Tag Archives: baby carriers

Compare Baby Carriers – Baby Slings

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Sakura Bloom baby sling babywearing toddlers

Take a wrap baby carrier and sew it together (pouch sling) or add rings to enable easy adjustability (ring slings), and you have our next category of baby carriers: baby slings. A baby sling is as uncomplicated as any baby carrier gets.

Baby Slings are compact, sleek, and easy to use. Their simple design makes them one of the most popular baby carriers available. We firmly believe that NO new mother should be without a simple baby sling for an easier adjustment to life with baby. You will be an expert at babywearing in minutes.

Using a baby sling or pouch couldn’t be easier. Just put it on and take it off like a shoulder purse. The baby pops in and out quickly, making a sling the perfect choice for a little one who wants up and down (and up again!) all day long.

Slings are a favorite baby carrier for carrying a newborn and for nursing hands-free. When paired with a soft-pack baby carrier, you’ll have the perfect baby wearing combination from birth to toddlerhood.

This post is part of a series in which we give an overview of baby carrier styles, comparing the specific baby carriers available within each style. Despite the variety of baby carriers on the market today, nearly all fall into one of four basic styles.

  • Baby Wraps
  • Baby Slings (includes pouch slings and ring slings)
  • Mei Tai Baby Carriers
  • Soft Pack Baby Carriers


Ring Slings

Maya Wrap baby slings with dad

A ring sling takes the simple wraparound cloth baby carrier a step further. Rather than tying the fabric and using knots to secure it, attach two large rings and you have yourself a ring sling.

When the length of fabric is threaded through the rings, a pouch is formed where your baby will sit. You can adjust the size and shape of the sling through the rings. Baby can be worn snuggled in, laying down, facing out in front like a kangaroo, on the hip, or on the back looking over your shoulder.

Sometimes padding is sewn into the sides (“rails”) or shoulder of the sling, and a tail is left from the fabric that has been pulled through the rings. Some ring slings include a pocket in the tail to carry your extras while out and about.


Pouches

Hotslings adjustable baby pouch carrier

A pouch is a tube-style baby carrier, generally one long circle of fabric sewn with a curved seam to provide a pouch for your baby to sit in. There are no rings for adjustment, so usually a pouch sling is sized to fit the individual who will be wearing it. This is perfect for a baby who wants to sit on your hip.

Innovations to the basic pouch sling design have included zippers or snaps to make them adjustable, and a hybrid pouch—a pouch sewn into a ring sling for both comfort and adjustability.


Advantages

  • short learning curve
  • very compact, so it will fit into a purse or diaper bag easily
  • most loved for the newborn stage – easy transition from snug environment of womb to compact sling
  • easy to move baby in and out of carrier
  • easiest for hands-free nursing
  • pouch has no extra tail fabric to figure out
  • tail of ring sling can be used for a nursing cover up


Disadvantages

  • Sizing is important in a pouch sling for the most comfort. Ring slings make this easier, but some parents find the rings more difficult to adjust.
  • only one-shouldered support, so a sling is less comfortable for extended wearing or for heavier babies and toddlers
  • a pouch is less versatile for carrying in different positions


Sling Baby Carriers Compared

Upmama baby ring sling made in Canada

Upmama Hybrid Baby Slings
Style: Adjustable Unpadded Ring Sling Hybrid (ring sling/pouch)
Age: Newborn to toddler (35 lbs)
Carrying Positions: Cradle, Kangaroo, Tummy to Tummy, Hip/Side, Back (toddler only)
Fabric: Cotton Sateen (97% cotton, 3% spandex)
Origin: Made in Canada

Maya Wrap baby ring sling


Maya Wrap Baby Ring Slings
Style: Adjustable Lightly Padded Ring Sling (padded in shoulder only).
Age: Newborn to 35 lbs.
Carrying Positions: Cradle, Kangaroo, Tummy to Tummy, Hip/Side, Back (toddler only)
Fabric: 100% hand-woven cotton
Origin: Hand-loomed using fair trade labor in Guatemala

Sakura Bloom ring sling for dads


Sakura Bloom Baby Ring Slings
Style: Adjustable Unpadded Ring Sling
Age: Newborn to toddler (35 lbs)
Carrying Positions: Cradle, Kangaroo, Tummy to Tummy, Hip/Side, Back (toddler only)
Fabric: 100% Irish linen
Origin: Made in USA

Hotslings adjustable pouch baby sling


Hotslings Adjustable Pouch Baby Slings
Style: Adjustable Pouch Sling (one-size)
Age: Suitable for newborn to 30lbs+
Carrying Positions: Cradle, kangaroo, front facing in & out, hip carrying
Fabric: 97% Cotton Sateen, 3% Spandex
Origin: Made in USA

Compare Baby Carriers – Baby Wraps

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Moby Wrap baby carrier

There are so many choices in baby carriers today that it can easily become overwhelming for someone just starting out. Add to that the vast amount of information available online, and it’s no wonder many parents just purchase the first or most well-known carrier they come across. Unfortunately, some carriers are not designed for extended periods of use or with an older, heavier baby, and they end up pulling mercilessly on your back and shoulders. Some have so many buckles, snaps, loops and straps that they dig into you, the baby, or both. We’ve been there, and we’re happy to compare baby carriers so that you can narrow down which carrier or carriers might work best for you.

For the next few weeks, we will give an overview of baby carrier styles. Despite the incredible variety of baby carriers on the market today, nearly all fall into one of four basic styles.

