It’s International Babywearing Week and babywearers all over are sharing their stories of slings and carriers. My own babywearing tale starts with a very little Isabel who liked to be held to feed, held to sleep, held awake. I wanted to meet my daughters needs but had a desperately numb bum from spending so much time sat down.
And so, from our much loved stretchy wrap loaned from a local sling-making mum, to our ever growing stash of wraps; from a tiny 8lb 6-weeker to a 20lb 11-monther…
There’s nothing quite like being able to pop on and off a bus, wander up a cobbled street, visit a muddy working farm, or slide between the packed rails of my local hip n’ trendy high street clothing retailer, leaving buggy-pushing parents in the dust. (Smug, me? Never!)
With Isabel’s recent nursing strike, the slings have come into their element as I’ve danced around the living room singing nursery rhymes while I hold my baby skin to skin.
My ‘stash’, though not yet on a par with some, is now verging on the obsessive (I have 4 wraps, a ring sling, mei tai and the soft structured carrier pictured above) but given that Isabel is worn every single day for different reasons and in different situations, I don’t think we’re OTT! :D
Unfortunately, as with all things in life, not all slings are created equally. After the deaths of 3 babies in bag slings the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) enforced a product recall of the affected slings, finally listening to the babywearing community who’d noticed the issues years before. Although this is good news for prospective buyers of the bag slings in question, the CPSC are now trying to extend the recall to another type of sling, produced by a major manufacturer, despite having proved it safe in a previous investigation.
The affected company have stopped trading, but are under threat of a recall going back 10 years. The CPSC have not provided evidence of danger in the use of the product and are ignoring baby carrier industry standards (which they helped to create). If this recall goes ahead, it could have repercussions on the entire sling industry — and babywearing community — in the States.
The CPSC shouldn’t be allowed to bully retailers in this way, nor should consumers be dictated to when no evidence of danger or problems exist.
I’m a proud babywearer. I love the closeness and comfort slinging my baby gives us both, and I would find it very difficult to get out and about without a sling or two. I am celebrating International Babywearing Week by… wearing my baby! And you too can celebrate, even if you’re not a babywearer, by spreading the word: Baby Carrier Industry Alliance needs YOU!
10 Oct at 12:53 pm
Babywearing seems cool! Not sure if I’d actually do it yet, but as someone who doesn’t drive, and watching the mom’s with their giant strollers cramming themselves on already crammed buses, it seems like a definite option.
Can I just say you look like one hawt mama? :P The second picture looks like you’re in a happy parent advert!
10 Oct at 1:17 pm
Well happy baby wearing week to all of you, then. I was pleasantly surprised to see two mother at the mall the other day using slings for baby wearing purposes. Considering that people here need at least 10 years to embrace new concepts, that’s quite a feat.
Oh yeah, and gypsy ladies used to wear their babies using some makeshift slings ever since I can recall seeing them beg around street corners (i.e. always). Buuuut, I think they did that mostly cause it was cheaper and more effective to their begging purposes.
10 Oct at 2:48 pm
Babywearing is good. I kind of think it looks fun. I always thought that it was normal. My mother did it (her doctor advised it), and I don’t think medical knowledge has changed since then – so I intend to do it as well.
On a second note, I see you’re wearing the skirt you mentioned before. It’s so pretty!
10 Oct at 3:06 pm
My mom is a baby-wearer… my sister is nearly four and Mom still sticks her in a structured carrier whenever we go out, particularly if she’s sleepy, because then she can fall asleep right up against Mom :)
She’s saved all her slings and carriers for me, yay hand-me-downs! I’m gonna be a baby-wearing fiend. I love it.
10 Oct at 4:19 pm
You lucky thing! So many! :D I would love another wrap and your SSC is absolutely gorgeous. I’d so go for a pattern like that.
Really tempted to get a SSC as Ben hasn’t grasped how the get the Moby or the Mei Tai on alone yet… lol.
Post a pic of all your carriers!!!
10 Oct at 6:42 pm
If only I’d known about the cloth wraps that you use with Fizz when you were little Jem, I was restricted to using a conventional shop bought rear fastening carrier of sorts. It meant that I could carry on with all the housework etc while you slept and it kept you a very happy baby. I think that the closer a Mother can keep her baby, the happier that baby will be. I am all for it!
10 Oct at 8:23 pm
I’m no good at the wraps – neither the co-ordination or the balance. I always use the Rose and Rebellion carrier (beach pic) with Izzy if I’m wearing her. As Jem said – it’s great fun for us both..:)
10 Oct at 11:51 pm
I think babywearing is great and I plan to do the same when I have kids one day.
11 Oct at 3:44 am
I love that Karl wears Izz too :)
12 Oct at 4:01 pm
If I were you I’d make a copy of that video tape that you watched and make someone watch the copy. By my calculations you’ve only got 5 days left.
Sadako is not a nice girl at all. :-P
26 Oct at 8:08 pm
I wish they had these when my kids were young, I so would have used them. They look great, and I’m sure are also a great source of exercise for mom too. Babies I would think would really like them as opposed to packing car seats and strollers.