Back from La Leche conference

Well, I just spent most of last week at the La Leche League international
conference in San Francisco.

I did not go to any classes as I was helping Maya Wrap debut the MamaBaby
sling I designed. But it was incredibly fun! So many nursing mamas, so many
slings.... I got a Zolowear sling, which definitely holds the crown in the
"Baby Sling as Work of Art" category... I got the red one with the red and
gold dragon brocade, in silk.

But we just had a blast... my cousin's wife came and saw the exhibit floor
and said it was the first time in a year that she didn't feel odd that she
was "still" nursing her two-year-old (who is just as cute as a bug and
extremely intelligent!)

I couldn't resist buying nursing clothes--there were several vendors who had
"seconds" racks (Co Nursingwear and One Hot Mama)

I bought:
1 long blue batik dress. Great "mock vest" design, except that the cleverly
designed lift-up side flaps velcro shut and the velcro irritates my arm like
crazy at the elbow. I'll be taking the velcro off and replacing it with a
button or snap.
2 floor length black velvet dresses for $15 each. I just wanted to cry
because it's too hot out to wear them but they are SO drop dead gorgeous.
I'm giving one to a friend whose nursing and keeping the other for myself,
to wear even though I'm not nursing right now.
1 sleevless short dress in a GORGEOUS lilac linen for my friend.
1 periwinkle button-down sleeveless dress for my friend.
1 long-sleeved Oxford for her
1 long sleeved knit top in hunter for me. All the shirts were $10 each.

And I even bought a Maya Wrap with a wrapsack (zipper pouch that threads
through the fabric above the rings--GREAT place to put an airline ticket and
a credit card!) that matched, because you can never have too many slings....

People keep asking me if I'm expecting. Well, we DO plan on getting pregnant
next year some time....

Jenrose

Wahhhh, I wanted to go to that conference. Wahhhhhhhh. Sounds like a
blast!
"Jenrose" wrote in message
s.com...
Well, I just spent most of last week at the La Leche League international
conference in San Francisco.

I did not go to any classes as I was helping Maya Wrap debut the MamaBaby
sling I designed. But it was incredibly fun! So many nursing mamas, so
many
slings.... I got a Zolowear sling, which definitely holds the crown in the
"Baby Sling as Work of Art" category... I got the red one with the red and
gold dragon brocade, in silk.

But we just had a blast... my cousin's wife came and saw the exhibit floor
and said it was the first time in a year that she didn't feel odd that she
was "still" nursing her two-year-old (who is just as cute as a bug and
extremely intelligent!)

I couldn't resist buying nursing clothes--there were several vendors who
had
"seconds" racks (Co Nursingwear and One Hot Mama)

I bought:
1 long blue batik dress. Great "mock vest" design, except that the
cleverly
designed lift-up side flaps velcro shut and the velcro irritates my arm
like
crazy at the elbow. I'll be taking the velcro off and replacing it with a
button or snap.
2 floor length black velvet dresses for $15 each. I just wanted to cry
because it's too hot out to wear them but they are SO drop dead gorgeous.
I'm giving one to a friend whose nursing and keeping the other for myself,
to wear even though I'm not nursing right now.
1 sleevless short dress in a GORGEOUS lilac linen for my friend.
1 periwinkle button-down sleeveless dress for my friend.
1 long-sleeved Oxford for her
1 long sleeved knit top in hunter for me. All the shirts were $10 each.

And I even bought a Maya Wrap with a wrapsack (zipper pouch that threads
through the fabric above the rings--GREAT place to put an airline ticket
and
a credit card!) that matched, because you can never have too many
slings....

People keep asking me if I'm expecting. Well, we DO plan on getting
pregnant
next year some time....

Jenrose

I'm interested to see the sling you designed--that's awesome! And all your new
clothes sound great. :-)

Leslie

"Phoebe & Allyson" wrote in message
...
Jenrose wrote:

I was helping Maya Wrap debut the MamaBaby
sling I designed.


Pictures? How does it work?

Phoebe


Pictures available Very Soon. (Actually, if you go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/babywearing and sign up as a member of the
group, you can look at photos in the photo archive in the "MamaBaby" folder,
but the official web site will be up in a day or two--that's out of my
control as I'm not webmastering it.) But Maya Wrap will be carrying them, as
will www.midwiferytoday.com .

It starts out looking just like a normal unpadded ring sling, only out of a
very yummy soft 100% cotton interlock knit. Nylon rings so it can go in the
dryer more easily (it's also lighter.)

But then you put it on upside down and backward. And then you cross another
one over the top. And then, what you have is a carrier that's as easy to use
as a sling, can convert back to a sling simply by pulling one off, but
spreads the weight of baby over both shoulders.

Because of how the rings connect to the fabric and the stretch of the
fabric, this is one of the easiest slings I've ever seen to position
correctly, and "correctly" is a much more relative term. The rings can be
worn in a "normal" position, or lower on the front, or behind the hip, or
wherever it works best for the age of the baby and your comfort level. It's
a very simple design--you can make one with Jan's instructions (she talks
about the modification I use for knit fabrics) but we found that the
security of the sling was highly dependant on the interplay between ring
size/composition and fabric thickness/composition. A thin fabric will slip
right through big rings.

But we found a fantastic 100% cotton interlock of just the right weight, and
nylon rings that are just the right size for adjustability and safety.
They'll be available in navy and black--and the black is *solid* black, with
matching trim and rings, which looks really, really sleek on. At LLLI,
people would overlook the slings next to the more colorful Maya Wraps, but
then they'd feel the fabric and say, "Oooo!"

