I’ve had the most fantastic weekend at the Corinbank Festival! I was there to teach babywearing in the Green Kulture village, but I also spent lots of time spotting slings while sipping chai, playing Scrabble, learning about clay-balling, watching circus acts, avoiding infringement notices from the Fashion Police, eating vegetarian feasts, asking chicks in the line for Tableaux Vivants (live nude show - and I spotted a baby in ring sling being breastfed in the audience) if her dreads require much maintenance, listening to Ash Grunwald and heaps of other great bands… well, you get the picture. It was a general festival of family-friendly fun with as little environmental impact as possible. I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:

Left: Dominique is wearing an Australian brand pouch sling - and her baby is probably keen to grab that coffee because it might have chilli in it from the Mayan Coffee stall!

Centre: Katoomba mum with her big girl chilling out in a blue SSC (soft structured carrier). See, babywearing isn’t just for babies!

Right: I recognised this as an organic Eyes Of The World print fabric (I used to have a woven wrap in this fabric). Turns out this pouch sling was made in Canberra!

Circus Playground looked like a lot of fun - and if you look closely, you might spot a dad with a baby in a camel-coloured SSC on his back!

I had lots of fun demonstrating Ninja Babywearing to save your baby from the invading zombie hoard who want to eat your brain… or just get your baby on your back so you can get on with washing, cooking, chasing other kids, or generally looking good. Even wore my ninja babywearing t-shirt while I did the job I also showed people how to carry a baby with a tablecloth, shawl, or bedsheet so you can rock on at the main stage without losing your toddler, or settle a cranky baby to sleep even when you’re camping in the Brindabella mountains outside Canberra. I had great help from Morgyn (who works at the coolest baby shop in Canberra), plus Moira and Kate from the Canberra Babywearers, who gave me lunch break time. Thanks ladies!

So what did I miss with my camera? A very cool mei tai with feature panel in a brown print, ring slings (only spotted black and blue, where were all the stripes and prints?), and several stretchy wraps and SSC’s. Oh, but I did catch the Fashion Police from Ruby Bloomers Women’s Circus:

In between issuing infringement notices for fashion crimes, these rocking chicks also issued encouragement notices for babywearing and public breastfeeding. And looked damn fine in their leather corsets and stripey tights
I’m already thinking about a bigger and better Corinbank 2011 - what would you want to see in a babywearing demo at a music/arts festival?

So I was reading baby industry news this morning (I own a baby shop) and noticed there’s a Melbourne baby shop who have started a sling library scheme. For postage cost, you can borrow a baby carrier for 10 days to see if it suits you before you pay lots of money to buy one. The news editor was quite rightly excited about this: many parents will be able to choose the most comfortable carrier for their needs if they can try on first. Bu there’s a catch…

When you’re looking at sling libraries, baby carrier hire schemes, or try-before-you-buy plans, first take note of the carriers you are being offered. Do they look like something you want to try? As a baby sling retailer, I have been offered all sorts of “good deals” on carriers that aren’t comfortable when carrying a heavy baby for hours at a time. Spending money on something you won’t use is never a good deal. Going along to a sling meet, or trying on a carrier at the shop, will allow you to find out if a suspect carrier is as uncomfortable as you thought it would be, without putting you in a position of having to pay postage or remember to return it on time.

Reading the fine print is also important. What happens if you’re late sending it back? Do you need to pay a large deposit? If the carrier is damaged while you’re borrowing it, can you afford to pay the repair fee?

If you’re already committed to using a sling or baby carrier, start by doing your research on styles and brands. Baby Carriers Downunder have a forum where you can read the opinions of other parents, or check the reviews at The Babywearer. The Selection Guide at Baby Carriers Downunder will explain the basic styles and their uses. There’s also a sling library as part of the Baby Carriers Downunder group, where you can try carriers if there’s no sling meets in your area to try them on - but with the added benefit of no profit to the Baby Carriers Downunder group for promoting one brand over another.

Once you’ve short-listed some carrier styles and brands that are worth trying, look for a sling meet in your local area. This is the best way to try on - no fees, no stress about borrowing carriers that get damaged in your care, no pressure from vendors to buy what you’ve tried. Plus you get the opinions of other parents at the same time.

