Why is my baby leaning out?

25.07.2018
The most common cause of little leaners is their natural curiosity and desire to explore the world. This kind of behaviour can be experienced since around the third month of the baby’s life when it should be able to hold its head independently. At the same time the natural processes in its brain “force” the child to a natural curiosity, thus helping its development.

In these cases, we recommend to wear your baby on your hip or back when it is awake and curious. These positions secure the immediate proximity of a parent and offer plenty of view to all sides.

For a hip babywearing you can either use some of the wrap carries or a Ring Sling. For a back carry a wrap is an ideal solution in this case, seeing that in a carrier you are not able to put your child as high as necessary, so the baby cannot look over your shoulder – this all is easily managed in a wrap.

If your baby is leaning out even just before sleeping, try using a carrier. It will hold it firmer than a wrap. If the baby protests too much, choose a wrap and when it falls asleep, try to position it back into an ergonomic position.
In case your little leaner does not hold its head firmly, this can sometimes be caused by an improper choice of a carry (for babies and beginners we always recommend to use the Front Wrap Cross Carry), weaker wrapping technique or not very precise tightening. These errors can be eliminated during a meeting with a babywearing consultant or with exercise.

Children up to three months can tend to bend more to one side which might be caused by their position in uterus. In such case try to be precise with the wrapping technique and especially tightening of the wrap and the bending will improve or totally disappear with time.

WARNING

Never wear your child facing out. Even when you feel that it needs to explore the world around, it is still too weak and small to face all the stimulus from the outside environment. It still needs a constant feeling of safety of the arms of its parents, eventually also immediate access to the breast.