We carry our babies inside our bodies for nine months, so it surely makes sense to keep them close once they’re born? Today we have a post from Rachael at Kangarinos about the joys of slings and baby wearing…

A guest blog post all about baby slings and carriers! How exciting! A whole new audience to subject – sorry I mean entertain – with my favourite subject, where do I start? And how do I stop once I’ve started?! It’s all too much, I think I’m going to have to have a lie down in a darkened room cuddling a Wrapsody (lovely, soft, ethically made, hand batiked, generally beautiful, stretchy wrap)….

Ok, I’m back and relatively calm, I even brought chocolate (which incidentally is a colourway of the Pouchling Ring Sling!), all is well! Perhaps I’ll try to keep it relatively simple, tell you a little about why I like slings so much and how they’ve benefited us?

I’m Rachael, I’m married, and we have a high-on-the-bonkers-scale-even-for-toddlers 22 month old called Celia. I’ve used slings since she was tiny and now I sell them through Kangarinos (we have a sling or baby carrier to suit everyone, check us out *beam*).

I started off with a Wrapsody bali baby stretch wrap (although they were called Gypsy Mama at the time) like the one I was cuddling earlier. Celia was a fretful colicy baby; she needed to be held almost constantly. I used to tie her into the wrapsody in an upright, tummy to tummy position (look on youtube for pocket wrap cross carry), it would instantly turn one miserable child into a relaxed one (usually)!

Upright positions are great for colicy babies anyway, plus the warmth of your heat on their tummy helps settle them. Not to mention the lovely cocoon-like atmostphere of it, the soothing sounds of your heartbeat that they are so familiar with from the womb.

Now she’s large and likes to shout at things, she goes on my back (and before you ask, to get her up there I chuck her, not as scary as it sounds and there are other ways, she just likes that and tends to yell “wheeeeeeee!”). She’s right up at adult height so she’s got a great view of everything, meaning I get a running commentary (Look, a birdie! Look, a big train! Where birdie gone? And so on). Plus my shy little girl feels protected from strangers as there’s a large mama in the way!

I honestly don’t feel her weight on my back. The slings I use spread the weight really well across your back and since they fold up small I can shove them in a bag when she decides she does want to walk after all! I like a woven wrap like a Storchenwiege comfort wise, but I’ve been using a Kozy mei tai recently as they’re just so quick!

I could keep going for hours really, but I think I’ve covered the main points, feel free to come over to Kangarinos (or the blog, or facebook, or twitter feed!) for a chat!

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