Natya Ring sling

This is a great sling to use from birth. The blurb says that it can be used until 3 years old. My daughter is nearly 2 and I still keep it in the car for emergencies. It was most useful from 6 - 18 months as it held her in tightly and left my hands free for the other two children. This is the most comfortable sling I have used.

I spent a bit more on my Natya sling... about

Really fantastic. Very useful and easy to use, from tiny baby upwards. I am still using this sling and my baby is 16 months old. Versatile and attractive.

I bought a ring sling from Karen at Natya when my second son was about 8 weeks old. Initially, I found it quite hard to use, as he wasn't interested in lying in it, but he was too little to sit up well in it.

However, when he was about four months old, I started to use it all the time and he soon started to get excited when he saw the deep red fabric, because he knew he was going out!

The sling itself is a length of cloth, sturdy, but soft. It has two metal rings on one end and a padded portion for your shoulder.

You loop the tail end of the sling through the rings, put it over your head, with one arm through it and the centre section of the fabric creates a hammock for your baby to sit in.

Then you can adjust the rings so that it's a snug fit.

Babies can be worn in a variety of positions in the sling, either lying in a cradle hold, facing outwards, or my favourite, the hip carry.

I loved being able to carry my baby and push my toddler in the pushchair when we were out (then swap when my toddler wanted to walk) - it's a very flexible method of dealing with two children close together in age (I have a 21 month gap).

I would recommend Natya for their wide variety of fabrics (silk slings, slings you can use in the water for swimming, everyday slings, ones made from lightweight fabrics for summer, etc, etc), excellent service (Karen stitched me a section of fabric to use as a comfort blanket after I emailed her to tell her that my son liked to fall asleep with the tail of the sling across him!).

I still use my sling sometimes and my youngest son's 22 months old now. He still loves it...when he doesn't want to walk!