on babywearing in wild wild east...

where's the baby?!
Originally uploaded by kasia wska

or is it everywhere in the world like this?

so.
i use the slings quite often.
especially the moby wrap, which i got from a wonderful mom who'd appreciated it before. i have a pouch, too, which was very cheap in merlin, but the size S turned out to suit my husband, not me. and the ring sling, sewed by my friend joujou (at ju_ka).

but i still can't get used to the fact that babywearing is so uncommon here, in poland, and pretty unwelcome.

i see that poles take the idea of 'all the chidren are ours' very seriously. old ladies telling me my baby's not wearing a hat (in summer heat)? at least once a week. or neighbours stopping me to tell me my baby is cold. is it? really? she didn't say so.
and the breastfeeding. everyone, really everyone, ask me 'do you feed'? like no, i don't feed. she grows like this by herself.
because feed = breastfeed. of course breastfeeding is obviously the best for the baby, but is it necessary to discuss it with every single person i know and don't know? like a few days ago a girl in a park, a stranger, started telling me she was frightened she didn't have enough breastmilk. i was like, ok, there is no problem, i'm an open person and i'd love to talk it trough with you (in my oppinion, she had enough. her kid was a fatso). but on the other hand i was surprised, because this topic seems to me quite intimate.
and then the formula feeding. everyone has opinion without knowing what was behind the decision.

but anyway - the slings.
i studied the topic still when i was pregnant and i was so certain there were millions and zillions of babywearing mothers, who i'll meet in all those parks and malls of warsaw, and we will wave at each other happily and then probably fall into each others arms. but: no way! by now i saw three, yes, t h r e e babywearing mamas on the streets of the center of the capital city of poland. i can't believe it! and what i get instead are all those l o o k s. all those remarks. today i saw a group of spanish tourist following me with their tiny malicious eyes and saying to each other: "ella esta llevando un nino! ella esta llevando un nino ASI!*" i was about to get to them and reply, that "estoy solo usando este miraculo, que ustedes tambien podrian aprovechar**", because i happen to speak spanish, but i resigned.
i was sure people were more open elsewhere; in the magical land of the a b r o a d, that only the polish ladies will stop me to tell me i'm suffocating my poor kid and that they feel sorry for me and the baby, because it's not it's fault.

of course there are lots of nice people, too. some of them asking where i got the wrap and how to use it, is it safe, etc. and this is very nice. today i made friends in a thrift shop, a talked a bit with the cashier lady about the wrap and then i heard a loud voice from behind, i looked back and saw nothing, but then i looked down and saw a tiny, tiny lady - where did she get this kind of voice?! - saying "my daughter bought this thing in the i n t e r n e t, as if the internet was a kind of exotic country somewhere very away, maybe in africa.

anyway, i didn't want to moan here. but when i hit the town with the sling i usually feel like a lesbian kissing her girl on the main square of warsaw (not very common here either) or a soap opera starlet playing a guy who cheats on his wife. like an immoral evildoer.
but i won't give up. and it will change. i'm sure.

* she's carrying a child! she's carrying a child LIKE THIS!
** i'm just using this miracle and you could make a use of it, too!