The Journal of pediatrics. Walker AM, Menahem S. J Dev Behav. When it comes to content, our aim is simple: every parent should have access to information they can trust. All of our articles have been thoroughly researched and are based on the latest evidence from reputable and robust sources.
We create our articles with NCT antenatal teachers, postnatal leaders and breastfeeding counsellors, as well as academics and representatives from relevant organisations and charities. Read more about our editorial review process. Everything you need to know about slings and carriers. Read time 7 minutes. Email Post Tweet Post. In this article: What is a sling or a carrier?
Are there are any benefits to using a sling? What are the risks of using slings? So how can I keep my baby safe in their sling or carrier? Baby positions for slings and carriers Can I breastfeed in a sling?
Further information. Show references. Pouches are made of one folded length of material that forms a pocket for the baby. They are worn over the body like a sash but this style means the weight of your baby might not be spread evenly.
Absolutely avoid bag-style slings. Both of which put babies at risk of suffocating CPSC, Click on the following link to see whether you have a nearby NCT sling library.
Pop in and you can test a variety of slings and carriers. You can hire slings for a small charge and choose which one suits you best. Non-NCT sling libraries may also offer a sling consultation service where you can take your own sling and ask for advice on how to use it.
Just be aware that sling libraries and consultants do not have standardised accreditation and that their training will vary.
The UK Sling Consortium offer guidelines for safe use of slings and carriers. Read more in our article Everything you need to know about slings and carriers. Read more about hip dysplasia hips growing abnormally. Our support line offers practical and emotional support with feeding your baby and general enquiries for parents, members and volunteers: You might find attending one of our Early Days groups helpful as they give you the opportunity to explore different approaches to important parenting issues with a qualified group leader and other new parents in your area.
Make friends with other parents-to-be and new parents in your local area for support and friendship by seeing what NCT activities are happening nearby. For more information on the slings available, find your nearest NCT sling library.
Our sling libraries have a wide variety of slings and carriers to try and hire so you can find which one works best for you. An experimental study of the effects of increased physical contact on the development of attachment. Child development. Babywearing International. Hunziker UA. The Journal of pediatrics. Child development, 81 2 And in addition to the sound, smell, and feel of the wearer, babies in carriers experience two other types of sensation that are important for sensory development and soothing, said Carroll.
Vestibular, or movement, input, occurs when the wearer walks, dances, bounces, or sways. Unlike buckle carriers , which have buckles and straps that sit at a fixed place on the body, wraps and slings involve a long piece of fabric that wraps around the baby and wearer.
Although they have a steeper learning curve than buckle carriers, they also provide a closer, more custom fit, which tends to work better for newborns than the infant inserts of more structured carriers. They have two other advantages over buckle carriers: Wraps and slings are more portable; they roll up or pack down into tidier bundles.
They can also hold up to regular machine washing and can be, in most cases, machine dried. Stretchy wraps: These are often the go-to wrap for newborns because they cocoon the baby in a knit fabric that stretches and conforms to the body like a T-shirt. The type of fabric matters in stretchy wraps. Some people find stretchy wraps wonderfully snuggly; others find them uncomfortable, especially with older babies. Although the weight limit of stretchy wraps ranges from 25 to 35 pounds or about 16 months to 4 years old for the average child many people find this type of wrap causes body strain when a baby reaches about half that weight.
On the upside, once stretchy wraps are tied, you can slip the baby in and out as needed. Ring slings: Ring slings are simpler to use than wraps by design: A panel of fabric is threaded through two rings to create a seat to support the baby. Plus a baby can be easily popped in and out. People often choose ring slings as a secondary carrier, Stare said, for use at home or in situations where a wrap may be less convenient, like traveling on a plane or on a rainy day.
Compared with long wraps and other types of carriers, ring slings function more like a fashion accessory. Typically made of a woven fabric, such as cotton, linen, bamboo, or silk, ring slings are strong enough to carry older children on the hip—the max weight of most is at least 35 pounds—but a baby can also be dropped down quickly to nurse, using the tail as a cover.
As a result, they are more supportive, even for toddlers—the max weight of most woven wraps starts at 35 pounds, and with the right fabric and hold combination some people find them comfortable for at least that long.
