I’ve been wearing babies for about 18 years.  If I could have dug through old pictures, I’m sure I would have found a photo of me wearing Caroline when she was a chunky, adorable baby that was half my size (I was only 10 or 11 and very petite!).  

To me, there is nothing better than carrying a baby around with me.  When I was pregnant with Henry, I didn’t care about fixing up a nursery or buying baby clothes or picking out a name.  All I cared about was buying a sling that fit me 🙂  At that time, the Athens La Leche League group was selling Maya Wraps as a fundraiser, so Mom ordered me a small, black sling as a gift.  And I wore that sling out of the hospital and as often as I could.  I remember walking around Wal-Mart and Ingles when Henry was tiny nursing him and feeling so proud of myself for being able to shop and nurse at the same time!

There are many, many different kinds of baby carriers.  Some of them are wraps, like a Moby Wrap or Mai Tei.  Some are ring slings, like the Maya Wrap and the Sakura Bloom.  Others are more structured, like a Ergo or Beco.  All of them can be used in multiple ways and for every sized baby or kid.  Most likely, if you like to wear a baby, you will have a couple different versions that are used for different reasons.  I have a Maya Wrap ring sling, my new Sakura Bloom ring sling (favorite!!) and an Ergo.  A few of my friends, as well as Logan and Erin have a Moby Wrap that they just LOVE.  I’ve only tried one out, but I’ve not used one for real.

After Lucy was born, Mom told me that she’d like to give me a new carrier/sling.  Told me to go shopping!  I follow a blog called Design Mom and she’d recently posted about getting a new sling after the birth of her 6th child, and she’d bought one from Sakura Bloom.  Sakura Bloom specializes in Silk and Linen ring slings.  Check out their site, you will fall in love with all of the BEAUTIFUL linen colors that they offer, as well as the gorgeous silks.  After spending a ton of nursing time on my iPad, shopping around for different carrier options, I choose a Blackberry Linen Sakura Bloom sling.  

I am just delighted with my new sling!  The fabric is soft and minimal.  The color is gorgeous.  I love it so much that I asked Caroline to take pics of me and Lucy using the sling.  I think she did a wonderful job (as usual).  I pretty much do everything in life while wearing Lucy.  Laundry, dishes, dinner, computer work, shopping, you name it, we’ve done it.  I’ve even shot while wearing her!

Baby wearing is something that takes a little bit of practice, so if you have a sling, give it a few tries!

One of the things that I like about the Sakura Bloom sling, is that you can wrap the tail of the sling around the rings!

 

While I was out and about last week, I had someone ask me if the sling wrapped all the way around me; it does!  This sling doesn’t have a padded shoulder (the Maya Wrap does) so you’re able to spread the fabric out over your shoulder to help evening distribute the weight of the baby.

Baby wants to nurse?  No big deal!  You can easily move Baby around and nurse.  The tails of the sling make a good cover up if you need/want one!

 This position is best used with older kids, but Lucy doesn’t mind it 🙂  Just make sure when you’re holding a baby this way that the baby’s knees are higher than their bum and that the rail of the sling is securely positioned under their bum.

See, totally hands-free!

This is one of my favorites!  

Thank you, Caroline, for doing this!! And for letting me stretch out your jeans!