watching everything from above! You would be speechless too!

Althought it is quite nice to carry your baby stick to you for whole day, we have to be honest and say that such solution has also some cons.

• First of all you have to remember that woven wrap means another layer of clothes on your and baby’s body. In the middle of the summer when it is plus 30 outside the necessity of wraping yourself with some fabric seems like entering sauna. You and the baby will sweat as much even if you choose a „summer version” made of some lighter material. Such are of course available but an additional layer and this little heating device of 37 degrees will make you sweat anyway. On the other hand in winter it will be an advantage. 
  
  
• As we already mentioned winter – you will surely be happy to get that additional layer in winter but together with your coat and baby’s winter suit, it will become rather uncomfortable. We cannt say impossible to use but definitely uncomfortable.
• Hot or cold, winter or summer, you can tie the baby to yourself and go exploring the city. But what about all the stuff? That is pretty clear that you cannot leave home for at least half a day without diapers, milk, water, other food toys, some warm clothes and so on. So you pack all those things to your backpack or a bag, put it on your back and start leaning like the tower in Pisa. Even if you share some of it with the other parent, it still means the necessity of carrying that by one of you right next to your usuall stuff that you used to carry only for yourself. But let’s not exagerrate, you will surely fit all that in one bag, and will be able to hold the camera in your hand that thanks to using woven wrap is free!
• Since you are already packed, all things are ready, all you need to do is to tie the wrap. I believe that after few attempts you will be able to mount it in a minute but at the beginning of your experience it is the biggest thing to fasten it right. Not only that the strains and layers get confused but also when you pull one part, the other stays unmoved. Ehh… let’s start from the beginning. Only the proper mounting means safe for the baby position! When after at least three attempts you finally manage to do it right you are free to go!
• And right after you leave, start looking around for some interesting sights suddenly you smell something… That’s right – the diaper needs to be changed. And whole prodcedure starts over again. Unwraping, doing what you have to do and tieing again, wraping, tightening…

Not easy, isn’t it? But nobody promissed it will be.

Let’s check if taking the stroller will be more convenient:

• Folding it and packing to the car’s trunk you probably do perfectly already. Now imagine taking it out at the airport and right after that putting it apart into pieces to fit it the security scanner. That’s when you regret taking it with you for the first time. Once you are done with dismounting all you need to do now is to mount it again on the other side of the scanner. The scanner of course has to be that small otherwise you might fit your stroller there without disassembling it!
• We all know what is the biggest terror for the people with baby stroller – stairs. Being on a trip with the stroller will definitely not encourage you to use metro. Seeing so many stairs you will sweat immediately and start looking for some lift that will take you to the platform. Oh, it’s not right platform? Wrong lift? And where are all the others who took the stairs? Grrrr…
• Even entering the bus will require from you some more physical activity. Especially in some eastern cities where still to some buses leads nothing else than stairs.
• Finally there comes the time to get something to eat. Maybe some nice local restaurant? Perfect, if only tables are far enough from each other to fit the stroller between them. Right away you can forget about those little restaurants on Rome’s piazzas or Paris’ places, where tables are almost one on top of another. So maybe inside? Oh, hope the door is wide enough to drive the stroller through. It isn’t? You can always take the baby on your hands and leave the stroller outside. Outside? It cost almost as much as an old car!
• It’s not easy to be the parent with the stroller. But you have appreciate the comfort your baby gets in his or her own stroller. He or she can freely stretch, turn around and sleep when they want to. Even if you want to stay somewhere till late your baby can fall asleep anytime and anywhere.
• There is one more advantage of the stroller: you can pack all the baby stuff there and easily push it in front of you instead carrying it on your back. You won’t even notice that there is something more in the stroller and your back will not get wet from carrying the backpack.
• And what is more you will easily change the diaper, feed and entertain the baby in the stroller.

As you see, each of those options has it’s advantages. Now you should think which of the disadvantages seem the most annoying for you and choose the other option. The truth is that you hardly ever travel alone with the baby and there will always be somebody who will help you carry the baby, backpack with the diapers and all other stuff and you won’t have to carry the stroller by the stairs yourself. Even if you are planning a weekend only with your baby remember that in every corner of the world there are other people who will be happy to help a parent with the baby. 

And remember that stroller travels by plane for free and usually it’s the same way in public transportation.