Stare of Wild Was Mama said she also recommends woven wraps for people with back problems or babies that have low muscle tone. Woven wraps are also more versatile than stretchy ones, in that they allow for a wider variety of carries—front, back, or hip—and they can be wrapped with one or multiple layers of fabric over the baby, which means they transition easily between seasons. That makes them less straightforward to share. And though we found the woven wraps we tested to be comfortable and supportive, they were also less forgiving when it came to learning how to tie them tightly, nurse, or pop a baby in and out.
One subway ride that stalled long enough to necessitate nursing ended awkwardly, with one armful of baby and the other of balled-up yards of wrap. Consequently we did not name any as picks. The max weight limit for meh dais, which are typically made of percent cotton and lightly padded, is 35 to 40 pounds.
Peterson, who co-owned Metro Minis with McNeilly, said this is in line with his experience helping customers—and his own experience. We did not name a meh dai pick because the models we tried did not perform as well as our wrap and sling picks, but we plan to look at this category more closely in a future update.
Different carriers excel in different situations, and people gravitate to brands based on their look and feel—as with a pair of jeans. Sometimes even babies themselves have preferences.
All of the experts we spoke with recommend envisioning how you will use the carrier: For running quick errands? Taking long hikes? Most people choose a carrier optimized for newborns because they need to be held, McNeilly said. Although structured carriers tend to differ significantly from brand to brand, wraps and slings are simpler and so nearly identical in form and function.
We homed in on six criteria to help us distinguish between otherwise very similar products. Ease of use: The number one stumbling block for people who have tried slings and wraps—particularly for those who have tried and given up on them—is the complexity of putting them on. We wanted a carrier that was straightforward for the majority of people to use, even in an inevitably sleep-deprived state, and in which the baby could be popped in and out without having to retie.
Comfort and support: Carrier fabrics range from super-stretchy to woven with little give. Fabrics also come in various weights, which makes a difference depending on the climate. Because these carriers are worn close to the skin, functioning more like an item of clothing than a piece of gear, we aimed for a product that was comfortable to wear in every season and while standing or sitting as well as over long walks. Ideally slings and wraps should work for any body type without being overly cumbersome.
Bonus points went to those that could double as a nursing cover. Washability: Babies are messy. That means we looked for products that folded or packed down to a portable size and were relatively lightweight to boot. Although there has been recent consolidation in the industry, the wrap and sling market can be quite boutique and there are many different makers.
Fabrics can be very specialized and expensive. Our initial research turned up about 60 wraps, ring slings, and meh dais. Woven wraps Hip Baby Wrap Storchenwiege.
Meh dais Infantino Sash Moby Carrier. We spent more than hours testing wraps and slings, covering more than miles and prepping and eating many meals in the process. I began using the carriers when my son was just one week old, following the directions that came with the products and turning to YouTube for supplemental instruction as necessary. I continued rotating through them every day for another 14 weeks, making trips ranging from one to upwards of three hours on foot around my Brooklyn neighborhood, on the subway, and even on a flight to Pittsburgh for a conference.
I also made a point of wearing them while doing tasks that required both hands, such as grocery shopping, cooking dinner, and working on my laptop. They tried them over the course of a couple of weeks with infants ranging from 10 to 14 weeks old, and in some cases with nearly 2-year-old siblings.
Like us, they found that some carriers were too bouncy, too warm, pulled at the shoulders, or slipped during wear. It uses less fabric than most other stretchy wraps, making it less intimidating and unwieldy to tie in the recommended hold called a front wrap cross carry , and it feels more comfortable in hot weather. It supports the baby better than stretchier wraps and can be more easily left on while popping the baby in and out than woven ones.
The Solly is made of Lenzing modal, a type of rayon fiber sourced from the pulp of Austrian beechwood trees. Though some wraps are as stretchy, or stretchier, than the Solly, their heavier, denser fabrics felt stifling in August, when our testing began.
The Solly feels cooler in warm weather and can easily fit under a coat or wrap around a bundled-up baby when the temperature drops. The Solly also seems more supportive than wraps made of a cotton-spandex blend, which feel snuggly with newborns but sag under the weight of babies as they grow older. The Solly comes in two sizes, standard and long. We like that even the standard-size Solly can be easily shared with caregivers of different body types, and yet has less fabric to manipulate than most of the other wraps, making it a little less intimidating to tie.
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