Wearing your Baby!

I've been wanting a ring sling or wrap carrier for my little boy for a while now. I wanted one when he was first born, but my husband wanted to be able to use it too and was more comfortable with a front carrier. I like that, but it seems a little uncomfortable for the baby. We recently moved him from his base plus carrier car seat to a rear facing one that's permanently in the car. This means that for places without carts like the post office or the fruit stand, I'm carrying him. This is not a problem until I try to carry him and a package or him and 10 pounds of potatoes! Since I've been shopping WAY to much recently, I decided that my ring sling purchase was going to have to wait. I wasn't sure if he would even like it or if he would still fit in one and I didn't want to waste money on something that we would not use. My best chance of getting one would be to win a contests, like this one for a Sleepy Wrap at Blessed with Full Hands. These seem to come up from time to time, so I keep entering and crossing my fingers.

Until, that is, Hobo Mama blogged about the Sleepy Wrap give away. Somehow, I got linked back to a series she did a while ago about Babywearing the Heavy Baby. And then I found this post about a new-sew way to make your own ring sling. I bought 2" rings at Lowes for under $4 and decided to give it a try.

The directions call for a piece of fabric 25-35" wide and 80-90" long. My mom had just given me a set of queen sheets that I was going to repurpose for this project, but I didn't want to ruin a perfectly good set of sheets if this was not going to work. I searched the house for something that I could use but not have to cut and I found a flat twin sheet folded in half the long way. I threaded it through my rings and in about 10 minutes, I had a ring sling perfect for the assisted hip carry- perfect for whenever I didn't want to put Tyler in a cart or stroller but needed some assistance! He is also not one to want to sit and be held, so I have a feeling the sling will be getting some use around the house too. Here it is:


(That's me and T and our bed-sheet ring sling! I blurred out his face because my husband does not want his picture on the Internet and I have to respect that!)

I think that I'll go ahead and invest in a length of fabric for the sling. There is some extra bulk with the current version since I folded the sheet in half before threading in through the rings. A dedicated piece of fabric will also keep my husband from teasing me about hauling our child around in our dirty linens! :-)