I especially love using this type of sling
on trips because it gives me the freedom to use both hands to carry other
things like luggage and our car seat. I travel a lot to visit family
without my husband being there to help me carry things, so this sling is
a life saver. It's always number one on my packing list. When
we were in China, Becky slept most of the time while I went walking around
the town shopping. I could even carry huge bags of bottled water
back to the hotel because both arms are completely free with this sling.
When I take her out of the sling it just looks
like I'm wearing an extra piece of clothing. It takes a little practice
to learn to put the baby in and out without taking off the sling.
Once you figure it out though it's super easy. If this type of sling
doesn't work out for you after trying it a few times, feel free to return
it because I can always use an extra!
Here are some instructions for how I
use the sling, but there are lots of ways to wrap it for various carry
positions. Begin by holding up the middle of the fabric in front
of you, right side facing out. I put a ladybug applique on to make
it easy to find:
Wrap each side around your back and up over the opposite shoulder.
The two sides cross in the back and the "wrong side" of the fabric is always
against your body so that it doesn't twist and add any pressure points.
Take both ends and put them through the middle piece, and cross them
again without twisting either piece:
Then wrap them around your back and cross the two pieces again:
Then bring the ends back to the front and tie the ends in a knot (unless
there isn't enough length to do this, in which case you just tie it in
the back as shown in the kikoy sling photos). Since I'm so
thin I cut off the ends of my own sling, making it hang only about 2 feet
from the knot. The one shown in these pictures is a standard length
sling so it is much longer.
You can wear the sling all day and just put the baby in and out of
it as needed.
First one foot under the top piece:
That same foot also goes underneath the next piece down (the one I'm
touching in this photo that wraps around from up high on my back):
Thing swing baby around to the other side so you can put the other
leg in:
Make sure the leg goes through the top two pieces of fabric, just like
the other side:
Now you'll pull the pieces of fabric up over the baby's bottom:
The two pieces coming from your shoulders get spread out and overlap
each other:
Then the piece from the your mid-section pulls up over the other two
pieces:
Here it is from the back (sorry I didn't pull my shirt down - we were
taking photos super fast):
Baby's arms can be put under the shoulder pieces to get them nice and
snug if they want to sleep:
"Okay, time to go to the park mama", as she points downstairs:
Final tips:
If the sling is too tight, you'll know because you won't be able to
breathe. Otherwise it's probably too loose. Because the fabric
is stretchy, you can still put the baby in it easily even though it looks
snug on your body. The sling should be snug enough to carry the baby
high up and close to your body, next to your center of gravity. Once
you get a feel for how tight to put it on, it's easy to put it on in the
morning and just wear it throughout the day, putting the baby in it as
needed.
Unfinished edges: I don't add a seam around the edge of the sling
because that would add to the cost. I don't finish the edges of my
own jersey slings either, because even through many washes the edges of
jersey fabric will not fray like woven fabric does. The edges of
a knit fabric simply curl in on themselves, so please expect that to happen
with these affordable slings.
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