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?

Can’t make it to the big Canberra Babywearers meet on the last Tuesday of every month at Belconnen Community Centre? Then try the mini-meet.

10am on the first Thursday of the month at the Brindabella Baby sitting room. Upstairs at 29 Lonsdale Street, Braddon - above Thrifty Car Hire, opposite Debacle. All welcome, no cost.

Details of meetings are discussed at the Canberra Babywearers group on Yahoo.

It’s Australia Day (aka Invasion Day, for some of Australia’s indigenous population) on 26 January 2010. Which means lots of families heading out to BBQs and picnics, visiting friends and family, goint to festivals and major public events, or just staying out late to see the fireworks.

On my way to work this morning on the bus, I passed Commonwealth Park in Canberra. This is where the early morning citizenship ceremony was held, and a short walk from last night’s Australia Day Live concert. I spotted parents carrying their babies in stretchy wraps and SSCs (soft structured carriers that clip on) with hoods - both great choices for sun protection. I also noted that most of the carriers I saw were in shades of beige - very sensible when in the park on a dusty day. And that the carriers I saw were mostly machine washable - so zinc cream or sunscreen should wash out.

And here I am, in my tragic 1980’s blue sequinned pop-star jacket, trying to decide which carrier would go best with it for this afternoon’s BBQ after work finishes. I’m leaning towards a red shorty wrap - a quick and easy way to get a toddler on my back, and keeps to the red white and blue theme. Or perhaps I’ll change into green and gold, and go with a bright yellow woven wrap, to coordinate with a green skirt. If I had a little baby, I would show my support for our indigenous Australians in a stretchy wrap with indigenous art panel on the front. Or perhaps I’d wear a black ring sling with red and yellow ribbons pinned onto the shoulder - fun for baby to play with.

What are you wearing today, and how are you keeping the kids happy while you’re socialising?

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.

Unless you’re a mum who’s been under a rock for the last few months, you’ve probably heard that there was a huge Homebirth Australia rally in Canberra on Monday 7 September. As the ACT Branch President of Maternity Coalition, and being the organiser of the Australian Breastfeeding Association’s baby feed & change tent, I was there for the duration of the event. Unlike your average protest rally, this rally turned out to be the biggest mother’s group meeting ever, with homebirth as the special topic of the day. And it was one mega sling meet! Here’s some of the cool stuff I saw - minus brand names as this wasn’t a brand-spotting exercise so much as a celebration of the vast variety of babywearing styles:

• Mei tais in a million different prints - my faves were the retro 1970’s style prints, and a funky green stripe with cream straps that I’m pretty sure is made from organic cotton in a fair trade workplace.
• An embroidered SSC (soft structured carrier). The lady wearing it said she got it direct from the USA as it’s not yet available from Australian retailers (although as I’m a retailer of the brand myself,  I know it will be available soon).
• My friend Kate was wearing baby Nell on her back in the grooviest shade of purple I’ve seen in a while (and I’m not a big fan of purple, so that’s saying something!).
• Seeing a lady successfully breastfeeding her older baby in an SSC while standing and chatting with friends, totally looking like she wasn’t multi-tasking
• All manner of protest signs pinned onto mei tai feature panels.
• A very cool coat with extra zip panel to fit the slingling in - a great choice on a cold, rainy Canberra day.
• A mum with her baby on the front in a stretchy wrap, and toddler on the back in a mei tai.

Seeing so many happy babies was wonderful. It was cold, raining, many people had travelled across country (flying from Perth, Darwin or Brisbane, driving from Sydney, catching buses from Melbourne and more) to be there. It was exactly the place you’d expect a small child to lose their patience and have a major meltdown. But I kid you not, I saw only a few babies crying despite the crowd numbering between 2,000 and 4,000 (depending on who your source is). Slings kept them warm and comforted, and when they got overstimulated and overtired they could just tuck their head onto mum’s chest and have a nap. A truly beautiful experience.