organic cotton baby sling

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100% Organic Cotton Sling
Cotton sling has unfinished edges as shown (bamboo sling below has finished edges)

I have always been frustrated by not being able to find affordable organic slings to use for my baby. This sling is simply a long piece of organic jersey/interlock fabric that you tie around yourself. Instructions are shown on this page for using it (scan down the page). I practiced with a teddy bear before we adopted Becky. Even with the teddy bear, this was my favorite of all the slings I tried. I have back and shoulder trouble, so all the other slings ended up hurting after only an hour or two of use. With this one I can wear it all day without pain anywhere, because of the way it distributes the weight.
If you prefer to buy your own fabric, you can buy 2 yds of organic jersey fabric and cut it into 3 long strips. Then simply seam the pieces together to make a long piece roughly 20" wide and 6 yds long. If you buy a sling below it won't have any seams because I buy 6 yd long pieces of fabric and cut each sling in a single length to avoid having the seams that have a tendency to need repair occasionally. I cut my own slings a bit shorter than that because I'm so thin, so if the 6yds is too long for you, you can cut it off shorter once you find the length you prefer. With a longer sling you can just wrap it around your waist an extra time or two, which might be a good option if you have several people of different sizes in the family that will use the same sling. You can carry a baby of any size in this sling, from newborn to age 5+. Actually you could even carry an adult. It's amazing how light the baby feels when snug and high against your body.

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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