Daniel's first Oktoberfest (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Beco Carrier)

Last Saturday we took Daniel to the Addison Oktoberfest.  While I was looking forward to going and enjoying some good food and beer, I was nervous about how Daniel would handle it.  First, it was going to keep him out long enough that he'd need a nap and if he didn't get it he was sure to get cranky and off schedule for the whole day.  Second, it was going to be hot and crowded, not an ideal condition for a baby.  Third, Daniel's too little to ride in a real stroller so our only stroller option would be to put his carseat in the snap n' go carrier but he gets hot in his carseat so that didn't seem like a good option.  So with a few reservations and our new Beco Butterfly II carrier, we set out for Oktoberfest.  I figured we'd get to stay an hour, hour and a half tops.

I put Daniel in the Beco when we parked and we walked into the fairgrounds.  So far, so good.  We met Nicole and baby Alejandro there and on her smart advice we headed straight to the International pavilion to get into the air conditioning.  I looked down to see that Daniel was sound asleep.  Over the next few hours he stirred a bit but slept soundly.  Whenever he would get a little restless I would just stand up and sway a little and he would settle back to sleep.  Finally after about 2 hours or so he woke up and after eating in the carrier (add the International Pavilion to the list of places I've nursed now) and then hanging out a bit he had had his fill and we left.  But we ended up getting stay for over 3 hours, much longer than I had expected.  And he did fine the rest of the evening once we got home too.

It was our first extended use of the Beco and I have to say I'm quite impressed.  Daniel was obviously quite comfortable in it and after wearing him all day I didn't have any soreness in my shoulders or back.  And the hood helped protect his sensitive skin from the sun and gave him a darker space to nap in.  We still love our ring sling but the Beco is a great addition to our babywearing line-up and should be more comfortable for Kevin to use too. 

Ein prosit for the Beco!

Here he is during an awake moment with Daddy: