Wordless Wednesday: A Day In The Life Of Sara

 Where has your carrier taken you today? We've been to music, the antique market and IKEA. Fabricland is up next!!

Baby Carriers We Love! (A Response To Today's Parent's List!)

by Tami Grosset

We recently came across a list of favourite babycarriers in Today's Parent.

I asked the OBG members on Facebook what they thought of the list and the general consensus was that only a few of the carriers were our favourites, so we made our own list, based on members favourites and the most popular carriers loaned from the Ottawa Babywearing Group Sling Library. Here are our 15 favourite carriers:

Manduca

The Manduca is one of the higher priced SSCs available locally (from both Milkface and Extraordinary Baby Shoppe) but the price point has not put off many of our members. This carrier offers extraordinary versatility and adjustability allowing for front, hip and back carries as well as from newborn infant and into toddlerhood.

Tula

The Tula (both standard and toddler) are not currently available in Ottawa but Extraordinary Baby Shoppe will be stocking them very soon. Members did not all specify which (standard or toddler) they liked the best but they are both beautiful SSCs to look at with lots of lovely prints and colour ways and the option, when you can find one, of a Tula made from a woven wrap. The Toddler Tula is a fantastic carrier for wearing the older child, with lots of extra padding in the shoulder straps and waist band. The Tula can be worn for front and back wearing.

Kinderpack

Kinderpacks are not currently available in Ottawa or Canada but can be purchased direct from Kindercarry. Kinderpacks offer a front and back carry and are available in 4 different sizes; infant, standard, toddler and preschool. They have a lovely wide seat that is so great for supporting a knee to knee spread that is so important for babywearing in the first year.

Wrap Conversion Ring Sling

WCRSs are liked by many of our members, over other RSs due to the fabulously supportive quality of the woven wrap fabric used, as well as the special beauty of the wrap itself. Conversion companies can be found with a quick Google search or you could see our blog post which lists some international options. Sewfunky is the company that converted the Chimparoo wrap pictured.

Woven Wrap

Woven wraps are the most versatile of all carriers and as such carry the steepest learning curve. If you're prepared to put in the time you and your baby will reap the rewards! Wraps come in different lengths and some can be more supportive than others. A good starter wrap would be a Girasol (as pictured) but a great place to start researching WWs is this post. There are many great wraps to be found locally either brand new at Milkface and Extraordinary Baby Shoppe or used through the OBG FSOT Space.

Wrap Conversion Mai Tei

by Jenna Sparks Photography

WCMTs are mai tei carriers made from a woven wrap. WCMTs can be made with many different options (half buckle, full buckle, wrap straps, padded to wrap straps, hood, no hood, pocket, teething toy, infant size, toddler size, embroidered decal etc etc) so an owner can wear their baby in a completely unique custom made beautiful carrier. The woven wrap can offer a wonderfully supportive fabric for this kind of carrier, plus you benefit from the beauty of the wrap itself. You can find a list of conversion companies here.

Boba Wrap

The Boba Wrap is considered by many as the absolute must for a new baby. The Boba Wrap is a stretchy wrap which does a fabulous job of creating the womb outside the womb for the 4th trimester. The Boba (formerly known as the Sleepy Wrap) is especially liked over many other stretchy wraps because of its 5% spandex content. This allows the wrap to be the perfect snugness (when tied on according to the manufacturers guidance) for you and your baby offering beautiful support and allowing you to only need to tie it once each day, without having to adjust or retie during the day. The Boba Wrap is also one of the most affordable of all the stretchies and is available at both Milkface and EBS.

Sakura Bloom

Sakura Bloom is a ring sling manufacturer who makes beautifully supportive and lovely to look at slings. Made from either linen or silk or a combination of both these ring slings combine functionality and comfort and take 'yummy mummy' style to a new level! Sakura Bloom ring slings are available to purchase at both our local babywearing expert retailers.

Maya Tie

The Maya Tie is a mei tai style carrier with wrap straps made by the Maya Wrap company. They are, I believe, discontinued but you can sometimes find them in clearance or in used locations online. The wrap strap style offers a lovely supportive carry, allowing you to spread the fabric over the baby's back and bum thus distributing the weight further. Another similar carrier is the DidyTai made by the woven wrap manufacturer Didymos.

Boba 3G

by Breathe In Photography

The Boba 3G is a great soft structured carrier which offers front and back carries for newborn babies to toddler sized ones! It has proven a popular carrier in the sling library and amongst our members. The Boba 3G can be found brand new from both our local babywearing expert stores.

Ergobaby

Ergobaby are one of the most popular and widely available ergonomic soft structured carrier. You often see them in TV shows (namely Greys Anatomy) and celebrities are often pictured using this particular carrier, although this is not the reason why they are so loved! Ergo's are available in regular, organic and sport styles and, as you can see, many various designs. The Ergo offers front, hip and back carries and has a nice wide seat to offer that knee to knee spread.