  • Baby Wraps
  • Baby Slings (includes pouch slings and ring slings)
  • Mei Tai Baby Carriers
  • Soft Pack Baby Carriers


Baby Wraps

Baby Wraps, also known as wraparound baby carriers or just wraps, are without a doubt the most versatile baby carriers available. Simple carrying cloths are also the most common traditional baby carriers around the world because of their simplicity and versatility. The caregiver uses a square, rectangular or long strip of fabric to wrap and tie the baby to their body. Knots are used to secure and adjust the carrier to the baby and to the wearer. Carrying scarves can be useful long after your babywearing days are over.

Carry your baby in unlimited carrying positions with a wrap, and one size will fit any babywearer, from Mom or Dad to Grandma or Grandpa.

Advantages

  • very comfortable for baby
  • most versatile, offering unlimited number of carrying positions
  • ergonomic support for both baby and adult
  • easily adapts to various baby weights and sizes for both front and back carrying
  • one-size fits most baby carrier

Wraparound carriers are particularly suited for kangaroo care, the practice of holding premature and full-term newborns skin-to-skin for optimal neurological development.

Disadvantages

  • lots of fabric can be confusing
  • somewhat steeper learning curve – requires practice to become efficient in tying the baby carrier and adjusting to the baby
  • can get warm in the summertime (but keeps baby warm in cooler weather!)


Wraparound Baby Carriers Compared

Moby Wrap twin baby carrier

Moby Wrap Baby Wrap
Style: Baby Wrap Carrier – Stretchy
Age: Best for for newborn to 30+ lbs
Carrying Positions: Unlimited – Front, Hip/Side, Back
Fabric: 100% cotton double knit-interlock
Origin: Made in Thailand


Cuddly Wrap baby carrier

Organic Cotton Cuddly Wrap Baby Wraps
Style: Baby Wrap Carrier – Stretchy
Age: Best for for newborn to 30+ lbs
Carrying Positions: Unlimited – Front, Hip/Side, Back
Fabric: 100% ORGANIC cotton
Origin: Made in Canada under fair trade labour practices

Ellaroo baby wrap baby carrier

EllaRoo Woven Baby Wrap Carrier
Style: Baby Wrap Carrier – Woven
Age: Suitable for newborn to toddler
Carrying Positions: Unlimited – Front, Hip/Side, Back
Fabric: 100% handwoven cotton. Non-toxic, baby safe dyes
Origin: Handmade in Guatemala under fair trade labour practices

Blue Celery baby wrap hybrid baby carrier

Blue Celery Baby Sling / Wrap Hybrid
Style: Baby Wrap / Sling Hybrid (2 pull-on loops + waist sash) – Stretchy
Age: Newborn to toddler (35lbs)
Carrying positions: Cradle, Kangaroo, Tummy-to-tummy, Forward Facing, Hip/Side
Fabric: Organic stretch cotton
Origin: Made in Canada

Babywearing Around the World

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A Black Hmong woman carries her baby on her back

A Black Hmong woman carries her baby on her back

International Babywearing Week celebrates babywearing around the world. New innovations is mass-marketed baby carriers often have their roots in long traditions. Really, carrying a baby is quite simple. Women use what they have to hold their babies close while they go about their busy lives.

In the end, the differences in traditional baby carriers around the world are minor.

Asian baby carriers are generally a square or rectangle of fabric with straps to tie around the mother.

Both the Mexican rebozo and the African kanga are simple rectangles about the size of a baby blanket or a shawl (since they are shawls, after all). These simple pieces of cloth can be worn in many ways, often with two shawls—one around the mother’s upper body taking the weight of the baby’s bottom and one around the mother’s middle holding the baby in snuggly.

Even the 19th-century plaid (Scottish great kilt or Earasaid) that my husband has from his family was used as a baby carrier by Scots women.

Where cloth is less common, we find solid carriers like cradle boards and baskets, which women tie to their bodies, hang from a tree, or even hook over a horse’s saddle, in the case of a Navajo (Diné) craddleboard.

Around the world, women used what they had to carry their babies. What is clear and certain is that women use baby carriers to make the task easier. Women have always used baby carriers to make their lives easier—and I use the word “always” in a lose sense to mean for millions of years.

Wearing a baby rather than carrying in arms or not carrying at all was practical, but the results of our ancestors 2.2 million years ago creating slings for their babies were that development continued outside the womb. In a recent book, prehistorian Dr. Timothy Taylor found that attachment to mother by a sling and the safety that brought meant development of bigger brains.

Yes, that’s what I wrote, and here’s what he said, “Courtesy of the baby sling, our ancestors got smarter.“ Taylor finds that the baby sling is one of those technologies that changed the course of human evolution.

To see the amazing variety of ways that women carry their babies around the world, see this great Flickr collection of babywearing around the world. There are 400+ images, so sit back and enjoy the slide show.

Image © Pachot | Dreamstime.com

Close Enough to Kiss

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International Babywearing Week 2010

October 6-12 is International Babywearing Week, when people around the world show the variety of ways they wear their babies and keep them close enough to kiss.

Find an official celebrating organization, and see some of the ways organizations around the world celebrate babywearing. Check out the world’s longest baby sling from Budapest, Hungary, during last year’s celebration.

Farewell to Hotslings

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Hotslings logo

Today is a sad day. This is the day that Hotslings closes.

Hotslings have been a staple for us for five years. It was one of the first products we opened our doors with.

In the early days of Parenting by Nature, the baby slept, watched, and played happily in her Hotslings while Tamara created a website, filled orders, and handled customer service emails. “I don’t think I’d be where I am today had I not discovered Hotslings prior to her being born,” says Tamara. “She practically lived in her Hotslings for the first 8 months of her life.”

These slings and this company will be greatly missed.

The Baby Carrier Industry Alliance (BCIA) has made a great tribute to Hotslings. Bynature.ca is a member of BCIA, a trade association for the baby carrier industry. BCIA welcomes anyone interested in keeping babywearing safe and baby carriers available to join as a Supporter.