Just arrived at the Northeast Sling Library is this stunning 4.6m wrap from LennyLamb and it is available to hire now! Hire is £5 plus, for this wrap, a £40 refundable deposit.
For more information you can check out the Northeast Sling Library website
I began babywearing when my son was 5 weeks old as there are just some places a buggy can’t go and muddy fields for dog walks was one. When I first began ‘wearing’ my son I did what most people do, I went with the mainstream mass produced slings. But I found them difficult to put on by myself and didn’t really feel my son was the most comfortable he could be. In the first 12 weeks of his life I tried 5 different types of slings, I knew that there must be better options out there. Quickly I have moved on to a mei tai (Asian carrier) before at 16 weeks investing in my first woven sling. This was the beginning of what my husband and friends would possibly call an addiction. I call it a hobby.
So after spending hundreds of hours researching and quite a lot of money (I have bought and then resold over 20 slings, nothing in comparison to some) I now have what I class as my perfect stash and the buggy (we are now on our 4th) sits unloved for days at a time in the kitchen.
At present I have no formal babywearing qualifications but instead offer peer to peer support based on my almost 2 years worth of experience. I am due to complete the Trageschule UK Foundation Course in early 2012. After completing this course I also hope to offer private 1:1 consultancy in adition to the library. If at present I don’t know the answer to your questions I will do my best to find the answer as soon as possible.
The Library has a fantastic selection of Wraps, Asian based Carriers and Ring Slings – it is well worth checking out their website – Rachel is available for information and advice and she runs regular get togethers so you can try on slings and see what feels right for you and your baby.
Today we have a guestblog by Rebecca, a busy mum and doula
Babywearing: It sounds like something Vogue would write about. A fad dreamed up by an eccentric designer which we all marvel at and secretly feel sure will never catch on. But we’d be wrong – it has caught on. In fact people have been ‘wearing’ or carrying their babies for hundreds and thousands of years. Probably from the time the first cavewoman wrapped an animal skin round her and her baby to ease the strain on her arms as she ran from an angry woolly mammoth, humans have been tying their babies on to their fronts, backs and hips.
Why?
Why do it now though, when we have Maclaren’s and Bugaboos that will take 100% of the weight off us? Ok, so four wheels and an incomprehensible harness wouldn’t have been terribly practical when legging it from a tribe of Neandethals, but that’s pretty unlikely to happen whilst strolling around Hyde Park.
The reasons I chose (and still choose 15 months down the line) to babywear cover three categories.
I loved the freedom of having my hands back during those hours of endless rocking to sleep in the early days. Somehow it’s easier when you can eat a biscuit at the same time.
As a newborn I felt I had a much more profound reason to carry her.
There’s a compelling theory that says the first three months after birth are really akin to a final trimester of pregnancy. Human babies have huge heads in comparison to our pelvis and therefore, much as they’d like to hang out in the womb for a bit longer, they need to be born at 9 months. Dr Harvey Karp, an American paediatrician, talks a good deal about this in his parenting books while the (also American) duo Sears and Sears have been saying similar things for years.
The essence of this thinking is that keeping your baby close to you, so that she feels safe and secure, helps with the transition from the womb to the outside world and makes babies calmer and more settled.
How to do it?
Do a bit of research into different types of slings and carriers. If you can go to a ‘sling meet’ where you can try various types of slings and get advice from experienced babywearers. You can also ask friends or perhaps your doula to let you try out theirs until you work out what’s right for you.
You might also want to check out this brilliant forum: www.naturalmamas.co.uk. It has great links to videos showing you how to use different carriers and wraps, discussions of the different brands, loads of support and second-hand items for sale.
Broadly speaking there are the following types of carriers:
1. Structured carriers like Baby Bjorn. These are very well marketed but not very popular amongst people who carry their babies more than occasionally as they put a lot of weight on the little one’s pelvis and aren’t very good at distributing the weight across your back and shoulders.
2. Soft carriers like the Ergo, Mei Tai and Connecta. These fasten a bit more traditionally like a Baby Bjorn but support the baby’s weight much more efficiently and safely.
3. Stretchy and woven wraps. Initially fiddly to tie (though you quickly become expert) and in my opinion the most comfortable and flexible carrier for you and your baby.
4. Ringslings and pouches. Very easy to use, often great for newborns and carrying toddlers on your hip. Beware of ones that look like giant handbags as they can be unsafe.
My favourite is a Kari-Me wrap for a newborn/small baby. It’s stretchy so gives you flexibility if you don’t tie it perfectly every time at first and it’s easy to gently maneouvre a tiny one in to it.
I also loved my Wilkinet carrier when my daughter was a little older and I find men are sometimes more comfortable with this as it looks a bit more traditional.
I now carry my toddler in a Didymos wrap. She’s 11kg and I barely feel her weight. Once I’ve perfected carrying her on to my back I know I’ll be able to keep babywearing for the next year or two.
All in all I think the cavewomen may not have had great taste in food and their personal hygiene left much to be desired, but, by gum, they knew a thing or two about babies.
