Seeking Advice on Slings or Baby Wearing

Hi B.! A friend of mine bought me a book for my baby shower called Baby Gami. You can find it at http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Gami-Beginners-Andrea-Cornell-...

The first half of the book shows swaddling techniques - and the little differences in the fold of the blanket make all the difference in how tight and how long the swaddle holds. They also show how to wrap a sling around yourself. I tried as many baby carriers as I could find with my daughter, and I always go back to using the sling I made. Every time I am out in public with the sling on, I get stopped and asked where I bought it. It takes a length of fabric between 3 and 4 yards depending on your body type. I have some heavier weight fabric for the winter, and lighter weight for the summer (it is actually lace I use for the summer). Any fabric with a slight stretch will work - and no sewing is needed unless you absolutely want to sew the ends over.

Basically, you start with the middle of the fabric, put it across your waist and to the back. Then you cross the ends in the back, and put the ends over your shoulders so you have an X on your back. Next, you cross them in the front, then pull the ends to your back and tie in a knot. You have an X in the front, and an X in the back.

You can wear the baby either in front, or in back. To put baby in, you put their legs through the top part of the X, then through the band around your waist. You can pull the waist band up all of the way to their shoulders to support them while they are sleeping. Make sure that you wear them above your waist for your own comfort. I am only 5'3" tall, so it is possible for shorter people to do this as well!

Good Luck and happy baby wearing!

2 moms found this helpful

HI B.
Your not to far from me. I loved my slings, I have a maya wrap sling, and made a few like it. There are so many different ones. I could meet you, and teach you how to use it. And I'd love to ask a few questions about homeschooling as well. My one tip in baby wearing is to do so on both sides of the body. Or it can pull you out of alignment.
A. H

1 mom found this helpful

The best sling I have is from www.heartstringslings.com

They are custom made and the fabrics are beautiful. Not to mention that they are very reasonable! Check out the website.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi B.,
I have a Lucky Baby Sling and love it....It is like a little puch they sit in. Side, Front, or Back which ever.
I have a friend that is really into Slings/wraps/babywearing...email me and I can give you her info, She does reviews on them all the time...so she has used a ton of them.
I hear this ones is really nice http://www.sleepywrap.com. Or the moby wraps are nice.
Good Luck.
J.

1 mom found this helpful

Have you gotten a subscription to "Mothering" magazine? It's so great, you'd love it. It's all about living naturally and is full of great articles and resources. They have sooo many ads selling slings. They had an entire article on sling wearing. Yo may be able to get a back issue. Check out their website.
I never got the hang of slings with my May wrap. It pulled on my shoulders too much. But i hear others rave about many others.

Wow... how did you get to 4 babies without finding out your fave before now?

As you have seen, there are a squillion choices, from virtually-free just a hunk of fabric to some astonishingly expensive choices that are sometimes better and sometimes worse. Deeply personal, as it depends a great deal on where your body is strong, and the size and shape of your body... different slings/wraps are more comfortable for different people.

I would suggest you see if you can find a way to borrow several different types before committing any money to one, to find out what works best for you.

Hi B.!
I have not yet tried the slings yet (I have an 8 month old baby girl and am a SAHM as well). However I have heard the Hot Slings are a great sling to have. I have seen some at Target and you can order them on-line as well from BabyCenter. Hope that helps you out at least a little bit - I wish I knew more! :)

I use a sling by Hotslings. It is the same sling I have used since my daughter was a newborn and she is now 8 1/2 months old. It will work up until your baby is 35 lbs. We started with a Maya sling, which was just too confusing. It never felt like my baby was supported. Hope that helps! :-)

I didn't use a sling, but I bought a Hip Hammock at Babies R us. I loved it and so did my daughter.

i LOVE hands free baby operation! I bought a maya style sling on ebay from a wahm. I got to pick my fabric, she made it specifically for my shirt size and I felt great for helping a fellow mom stay at home!

I love my hotsling you can get them varying places - ebay or a local store. nothing to tie, a great first sling. they are a little expensive - for me it was worth it. I can bend over and not lose the baby!! hotsling . com has more info and patterns too! ALso there is a mothering issue that talks all about different slings. I found it interesting, the library may have it or maybe online too.

i've tried them all and love mei tais the best ! they are kind of like an ergo but more snuggly b/c the baby is completely right up against you, snuggled right into you, front or back. i also found the head support when baby falls asleep to be better, but this was several yrs ago, perhaps the ergo has a better headrest by now, it's a great one, too . i have like 4 mei tais now, i get mine from www.kozycarrier.com. i can carry a baby in them until 3. the ones i'd say to avoid are ring slings at this age. i love them for smaller babies, but once they get close to a yr, they get so heavy that it's not good to have them on one side of your body all the time. wraps, ergos and mei tais allow you to put baby on the center of your body, front or back.

