Baby slings

[Jill72]

I want to buy a baby sling - any recommendations?

Great websiteLoopymumsy

I liked my Close carrier - similar to a stretchy wrap but has rings so you don't have to tie it yourself.

Has anyone made their own slings???

I Was given a gypsymama - wore it all the time! DD slept in it and it was so much more comfortable than the Baby Bjorn DH insisted on wearing (because he felt it was more 'manly') Now DD is bigger (nearly a year) I have an angel pack as its just a bit quicker to take her out of now she wants to get down more often. And I can then just carry it by keeping the waist bit buckled up. My sister still uses hers to piggy back her 2.5 year old sometimes too so worth every penny

Haven't made my own, but would like to in the future - there are loads of free patterns on tinterweb, especially for the mei tei types.

I really recommend a stretchy wrap like a Kari me. I've also made my own Mei tai sling which was great from 4 months, I love it. This site is excellent

You could make your own stretchy wrap with a length of jersey material, or try the natural mamas for sale forums for second hand ones.

Have a stretchy Kari Me wrap around, a tricotti sling which is two pouch slings which interlace and a coorie fleece pouch sling. Use the Little Possums website.

It is suggested that stretchy wrap slings may be a bit hot for a newborn in the summer months, my last was born in November so the extra cosiness wasn't a problem. Am going to get a woven wrap sling for DD2 due in August as these allow more air to circulate and are the style used by women in hot countries. Baby is kept nice and snug by proximity to your body.

I'm not sure a stretchy wrap would be any hotter than a woven, tbh - depending on which brand of each you had. I had a Hug-a-Bub and then moved onto a Didymos indio, and if anything I'd say the woven was warmer (although I know that wasn't the lightest weave available). I suspect woven wraps are more common in hot countries as woven fabrics are more readily available. I used exactly the same wraping method with both slings.

IMO and from my experience, stretchy wraps are a much better starting point as they are much more forgiving whilst you learn - wovens provide much better support so really come into their own as your child gets larger (I shifted onto woven around 9 months and I was still carrying DD1 at 2 - and she wasn't little), but I think I'd have struggled to get a tie I was confident in with a woven when I first started.

This is the Natural Mamas FSOT forum and this is the UK babywearing SWAP mailgroup, both of which are fairly active and UK based. There's also The Babywearer, which has an incredibly active FSOT board where its possible to pick up a bargain - but its based in USA so much more international and bargains can be exchange rate dependent.

i have seen a wallaboo and a moby wrap that I quite like the look of - has anyone tried either?

I found the huggababy ring sling really easy to use - one simple pull and away you go! there's all sorts of positions you can use it in too and i recommend the khaki colour - it goes with everything!

Part of the problem is that there are so many different types of sling and so many different ways of using them - what you think looks great may turn out to be fantastic, or it might turn out to work very badly for you (or your DC might take an aversion to anything with spots on...) I know lots of people find ring slings great in the early days, if not longer, but I just could not make them behave for love nor money...

Have you come across slingmeet? I went to one when looking to move on from a stretchy wrap, and it was full of mothers with a lot more experience than me and masses of slings I could try with DD - I got helped with a back carry with both a woven wrap and a MT, which was great for giving me confidence to try by myself.

If there aren't any meets near you (and no interest in one - I arranged the one I went to), buying 2nd hand is a great way in. Most 2nd hand slings are in very good condition and significantly cheaper than new - and if you don't get on with it you can re-advertise without loosing anything other than postage costs. Some areas also have a sling library and some shops have slings to hire. I found it much easier to justify spending a lot of money on a sling once I was pretty confident it was going to be a very good solution for DD and I.

Just be aware that, if/once you find one that works, slings can become highly addictive. Not that I'm talking from experience or anything like that.....

Im interested in this, though how (or indeed, do) you compensate for your extra body warmth against the baby? Can they only be in the for so long? How do you ensure the little one doesnt get too hot? Thanks.

I remember reading that an adult chest is very good at regulating temperature - if your LO has a fever then one of the best ways to cool them down is to strip the pair of you and put them on your chest, at which point you become a great big heat sink. Putting clothes in the way will slow things down a bit, but if you're both lightly dressed then the principle should still work for the temperatures we're likely to get in the UK.

Other than that, you keep an eye on them - which is much easier than if they were in a pram/push chair as they're right up under your chin at an easily kissable height :o If they seem to be getting uncomfortably warm then look to change something. I carried DD in a stretchy wrap from about 2/3 months, moving onto a woven wrap and MTs and my recollection is that she was usually pretty happy there - I don't ever remember her getting upset through overheating.

I had a huge and very unflattering fleece, but I could put it on and (just about) do it up over both myself and 16 month old DD in a front carry. If I was slinging her far then I wouldn't put much on over her indoor clothes and put the coat over both of us. Once she got too big for that we'd both have own coats - but I found too many bulky clothes made geting the wrap right much harder.