sling advice

[Lililly]

hello, I am looking for some advice on choosing a sling. My previous children were born between 10-16 years ago when slings were thought of as weird. I remember sending off for a ring sling and everyone thought I was bonkers for using it!

So ... I am pleased that for that for this new baby I am expecting, there are so many more available, including nice stretchy ones - but now there are so many!!
I previously found a over shoulder ring sling useful for getting the baby in and out quickly/ feeding around the house, but also used a wilkinet for going out to the shops, so less weight on just the one shoulder, but not so good for feeding.

Does anyone have a sling they love and would recommend?
(I have looked at the review section, but I am looking for experience of something tried and tested for months)

I've been using a wrapsody Bali breeze sling. It's similar to the moby but the material is lighter for the summer and less stretchy which means it can cope with heavier weights without sagging right down to your knees! such as with toddlers.

Last summer I was able to walk along a busy quayside in the warm evening sun, with newborn attached suckling away and no one would have known. I wandered around at leisure and baby just stopped suckling whenever he felt like it and restarted every hour or two.

I ended up in a restaurant still attached and no one would have guessed the little baby all snugly wrapped up was feasting like his mother was! It was magical. But I can't imagine I'd get away with that now as he's 6 months old and has sadly become Britain's most awkward wriggly breastfeeder.

I hadn't thought that stretchy ones would be less good with heavier babies,something else to consider!

My last two DC's have been fairly big so I did wonder if I about stretchy wraps for this next one...I found this one which seems to be a bit thicker but still a stretchy. After that I have friends who have fed in a connecta or any other buckle carrier (Some makes to google: Boba, Tula, Manduca).

I love my Close Caboo. It's comfy, stretchy, pre-tied and even DH wears it. Praise indeed!

Yeah it's really worth keeping a close eye on the description as some wraps accommodate 3 year olds but not all.

The other thing I found was that baby Bjorn was easy to put on and off, but felt very 'distant' and really pulled on the lower back.

Likewise the one-sided slings (I used the Lifft sling) made me pull my body to one side to compensate for 1 year old weight on my hip, and I ended up in a chiropractor clinic having my neck treated!

The wrapsody sling carries all the weight on the shoulders, right where you want it to be. But the down side is it trails on the ground when you put it on (but not once its in place), do taking it off and on in the winter is a bit tricky if you don't want wet ends! I found it easier to just keep it on once it was on, and pop baby in and out all day.

Close caboo for newborn, bondolino or manduca from when they get heavy in the stretchy. I love the bondolino, you can back carry with it too and it is very man friendly too. Boba and manduca are similar but use buckles instead of straps.

perhaps there is a sling library near you where you can see different slings in real life?

I like a stretchy for a newborn because you can pre-tie and pop baby in and out but by 3 months I was exclusively using a woven wrap because DS just didn't feel supported. We also had an Ergo - great for 6m to 2y and a few ring slings.

I still carry DS in either a size 4 or size 6 woven and he's 2.8 now.

My partner and I as well as our baby love our stretch wrap sling. Its soft and cosy for baby and keeps her close and settled. I got it from Victoria slinglady (just Google it) for a barginous 20 quid, it is after all just a strip of fabric. A friend also mentioned checking out etsy.com for every conceivable funky fabric, there is some lovely stuff I will be looking at when we come to upgrade when shes a bit bigger. I love using my baby sling