Putting an unpadded ring sling on upside down and backward serves several
purposes (try it!)

1. The "upside down" (rings at or behind your hip rather than your shoulder)
gets the rings away from baby's head. This means you can carry smaller
babies higher up. Note that the closer the rings are to the front, the less
secure the sling is. My ideal is far enough back that the rings are behind
my hip, but not so far back that they bother me when I'm leaning back in a
chair. This position puts them up high enough that even one sling in this
position is quite secure.

2. The "backwards" part means that if you rotated the rings back up to the
hollow below your collarbone, you would have the tail wanting to go back
over your shoulder than than hanging down. But when the rings are at your
hip or behind your hip in this orientation, they become insanely easy to
adjust, almost easier than rings at the shoulder.

Now, there is a sacrifice in side-to-side stability in the more upright
positions with a single sling in this position. But wearing two slings
crossed is so durned comfortable... and when you add the second sling over
the other shoulder, it immobilizes baby. I watched a mom with a sleeping one
year old on her chest bend over with no hands on the baby to get things out
of the dishwasher. Not only didn't he wake up, but with a layer of cloth
pulled up to support his head, he just flat out didn't move relative to his
mom. The stretch of the MamaBaby is such that the fabric easily stretches up
and around baby, but does NOT stretch to allow baby to arch backward or flop
out of the sling when you bend. It really only stretches in one
direction--just enough to spread the weight out. And in the other direction,
it's solid enough to keep baby from sagging downward--a major fault of
slings that have lycra or a more stretchy knit.

For hip-sitters, I put them in the sling in a standard "ring up" position,
but then put the second sling on over the other shoulder "upside down and
backwards" which puts both rings on one side, but spreads the weight over
both shoulders.

With two slings, you can duplicate a lot of the "didymos" style carries, but
with a lot less fuss. We've even been working on a modified "colic" hold in
the sling, which isn't very stable with one sling, but works just fine with
two slings crossed.

I've come to the conclusion that my ideal minimum is six slings (to own,
not wear all at once!)

A set for the washer
A set for the dryer
And a set to wear....

Some sling companies are starting to make packages of slings. My "perfect
package" would include

At least 2 MamaBaby slings, probably 4.

1 pouch sling (Either a perfectly fit New Native, an adjustable Maya, or
possibly a Kangaroo Korner adjustable pouch, although I haven't personally
reviewed those, I've seen one in use and the baby positioning was
beautiful...)

1 Maya Wrap sling (because they're just so darned gorgeous and they're very
comfy)

1 rebozo

1 Zolowear silk sling (this is the "ideal" list. It is not going to be
practical for lots of women to spend $149 on one sling. But I suspect few
people who actually make the plunge for the Zolowear sling would regret it.)

And possibly one other carrier, which would either be one of the back
carriers like the Ergo, Sutemi, or Packababy, or one of the long fabric
carriers, such as Baby Bundler, Didymos, Girosol, El Comal or such. These
are only "possible" as my limited experience with older babies in the
MamaBaby says that back-carries are actually pretty darn simple with that.

Why so many?

Well, the MamaBaby slings are my "default" sling for everyday. But a pouch
is *so* handy for the "up-down" phase, and a properly fitted pouch is one of
the most comfortable slings out there. The Maya Wrap is beautiful and goes
with my style very well. My rebozo is also a "pretty"... I have the Arco
Iris. It's also VERY lightweight and good for summer wear, when MamaBaby
slings can get a little warm, although nowhere near as warm as the padded or
fleece slings. The Zolowear.... well, I got a Zolowear sling at the
conference and although it's sort of mind-boggling to contemplate spending
$149 on a baby sling, they are stupendously well made and drop-dead
gorgeous. I have the red dupioni/gold-dragon-on-red brocade silk sling and
it's staggeringly, astonishingly beautiful. As in stop-traffic,
actually-chat-with-the-security-guard-and-give-them-a-card-at-the-airport
gorgeous. With or without a baby in it. Not to mention that it matches my
sister's high-court SCA garb almost exactly.

You'll notice a couple of things didn't make the cut....
With the two-slings-crossed, the whole baby bjorn thing goes out the window.
You see, you can put a baby in the MamaBaby in that position very easily,
then turn kiddo around and nurse without really fussing too much with your
settings on the rings. So no front carrier needed.

And there are no padded slings. Every sling I listed except the last "maybe"
can be worn without a baby in it, in the correct position, without being
very noticable. The Zolowear is a little more noticable because the fabric
is thicker and the rings a bit heavier, but honestly, if you're going to be
wearing that much silk in bright flaming red, don't you WANT to notice it?
The Over the Shoulder Baby Holder and other padded slings can be comfortable
enough, but I don't find them more comfortable than unpadded slings, and
many padded slings are just awful to adjust properly, which makes them less
comfortable. So when you add that in to the convenience factor, I just don't
tend to use the padded slings very often. When I'm around a baby, I put my
slings on with my clothes in the morning and don't take them off unless they
get glorped on or I go to bed. With a padded sling, that's just not very
practical. That said, lots of moms have and love padded slings, and given
that I've never found one sling that was perfect for "everyone"... although
I would not have one in my perfect sling collection, others might well want
them!

BTW... I realizes recently that with my foster baby (whom I had for 3 1/2
months from the day he was born), I simply never owned a stroller. And it
took me a year and a half to realize how odd that might seem. Part of the
reason for that was that we had a fantastic car seat with a sling-like strap
to it (they don't make them anymore
) but mostly it was that I carried him everywhere in the sling.

Jenrose