Mei Tai

by Jenna Sparks Photography

Mai teis are an Asian style carrier which offer front, hip and back carries and are wonderfully comfortable, offering great ergonomics for both baby and parent. There are some great MT manufacturers available in our local babywearing stores including Babyhawk, Freehand and Kozy Carrier, to name but a few!

Onya

Onya is a lovely soft structured carrier that is a real favourite of the sling library; the most popular and most requested carrier in the collection. It offers a crossed back front carry, which is something that many people find supremely comfy, plus a neat little trick of converting to a chair harness, which can be really handy of you're planning on wearing your baby whilst travelling. Onya is available from the MEC and there are plans afoot to bring it to other local and Candian stores.... stay tuned!!

(photo by Breathe In Photography)







Beco Gemini

by Breathe In Photography

The Beco Gemini is a favourite for our members who are wearing a newborn to 12 month old baby especially. The Beco Gemini allows front, hip and back carries and allows you to wear your baby from newborn age without the need for an additional infant insert. When front carrying the shoulder straps cross on the back, which is super comfy for many. It really is a great carrier! Beco Gemini's can be found at both Milkface and Extraordinary Baby Shoppe.










Maman Kangaroo Asiatik

by Breathe In Photography

The Asitaik is a mei tai carrier with stretchy wrap straps and made by a Canadian manufacturer, Maman Kangarou. Its a lovely style of mei tai and great for newborn to 35lbs. The Maman Kangarou Asiatik can be bought at both Milkface and Extraordinary Baby Shoppe.

What's you and your baby's favourite carrier? Is it in this list?

COTW #40 - Newborn Burp Carry

by Aline Kelly

The Newborn Burp Carry is a snuggly carry for smaller babies where they are wrapped up high on your shoulder, in the position you would normally use to burp them. It can feel safe and secure for a little one, allow them to see more things, rest their head comfortably on mama's shoulder, and some say it can be relieving for conditions such as reflux. This carry can be done in many different ways, the easiest being with either a woven wrap or with a ring sling. The following instructions include two examples of how to do it, but any method that keeps baby up there happily and securely can be used. 

 

General Instructions:

Woven wrap (Front Cross Carry):

- Position your baby high up on your shoulder in a burp position.

- Always keeping a hand securely on baby, position the middle marker of your wrap on the middle of your back. 

- Bring one side of your wrap up and across your baby, and over your opposite shoulder. 

- Make a nice seat for your baby, either with legs out or tucked in. If you're keeping legs tucked, make sure the baby's weight is on their bum, not their feet. 

- Take that same tail again, cross it diagonally across your back, under the opposite arm, and hold it securely under baby's bum while you work with the other side. 

- Repeat on the other side - bring the tail up and across baby, over your opposite shoulder, diagonally across your back, and back under baby's bum. 

- Tie a double knot under bum. If you have extra fabric you can continue and tie behind your back. 

- Adjust the wrap as required, making sure baby is supported up to their neck and that your passes are spread nicely across your back and shoulders. 

Ring Sling:

- Position baby high up on your shoulder. 

- Holding baby securely, bring your ring sling over your head and over baby, with the rings situated on your back. 

- Create a nice deep seat. 

- Tighten your ring sling rail by rail, strand by strand, until baby is securely fastened to your shoulder and fully supported. 

- See video for more instructions and demo for rings on back! 

Video Instructions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znb1WueyAh4 (WrapYourBaby) - Front Cross Carry in a burp position

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53XQiZPQuPI (PaxBaby) - Ring Sling

Wordless Wednesday: A Halloween In The Life Of Some OBG Trick Or Treaters!!

A Zombie family.... a Breaking Bad and Beeker family and a family from Oz.
Plus three little cuties; an alien monster, an ewok and a green monster!

Happy Halloween!!

Winter Babywearing

by Jennifer MacNeil

This blog piece was originally written for Jennifer's own awesome blog. We highly recommend stopping by there and checking out her other articles. Thanks for sharing this piece Jennifer!

Babywearing and seasonal change

As summer rolls into autumn, babywearers start to ask what to do in the cool weather.  Maybe it's a chilly early morning or evening dog walk that they need to cover up for, maybe it's frigid Canadian winters.  Rest assured, there are solutions that will allow you to babywear outdoors in cool and cold weather.

There are two branches of solutions: separate outerwear for you and your child, or one piece of clothing to cover you both.  There are pros and cons to both, and many options to consider.

