Babywearing: Ring Slings

Slings are different than the carriers I've already covered. The main difference is that the sling is worn over only one shoulder. A ring sling is a long piece of cloth that is threaded through a pair of rings, which you use to adjust the size of the sling. They come in a variety of fabrics, colors, and patterns. You can have them padded or unpadded (I prefer unpadded, as it's much easier to adjust an unpadded sling). They're also pretty customizable, because you can add pretty fabric to the tail, or a pocket, or a zippered pocket.

Peanut as a tiny girl cuddling in the ring sling. Note that the sling had slipped off my shoulder, so this is not actually being worn quite right.

Babywearing: Mei Tais

No, this post is not about adult beverages. Mei Tai is pronounced like this: may tie. Don't ask me where the name came from, because I just don't know. But I adore Mei Tais. (Starting to notice a pattern here?) A mei tai is sort of the step between a wrap and an SSC. It has a square body, sort of like an SSC, but it has long ties instead of buckles. Like this:

Me and an 8-month-old Peanut doing a front carry with our BabyHawk Mei Tai

Babywearing: Soft Structured Carriers (SSCs)

This is the newest type of carrier that I've tried, since I recently purchased on on a swap board. I had heard great, raving reviews of these, and I've been wanting one for so long! So, ta da! Here it is, my Ergo!

My devastatingly handsome husband, Brett, wearing our 14-month old Squishy.

Babywearing: Woven Wraps

In the previous post in this series, I highlighted stretchy wraps. In this post, we'll talk about woven wraps. Again, this is a wrap because it's a long piece of cloth that you wrap around your body and tie. Woven wraps are not stretchy. They're woven pieces of cotton, linen, silk, and even cashmere (or a blend--cotton/linen is popular). These wraps are workhorses. Why? Well...

Babywearing: Stretchy Wraps

Stretchy wrap. Sometimes referred to as a Moby, because of that particular brand's popularity. It's one of the easiest to find in stores (other than the abominable Baby Bjorn).

Stretchy wraps are so named because, well, they're stretchy. Shocking, right? And they're a wrap, so named because you literally wrap them around your body. Because of the stretch factor, these make a fantastic carrier for newborns and small babies. They're also great because, since they stretch, you can tie the wrap on before you leave the house, and then just pop the baby in and out of the wrap as needed. Incredibly simple. Small learning curve, since it is a wrap, but really, quite simple.

Babywearing: Overview

Topic like this are so huge, it's really impossible to cover everything without an extremely long, uninteresting, information-overloading post. So I'm going to break it up, which will hopefully help it to be a little less daunting. This post is a (very) brief overview of babywearing in general.