baby but no car.. Is this possible?

I've got the Ergo, and have been using it upfront for a few months to great satisfaction. But baby is nearly too big for front-carrying and haven't figured out back-carry either! Everytime I go to watch the instructional DVD, the guy doing karate kicks with baby-on-board just freaks me out.

It's a wrap Meg. I've got several, it's a slippery slope into obsession/addiction I have to confess!

I had a stretchy wrap when Aidan was small but once he got too heavy for that I didn't realise there were other options. I found out in time for me going back to work and started off with Mei Tais, carrying him on front, then bit the bullet and worked out back carries, wishing I'd done it a long time ago - makes such a difference! I only started wrapping properly after Christmas but it's much easier now that Aidan's up and down all the time. I can get him up and down on a moving train, once you get the hang of it it's easy. It's the practice that's the key.

Granted I live in a small city and work across the street (from our home) but it never crossed my mind to "need" a car for a kid. Especially babies! Buy a babyBjorn and you're set!

with all due respect I wouldn't buy a baby bjorn, spend a little bit more and get a carrier that's better for your baby's hips and better for your back, which you'll be able to use for a lot longer than a bjorn.

Bjorn's have been nicknamed 'crotch danglers' by some babywearers, as the baby hangs straight down and a lot of the weight is suported by their crotch. More traditional carriers, such as Mei Tais, wraps, ring slings, soft structured carriers (including the Ergo) etc. spread the weight much better, and if the baby is vertical then the baby sits in the carrier with their legs spread and knees higher than their bum so the weight's not on their crotch. Sure they're better than nothing but there are so many better carriers on the market.

http://www.slingmeet.co.uk/baby_sling_guide.html

it just struck me, reading the "traveling with kids" thread, that one of our biggest problems in traveling is that the kids get carsick easily. (we don't own a car, but rent them for vacations.) i guess if a kid's in a car every day they get used to the motion, but if it's only a few times a year it's pretty disorienting. we do ride buses a fair amount, but there's so much stopping and starting in city traffic that i don't think you get the kind of sustained motion that produces sickness.

anyway, that aside, i'm happy to be able to live without a car, and to not have to put my kids in them. it's true that getting around town can be a logistical challenge sometimes, but we manage. i've hiked strollers up and down a lot of stairs. and for our youngest, we have an ergo carrier, which my wife mostly wears as a front carrier and i wear as a backpack, it works well both ways.

I too could not figure out how to load a baby into the back of the Ergo. Tricky stuff...

i finally did it with no help last week. but usually my wife's there to help.

It really is just gaining confidence and practising, and watching different youtube videos of people doing it in slightly different ways...

Hello!

We have a baby and no car and so far (14.5 months) have found it to be quite manageable.

But! Ivy is going to outgrow her infant carseat in the next few months or so, which means we need to buy a "convertible" car seat. I can't find anything anywhere on the whole wide internet discussing the relative merits of convertible car seats for people who don't own a car.

Does anybody have any suggestions? In addition to the standard safety features, we are looking for something light and easy to install (without a base, obviously).

We're in exactly the same situation but all I know is rear-facing is a zillion times safer in the event of a crash.

There's this thing called the immi go that they use in Ubers. It's light and collapsible. Don't know about the safety rating.

Oh wow the Immi Go would be perfect but it's only front facing. I wonder if we can just keep Ivy out of cars between outgrowing her infant seat and turning two...

I might be wrong but I think there just isn't any way to keep them rear facing past a certain age/size. We had to turn k around pretty early because she was so tall.

The recommendation is a rear facing seat until they are 24 months, but there are height/weight limits for rear facing seats. Ivy's short and slim so she probably won't outgrow the seat before she turns two.