Separate Outerwear:  Simply put, you wear your coat/sweater and baby wears his sweater, fleece suit or snowsuit.  Another option is to have an over-the-carrier cover for your baby.  These are often made by baby carrier companies as an accessory for their baby carriers, but they generally can be used interchangeably with other brands of carriers.  A simple DIY carrier cover can be made by tucking a warm blanket around the outside of the carrier.
Something to keep in mind when wearing separate outerwear: Your child is not physically exerting themselves, so will not be as warm as you may be if you are walking, snowshoeing, hiking, etc.  You may need to dress them for one level cooler than you dress yourself, i.e. in a fleece suit even if you are only in a long sleeved t-shirt.

My son is actually wearing two layered fleece suits here, as it was warmer than his snowsuit and covered his feet.  Since my husband was walking/hiking, he is dressed much less warmly than our son.

Pros:
You probably already have outerwear for both of you, so this option often is free and doesn't require you to acquire anything new.
Baby will still be warm if you take them out of the carrier, making it easy to transfer between babywearers or for toddlers to go down and run around.
Cons:
Depending on your coat, this may be a very bulky option and the extra bulk will take up more strap or wrap length.  If you are using wraps, you may find that you can't do the carries you normally do with the length i.e. with your size 6 you can no longer do a Double Hammock with Tibetan Tie, you only have the length to tie at the waist.  This may mean you have to learn new carries or use a longer wrap.
Snowsuit on snowsuit is very slippery and it's tough to get a good wrap job when your bodies refuse to stick together, not to mention the passes slide right off the baby and there goes your seat.
The soft structured carrier (SSC) that fits your child normally may only come partway up their back when they are wearing a snowsuit--may be an issue if you have a leaner.
You are not sharing body heat with your child, so they may not be warm enough in very cold weather.  You are also less aware of their temperature so it can be more difficult to assess whether they are warm enough.

Although not my usual winterwear, a wool peacoat is much less slippery than a polyester jacket, which makes it much easier to wrap a child onto you.  

One Piece of Clothing for both of you: This can really be any number of options, whatever suits your needs and your budget.

Arms in is the usual cold weather preference, unless using them to accentuate your face-making.  Note that here the v-neck is on backwards so that my son is in the V.  It actually works equally well the other way around.

Pros:
Body heat is shared between the two of you. 
Less bulky than each wearing your own clothes
Your carrier will fit normally
If you intend on continuing to carry your child at your destination, you don't have to take them out of the carrier to remove either of your outerwear once you move indoors.
Can look more stylish because it doesn't look as piece-meal.
Cons:
Some of the specialty babywearing outerwear can be quite costly.
You and your child may grow out of the coat before you stop carrying them i.e. you can no longer wear a size M and need to size up to an L.
Can be impractical if your child is going to be let down out of the carrier while you are outside.
Some options only allow you to use it while front-carrying.

At such a young age (4 months here) I was worried that a scarf may accidentally hinder his breathing, so you can see in this photo that I'm holding a safety pin to close up the space between our necks and create two separate neck holes out of the v-neck sweater.

The category of one piece of clothing can further be broken down into:

Designed/intended for babywearing (can be found both new and used) such as:
Ready-made babywearing coat or vest.  Brands include Suse's Kindercoat, Peekaru (now owned by Boba), M Coat, an amauti
Custom or ready-made zip-in extender for your own winter jacket
Babywearing poncho with extra head-hole for baby
Wrap-around poncho
Adapted for babywearing a.k.a. babywearing hacks (often something you already own or purchase at a thrift store) such as:
Stretchy knit sweater (V-neck is great)
Zippered hoodie
A jacket several sizes larger than your normal size

A DIY babywearing coat like this one.

My favourite cold weather babywearing combo; this ensemble cost a total of $4.

My personal preference for sub-zero temperatures is a babywearing hack, because I'm practical, but cheap.  A combination of an XL v-neck cashmere sweater (from Salvation Army) under an XL zippered hoodie (and roll up the sleeves). We dress normally, usually my son wears just socks. I find it is good to about -20C. If it is a warmer day, I use only one (especially for fall/spring), and on the very coldest days I've used my husband's parka--he wore his snowboarding jacket. With a large coat/hoodie or amauti, you have the option of putting the hood over both your heads for extra warmth, an option that I don't think is offered with babywearing coats.

When your babywearing gear is over-sized gifted clothes for your spouse,
you can both use it to babywear!

Whichever option you choose, make sure you are paying attention to footwear.  Most people worry about their child's winter footwear (MEC Toaster Booties, Stonz, Padraigs, booties/moccasins are all great choices) but what I'm referring to is adult footwear.  If you are in a location or season where you may encounter slippery ground or ice, please wear shoes or boots with appropriate treads/traction.  You can also look into traction aid slip-ons that fit over your shoes if you will be walking on slippery surfaces.  In our first winter together, I slipped and fell while carrying my son during a freezing rain storm.  For our second winter I purchased some slip-ons from Costco for $12 (there are tons of brands out there; Yaktrax is one I've frequently heard recommended).  They were sometimes a pain because I had to take them off to go into stores and usually to cross cleared streets (as mine have spikes), but definitely worth it.  They roll up small and I always kept them in my coat pocket so I didn't forget them when we went out.

