Picking up and carrying a baby with one hand

I thought I'd write a couple of blogs that outline certain situations you kinda need to know as a parent with only one hand. 

So lets start with the basics 
the first time I held my children I was sitting comfortably and someone handed them to me gently so I could rest them in my arms and look at them in amazement.
After a while though reality hits you that you can't have someone else hand you you child all the time, you need to be able to pick them up yourself.

With my son, I tried several different ways to pick him up, such as running my hand up his back and supporting his his head with my hand. However I found a way which seems to work quickly and I use for my daughter which is basically using my hand to grip round the ribcage and then turn her so the weight is on my hand and support the head with my fingers. Then I can place in my arm or on my shoulder etc.

The best thing to do is try a few techniques and see which one works best.

Now you can pick the baby up, you need to think about carrying.
This can be tricky as you want to be comfortable that the baby is secure and held properly before moving.
And you don't want to use a standard baby carrier as you need something which is quick and practical. 
With my son, I was looking to see if someone had come up with something useful, but never found anything.
But I lived in a flat then so carrying a baby upstairs wasn't something I had to think of too much.
Now I was in house, so this was a concern.

However before my daughter was born I found a company called Snugglebundl which is basically a blanket with handles and a head support (you can see it in the picture above). They kindly sent me one and I've used it quite a bit. the fact that you can carry the baby like a shopping bag means it is very easy and quick to move around. Although when walking around you do need to be careful of other objects,  There website has more details and I'd recommend them. 

The more you carry and move with the baby the more confident you get, then it just becomes second nature and you don't have to think about it at all.

As the child gets older they will adapt as you will. 
For my son who is now two and a half I still scoop him up with one arm, but then normally throw him over my shoulder or have him sitting on my arm.

Hope someone finds this useful.
I'll focus on something else next time.