Best sling for breastfeeding

[mrsmilkymoo]

Just wondering if anyone can recommend a sling to breastfeed dd in when out and about. She's 11 weeks old and quite petite. Thanks in advance

I've tried out a few types of sling and found the best for feeding and napping to be a stretchy wrap (mine is a kari me) in the cradle position. I often feed dd while walking around in the sling!

Do you have a sling library near you? I found it invaluable to test out a few before buying a sling.

I found a ring sling by far the easiest to feed in, in fact I never got the hang of feeding in a wrap at all! I think my babies didn't like the cradle position in a wrap if not feeding so it was hard to adjust them back into upright again.

With a ring sling, you can start with them upright tummy to tummy, loosen sling to get them latched on, tighten again for hands free breastfeeding, then reverse the process once they've dropped off and want to sleep upright.

I would definitely look for a sling library near you to try out a few different types- as you can see there's no once perfect answer!

I couldn't figure out feeding in a wrap but it's so so easy in the ergo - loosen waist strap to lower baby, loosen side straps, pull up top, done. Even has a hood for extra discretion. Takes seconds to get baby into position and back again.

Thanks all, I hadn't even known that such a thing as sling libraries existed, so will definitely check out the one for my area. There are so many different options available so it will be great to be able to try them before committing to buying. Feeding in a wrap does sound tricky but I will have a hunt on YouTube to see if there's any guidance before ruling that out as an option!

At first I used a Manduca (similar to ergo) and that worked really well - as pp said just lower everything into place and cover with the hood. Then I tried a ring sling - baby seemed really comfy and changing between positions was easy, but you still need to use one arm to support. So I went on to stretchy wrap - comfy for baby and hands free feeding. I thought it would be complicated/ a hassle but it really isn't. Dh can't work it out though.

I don't know what I would do without it for feeding on the go!

Thanks mumble, that's good to know! Apologies if this is a dumb question but did you feed your baby in an upright position in the wrap or in a cradle position?

I use the cradle position in the wrap for feeding and then dd usually has a sleep in there too. Only problem with that is I end up feeding from one side and getting lopsided boobs! Dd doesn't like the upright position which is why i stopped using the manduca/ergo style carrier. But hoping to try again as she's getting a bit big to be carried around in cradle position (5 months old).

I fed my babies in an upright position in wrap slings when they were tiny (under 6 months, but they were both quite scrawny). I never got the hang of the cradle position. With the wrap, I could position them so they had their noses kind of between my breasts, then shuffle then left or right as appropriate.

I love ring slings best though, and still often feed my nearly two year old ds in a ring sling.

I think the boba 4g has a way of pulling straps over specifically to help when feeding in sling

Just wanted to say - check you know about TICKS guidelines for safe positioning in slings. And definitely look for your local sling library and Facebook groups - a one-to-one session with a consultant may be a good place to start. Enjoy!