If there’s no sling meets in your area, look for a baby shop that stocks the brands you’re interested in. Try on carriers at the shop, but make sure you go for a proper walk around the shop with your baby (not a lightweight doll) in the sling to see how it really feels. Talk to the shop staff about their returns policy - if you get it home and change your mind, can you exchange it for a different brand? Is there a guarantee or warranty on the carrier fading in the wash or breaking with normal use?

For people who have made up their mind that babywearing is a good choice, it’s not hard to justify spending money on a quality sling. You’ll use it far more than a pram, and prams are often much more expensive than a sling. But when money is in short supply, you do need to make careful choices. If you’re really worried about making the wrong choice, consider your fall-back plan. Can you sell this sling second-hand and put the money towards buying something else? Can you buy your preferred sling second-hand in the first place? When you’ve finished with this sling, can it be used for other purposes like a spare travel blanket or hammock? If you’ve got sewing skills, good quality fabrics always have potential for re-use. Is this a sling that can be used from babyhood through to pre-school years, or will you need to sell it and buy something else in six months or a year?

So how do I know this stuff? Because I’ve been there. I was committed to babywearing, but had no way of trying before buying. So I bought random stuff online. And let me tell you, I bought some total rubbish before I found the gems! When I started my own shop, I had a hire scheme. Which ended up being a try-before-you-buy scheme. Because nobody - not one single person - ever returned a carrier. And I realised that it wasn’t the hire offer that got them to choose that particular carrier. What they needed was to try on a few different styles at once, so they could compare the comfort. Going to a sling meet or a shop that allows customers to try on a range of brands will tell you if the brand you were considering is merely mediocre.

Buying a sling means making a choice from a huge variety of offerings from online and in-store retailers. Just be sure to start by trying out something that interests you, and be aware that a “good deal”you’re offered is only worth it if it’s a sling you actually want to use.

Did you go to a Walk Against Warming 2009 event on Saturday 12 December? ABC News says there were more than 90,000 people at rallies around Australia, including over 2,000 at the Parliament House rally in Canberra. I spotted ring slings (hemp and cotton), soft structured carriers (SSCs), and stretchy wraps at the Canberra rally. Check out what the tweeps thought with tags #waw09 or #walkagainstwarming. So what does this have to do with babywearing?

Babywearing is, without a doubt, more environmentally friendly than using a stroller or pram. A good quality baby sling or baby carrier is made from biodegradable, natural materials: cotton, hemp, silk, and wool are the most popular fabrics. Some carriers use padding made from bamboo, cotton, or recycled PET. Other carriers include metal or plastic rings, or hard plastic clips. While PET padding, aluminium rings, and hard plastic clips are not biodegradable at end-of-life, they will take up far less landfill space than the amount of plastic or metal in a stroller.

Traditional-style baby carriers can also support economic development programs in developing countries. Hand-woven cloth, such as the slings made in Guatemala or Timor Leste, or traditional printing techniques such as those used in India and Indonesia, preserve traditional craft skills and usually make use of renewable materials in the artisan’s local area. Making carriers from this cloth also enables artisans to earn a real wage from their work. This means they have an alternative to forms of work that may be less environmentally sustainable.

But the best thing about babywearing is how easy it is to get into nature with the kids. I can’t take a stroller up Mount Taylor, but I can carry a three year old on my back in an SSC when her legs get tired. I can’t push a pram around the cracked footpaths and dirt tracks through the reserve in my suburb, but I can put the newborn in a ring sling and walk him to sleep in the evening. You don’t need the knowledge of a park ranger or make the effort to plan guided activities on bushwalks. Simply being in a place with real trees and grass, checking out birds and lizards and bugs, will pique most children’s curiosity about the world they live in. By showing them there’s a world of living creatures and growing plants, children can begin to understand that their actions have an impact beyond the four walls of their house.

A number of pundits have recently declared that the Australian dollar is approaching parity with the U.S. and that we may reach those heady grounds by Christmas. What in the name of all that’s imported does that have to do with babywearing, I hear you ask?