Last of all, here are some extra tips for my cold weather babywearing comrades:
If you’re using separate gear, back wearing, and you have a hood, roll the hood up and in so it doesn’t bother your kiddo
Use a longer wrap to do a mid-length carry with a shoulder or chest tie (knotless, Tibetan, Candy Cane, etc.) and use the long tails as a scarf—one less thing to carry with you and potentially forget!
If you will be exerting yourself but aren’t warmed up yet, use arm/leg warmers to cover your arms.  They are quick and easy to take off and don’t require you to take your child out of the carrier to remove a layer.
Use a mirror to practice putting your kiddo’s hat on while back carrying (hat demo starting at 5:41).  The easiest hats to put on are ones with ear flaps because they give you two handles.  If your arms don’t bend that way (and they won’t at first!), keep practicing.  Do those behind the back arm stretches when you’re not babywearing.  Practice more.  Keep yourself motivated with the knowledge that you will be able to put your kid’s hat on by yourself, meaning you don’t have to approach strangers to ask for help, (if there is even anyone around).  You will also be able to adjust the hat after it has been on your child’s head and has inevitably twisted or fallen down, obscuring their eyes and causing them to fuss.  Once you’re a pro at putting on a hat, you can earn your golden potato by reaching back and putting your child’s hood back on (for the millionth time), and even pulling that shared hood up over both of your heads!

Left: Using a size 6 wrap to do a ruck with Tibetan Tie I have enough length to use the tails for a scarf.
Right: My hood is rolled up and nestled up around my neck so that it is out of my son’s face.

Do you have any tips to make winter babywearing easier?  Tell us what works for you!

COTW #39- Double Hammock Double Rings

by Aline Kelly

Double Hammock Double Rings (DH-DR) is an short version of Double Hammock that is secured with two sling rings, one at either shoulder. You can generally tie this carry with a much shorter wrap than you would use to tie a regular Double Hammock, often a size 2, 3, or 4 woven wrap will suffice nicely. 

General instructions:

- These instructions assume you know how to tie a regular Double Hammock. The only difference will be that your chest pass should remain bunched instead of spread. 

- When you get to the stage of the cheerleader pull, bring both tails over your shoulders. 

- Securing one tail, feed a sling ring up the other tail until it is high on your chest. 

- Keeping the ring high and out of the way, tuck this tail underneath your chest pass.

- Lower the ring down so it is at the crossing point of the two passes, hanging over the horizontal pass. 

- Tuck the hanging pass up through the ring, from back to front, and tighten by pulling downward.

- You can tighten this cross to the chest level that you prefer by holding the hanging tail and moving your ring up or down.

- Repeat the ring instructions for the other side. 

Photo instructions:

http://www.thebabywearer.com/forum/showthread.php?502338-DH-variation-with-Rings-(pik-tute) (login required)

Video instructions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H40Dbhab5ls (emwhist) - To skip to the ring tutorial, fast forward to 3:45

Thursday Thought: Generational Wearing

by Tami Grosset

One of the most memorable experiences from my days working at Milkface (a local babywearing and natural parenting store) was when a grandmother came in to ask about our selection of soft structured carriers. She thought it would be a great way for her to care for her grandchild when her daughter needed a break.

Babywearing is not just for the parents, as wearers. Very often the next people to care for a baby, after the parents, are the grandparents and why should they not get in on the act? For grandparents with arthritic hands ring slings or tied mai teis, rather than buckle carriers, might be preferable but generally a carrier will be easier on an older body than carrying in arms, just as it is for parents.

Very often Granny and Gramps get a bad rep. We hear too often stories of grandparents bemoaning the practice of babywearing. 'You're spoiling him by holding him close all the time.' 'She'll never learn to walk.' 'It must be putting a lot of strain on your body.' A baby is not a piece of fruit and will not spoil by touching, of course she'll learn to walk and wearing my baby puts a lot less strain on my joints than carrying her in arms.

BUT....

There are many grandparents out there who have embraced babywearing, and other forms of natural parenting. These wonderful grannies and grampies are not only supporting the parents in the way they are choosing to raise their children. They are also really enjoying the wonderful snuggliness that babywearing allows.

We applaud you Babywearing Granny and Babywearing Gramps! Thank you for sharing the babywearing love with us and thank you for your support!

Who else is wearing your baby?