I have three kids and have worn them all.

I started with a baba sling http://www.babaslings.com/ for number 1, and wore him in it up until he was about three (although for far less time than I wore him as an infant, he was pretty heavy by three) I loved this sling, it worked so well for the both of us.

Then just after he turned three along came baby number 2 she also benefited from the same Babasling, until she moved to the sitting up position. As she was very small, about the size of a 2 month old, we found that it was really hard for her to sit in it properly as her legs didn't seem to go round me and she seemed to slip out alot, no matter how tight it was. So We then moved onto the Ellaroo Mei Hip http://www.theslingstation.com/meihip.html which I also love for the sitting up child as it is more like a seat and they can't fall through.

So when number 2 was 11 months old along same number 3. 2 was not ready to unattach from me. We discovered after a few attempts that I was unable to carry both 2 (in the hip carrier) and 3 (in the sling) due to the fact the sling goes across the body and I run out of body space to carry 2 on my hip. They both need to be vertical. So I now carry 3 in a Baby Bjorn and 2 in the hip sling. The bjorn is my least favourite as i feel it is the most restricting however it is a necessity at this point. I would love to buy another hip sling but as the bjorn was a hand me down can't justify the money. In a few months baby 3 will be sitting and I can then put her in the baba sling on one hip and 2 in the hip sling on the other hip (although she is walking more now and requires less attachement-still nice to have a back up plan).

I would swear by my babasling and mei hip sling though I love them to bits. I am sure my babasling will be in bits by the time I am done. 3 kids in 4 1/2 years and it is still in perfect working condition.

I have a baby carrier from the brand Ergo Baby www.ergobabycarrier.com
I love it. You can only get it over the internet (as far as I know) and cost about $93. From all the things I bought is this item the one I use the most.
The things I like the most about it:
- you are suppose to put your child in this carrier for up to three years
- I brest feed my baby while I walk around or do other things and nobody can see it
- you can carry your baby in front, hip or on your back

I hope this was helpful for you.

Hi B....I have FIVE different baby carrying devices. FIVE! It took me that long to find one that both my DD and I liked and was easy to put on, adjust, and carry in different positions. I have a wrap... one of those hugely long pieces of cloth that you wrap around you and baby...however I just didn't feel comfortable trying to put her in the back position.

Then I found the ERGO BABY carrier through a mommy friend. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! It is a bit more expensive then the other carriers...but sooo worth it. It is comfortable and my daughter loves it. I bring it out and she just starts giggling and smiling. Also it is SUPER easy to wear in the hip or back position. It comes with an instructional DVD not just a pamphlet so you can see other moms putting it on in the various positions.

There is an ergobaby.com website...however I purchased mine through www.myfavoritebabycarrier.com On here she offerse a 90 day money back guarantee...so you can try it out for 3 MONTHS and if you don't like it... send it back. I thought that was a super deal. There are also some accessories, like a waist pack that attaches to the carrier. I bought that and LOVE it. I just put my keys and phone and a few other things in there and we go! Also, there is a pouch on the front of the carrier...so if we are going to be out just for a bit... I put a travel pack of wipes in there and a couple of dipes... and NO DIAPER bag necessary! :-D

I hope you find something you like.
Good luck!
R.

I was having the same problem. i have a 3 month old and she was colicy for the first month and a half of her life. The only way she was at all happy during this time was if i was holding her. I went to target and they had a front carrier. It's kinda like a backpack but you have it hanging on hte fron of you. There are many different kinds for different prices. They have ones that are real comfy too. The one i got had padding on the shoulders so they wont get sore. It was a godsend i'll tell you that. Now i can do laundry and dishes and household things with a happy baby too! Hope this helped. These are in the baby section and target seemed to have the widest variety to choose from. Good luck!

I think you can look on line under Babywearing. I've heard there's even a book out on it. MOTHERING MAGAZINE always has a bunch of adds for slings and many of the companies have websites. I hear that some of the maternity stores have people who will try slings on you and help you figure out how to use them. Also, at your local LaLeche League group, you'd find moms who use slings and could be very helpful. Good for you! Slings are very helpful! G. B.