Plenty, my friends.

You see, “parity” is a short-hand economist’s way of saying that one Australian dollar is equal to one U.S. dollar. As these things go, when one Australian dollar is worth more U.S. currency, it’ll be worth more Euros as well.

Can you see where I’m going with this? That’s right- your wraps and your SSCs, your ring slings and your mei tais; anything made overseas, or made from overseas goods has been getting cheaper. It’s going to get cheaper still, as long as the value of our dollar continues to climb.

To that end, I propose that the Babywearers of Australia (and New Zealand) unite! We must reach parity! The power to change our economy is in our own hands! But how?

That, too, is simple. One of the reasons why the Australian dollar is performing strongly in recent times is the anticipation (and reality) that the Reserve Bank will lift interest rates. Combine that with Australia’s strong economic performance compared with other developed nations and investing money here is now a better option compared to other places. So the money pours in, Aussie dollars are bought and the price of the dollar (our exchange rate) increases.

In order to reach parity, we must convince the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates further! Forget your mortgages, your credit cards and your car loans! Compared to baby carriers, they’re unimportant! The Reserve Bank’s objective is to achieve (amongst other things) low and stable inflation. If inflation gets too high, or it is believed that it will be too high in the future, the Reserve Bank will lift interest rates. This is our ultimate goal: high interest rates means a high exchange rate (usually). We must drive inflation! But how?

Inflation is driven by spending. The more the economy spends, the higher the rate of inflation. So there you have it- we must spend! We must buy carriers now so that we can buy cheaper carriers later! It’s a foolproof plan!

Go forth and spread the word, fellow downunder babywearers: it’s your national duty to buy as many babycarriers as you can!

Has our sudden turn towards parity changed your plans to buy or sell a carrier? Leave a comment and let us know!

Here’s a nice new video promoting the upcoming International Babywearing Week:

To see what’s happening around your area to celebrate it, see our IBW09 events page.

In celebration of International Babywearing Week 2009 (IBW09), babywearing groups around Australia and New Zealand are organizing local events to celebrate, promote, and advocate the many benefits of babywearing. Below is a list of local events scheduled at this stage. New events may be added between now and then, so please check back if you don’t see any events in your area. If you are interested in organizing an event in your area, please contact us or join our Forum to find other locals near you. For more information on IBW09, please visit www.babywearingweek.org.

NZ:
Auckland
Hamilton
AU:
Brisbane
Adelaide
Canberra

AUCKLAND

Sunday 26 September, 10am-2pm
‘Slings in the Park’ Free Family Event to support the Kangaroo-care initiative at National Women’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. For more details, please visit Slingbabies’ IBW09 page.

HAMILTON

Wednesday 23 September, 10am
Informal sling meet. Contact Kerry at kmacsmith@clear.net.nz or 07 843 7244 if interested.

BRISBANE

Saturday 19 September, 1-4pm

Back Carry Workshop at Brisbane Sling Meet.
Ever wanted to learn how to carry your newborn/baby/toddler on your back? Learn how to do back carry properly with different carriers including a long piece of fabric, and start enjoying the freedom back carrying brings!
Venue: Indooroopilly Library Meeting Room, 4th floor of Indooroopilly Shopping Centre.

Sunday 20 September, 11:30am-2pm

Babywearing Walk and Picnic (CBD).
Join other local babywearers for a BYO picnic/BBQ at the Roma Street Parklands followed by a Babywearing Walk through Queen Street Mall. Take part in a back carry flash mob during the Walk to apply the skills you learned from the previous day!
Venue: meet at the BBQ/picnic area in Roma St Parklands between 11:30am and 1pm. Bring a plate of food to share. We will start walking to Queen St Mall at 1pm.

ADELAIDE

Monday 21 September, 10am-12:30pm
Combined Babywearing/Elimination Communication meet with the ECers from the OzNappyFree group. More details in the Adelaide sling meet page.

CANBERRA

Thursday 24 September, 10am
Gathering at Floriade. Meet at Kid’s corner, near petting zoo (free maps in the program on entry if you’re not sure where to go)