The Boob-Shelf Baby Hold is Legit.
Yes, I just said “Boob-Shelf”. This is legit people.
A couple of weeks ago we had some friends over for a small gathering, our Friendsgiving dinner. The foundation of the group are the “boys”. The group of now-dads were all high school buddies. Over the past fifteen to sixteen years most have settled down, gotten married and started having children. Now the wives are all friends and we are all raising our babies together. Between the six to eight family units, we have more than ten kiddos running rampant throughout the homes when we all get together. Our last baby, Caleb, was even born just a short thirteen hours before one of his buddies. It was a shame we were not in the same hospital because that would have been a hospital gathering unlike any before.
During our Friendsgiving dinner party all of us moms are slinging babies, rocking babies, nursing babies, snuggling babies and kissing babies. We all have our own ways of swaddling, cradling, putting the babies down for naps and we all tag out at different times and happily gift the daddies with baby duty. It is pretty fun to see the dads carrying their sons and daughters in football holds with one hand and a beer in another hand, happily chatting about guns and fishing in the garage. Meanwhile, us mamas run for the wine and gab time.
It was at the end of this event that I was holding and rocking my two-year-old, almost three-year-old, when the boob-shelf concept was born! One of the mamas had noticed that I held my two youngest kiddos the same way. I cradled them right above the top of my bra line as if the kiddos were supported by my boobs alone. Yes, I am on the larger size in this department and I am currently nursing my third and final child so things are more perky these days as they are filled with nourishment, but there is no way they are firm enough to hold a child. (By any means!) But low and behold, that is where I hold my children when cradling them so that I feel they are the most secure. (And it helps, I think, with back support so I don’t have so much pressure on the lower back.) Of course, there is also a skin to skin component that is always healthy for our babes. After seeing me hold my second child like this in one single evening, it was birthed and we declared myself a boob shelf baby carrier. Move over football hold, the boob-shelf baby hold is here!
Photography Credit: Billy Nuttall
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