I stopped a lady at the Auto show b/c she had her son in a carrier who was 2, he was snoozing right next to her. The carrier is the ERGO carrier and I asked my husband to get it for me for mother's day, it is a front carrier and a backpack, around $100, but your baby can be in it for a long time, it has a hood to cover baby up. Google it, it is awesome and I can't wait to get mine, I wish I would've known about it before I spent the money on a different carrier!

I love the Maya ring sling for older babies. I used a moby when my baby was smaller but now it is to streatchy at 20 lbs. The ring sling can put the baby on your hip while she sits up and plays.
If you are from Lansing their is a babywearers group that meets on the west side the 4th monday of each month. There are lots of different examples thier.

I love the ring sling for that age

I have tried a lot of different carriers. Currently my 7 1/2 month old is 21 pounds. I prefer a wrap for a front carrier. I have a 4.6 meter storch woven wrap. For side carries (short time only or I get a cramp) I use a ring sling or pouch. And I am trying out different carriers for a back carry. So far, the most comfortable is a podaegi or 'pod' carrier. I found it most helpful to go to the local babywearer meeting. I found our local chapter by going to the www.thebabywearer.com website. The have a lot of forums with a TON (so much it is hard to digest) of information. But, there is a link for local meetings. And there is a forum for For Sale of Trade where you can second hand carriers. It gets really expensive because as your baby grows your carrier needs change!

Check out this site: http://www.thebabywearer.com/

I also have an ergo and love it! They have messageboards with a lot of great information.

Hi, B.! My last child, who is now just over 1, wanted to be held a lot more than my other kids. When he was younger, I would sling him a lot using the Moby wrap. It seems complicated at first, but is so comfortable. After he was a bit older, I used my Kelty backpack carrier around the house. This made it easier to go about my day, folding laundry, etc. because with him on my back, I felt like I had greater freedom of movement. Hope this helps!

I live with a sling on me and the best one that I have used is the "Over the Shoulder Baby holder." They run about fifty dollars. I have one that stay's in the van and one in the house. I have five children and my youngest is going to be two. I even use it with my three in a half year old and have used with my five year old when she has gotten tired of walking. It holds up to forty pounds and I do everything in it. My 2 year old will be in Kindermusik class and cry for it, then I have to run to the van and get it. It is great because I can hold her and do everything. They learn so much from you when they can see everything that you are doing. Hope this helps. M.

B.,

I have a baby boy who suffers from GERD and baby wearing saved me from stress overload! It helped to calm him SO much!

I did a lot of research and read a ton of reviews about different carriers. The best are of course the most expensive: Baby Bjorn. You can wear it for your baby to be rear or front facing and it adjusts to your baby's length and your body. It really does give the BEST back support. Also, I believe you can go to their website and see directions.

I don't have a whole lot of money so what I did was go to Children's Orchard on Hall and Hayes in Sterling Heights (same shopping plaza as Honey Baked Ham and the old Farmer Jack's) and bought a used one for only $25.00! It washed great in some Dreft. Now it is most definately my BEST FRIEND!

Good luck!

Yes, they come with directions. Some of them you put the baby in & put on, others you put on then put the baby in. I learned the hard way to hold onto the baby before bending over after my dog (almost lost my daughter onto the concrete!).

I have tried several slings and found that i like the Moby Wrap the best. It is one of the more difficult ones to get used to, but it works the best and once you get used to it, it is super easy. It comes with directions on how to wrap it around your body and has ways to carry the child on your back and hip. I found this one to be the best for support on my back. The other kinds seemed to pull too much and i way to much back pain. If you google Moby Wrap you will find it.

Have you considered a backpack frame (like for hiking)? I use one for my 9 month old. I use it mostly for grocery shopping so I can have my hands free and don't have to worry about bonking him in the head with a can. He's up high and loves being able to see everything and he can snooze in there if necessary. The only drawback is the occasional tug of my ponytail :).

I couldn't have lived without my slings!

I love my ERGo.. I still carry my 14 month old in a backcarry in it. It's great because he doesn't whine as much to get down in stores or unsafe places because he wants to run around.

I've also heard the BECCO is great too. It's a little more sleek.
http://www.treecitydiapers.com/store/

You can buy the ERGO through this website or go and see it in Ann Arbor. THe store is supposed to be hard to find, but WONDERFUL.

Most slings do come with DVD's.. personally I was confused by all the wrapping so I got one that was simple when little one wasn't able to do the ERGO.. but now he's old enough