One of the best parts of Carry On London for me was the Continuing Professional Development courses - in particular the one on babywearing and disabilities. While something my training touched upon, it was really great to have the opportunity to explore specific circumstances in much greater detail.
In particular we looked at adapting carriers for
- babies on supplemental Oxygen
- a child with a broken leg
- babies in the Pavlik harness for treatment of hip dysplasia
- babies with boots and bar for Talipes treatment
- wearing babies born prematurely
- wearing an older child with low muscle tone
It was so useful to hear peoples experiences and learn just how much is possible in these circumstances and how invaluable it can be for parents to continue with their day to day care of their children.
And, as it turns out even more important than I thought, when today I ran into a good friend at the children's centre who's little boy has recently broken his leg. She was finding it a struggle to keep the little man off his leg while also caring for her older child as well. So it was amazing to be able to say give me 20 minutes and maybe we can find a solution to this. Here they are... his cast extends only just above his knee so was pretty simple to find a carrier that was just shy of knee to knee to ensure no pressure on the cast while still being perfectly comfortable for both mum and babe.
Big thank you to Kerry and Suzanne from the Up Project who ran this brilliant CPD session.