I have a pretty small stash by babywearing addict standards - more than 20, but not by much. Still, it would be nice to have a better storage solution than bags in the spare cupboard, or leaving them lying around the house and car. The keys to sling storage are holding in straps that want to escape, and visibility. I don’t want to be opening drawers at random when I’m searching for a specific sling in a hurry, and I tend to forget I have other beautiful slings when I can’t see them.

Here’s some ideas for small storage solutions to go in the spare cupboard:

Left: Clear storage bins from IKEA - the angled lid at the front means you can reach in and grab slings when the containers are stacked on top of each other.

Middle: Storage boxes with clear windows on the front from IKEA - the only downside is that I have different sling types that are very similar colours (eg green ring slings and green mei tais, or blue long wraps and blue shortie wraps).

Right: Hanging storage from IKEA - hang it in the wardrobe where sticky toddler hands can’t easily rearrange your wraps.

And if I had the budget, here’s some ideas for larger storage furniture pieces:

Left: Glass-front cabinet from IKEA

Middle: Shelves from Fantastic Furniture - great for storing carriers in the kids bedroom, and you can write on the front what’s inside

Right: Ladder shelf from IKEA - you could also use an actual ladder - shock! Yes, it is possible to use things for something other than their originally intended purpose, like babywearers who co-opt tablecloths as shortie wraps…

And finally, a lockable cabinet for those who are lucky enough to have a stash that includes a long wrap handwoven on a hundred year old loom in Eastern Europe. If you’ve spent your budget on slings and can’t stretch it to the IKEA version shown above, you can pick up a cheaper, boring grey version from the ex-government warehouse and paint it in whatever shade of enamel rocks your boat.

So what do you like? Or do you already have your own perfect sling storage solution?

When I first got interested in using baby slings and carriers, I didn’t have any friends nearby who could show me their stash. The only “proper” sling in the local shops was a stretchy wrap that I didn’t think would suit my needs. So I started buying second-hand slings as a way of trying things out without outlaying lots of cash. I’ve lost count of how many second-hand slings I’ve been through over the past three years. Here’s a few of the lessons I learned along the way:

Safety First

If buying in person (eg at a garage sale or market), take a good look at the seams and fabric. You don’t want seams coming apart, or a small hole becoming a big rip, when it’s supporting your baby’s weight. No matter how pretty the fabric, pass on it if there’s any safety concerns. For slings with plastic clips, fasten and unfasten each clip to ensure none are broken. I’ve occasionally seen a plastic clip that looks OK, but doesn’t fit neatly to clip up because one of the prongs is ever so slightly bent. Only takes a minute to check these things out.

Read reviews

When looking at online sale listings, take a few moments to read reviews of both the product and vendor. Start with the manufacturer’s website for details on brand new price, how it works, any past product recalls. Then move on to user community websites like The Babywearer, or Baby Carriers Downunder’s forum, for personal opinions on the product. If buying online, also check the seller’s reputation: eBay or TradeMe rating, The Babywearer feedback, feedback on other online forums that have trading rooms.

Buying at markets or garage sales means decisions are made on-the-spot. It helps to read up on popular brands, so you know what you’re looking at if you come across one in your bargain hunting. You’d be surprised at what you can find at op shops or garage sales and priced well below market average, simply because nobody knows what the thing is worth.

Beware Postage

Shipping a large or heavy item across Australia or internationally can be expensive. I find that postage to New Zealand is about the same as postage to Perth (I’m in Canberra), but postage from the USA or Europe is a killer. Be sure to factor postage costs into the total amount you can afford to pay for the sling.

Ways to Pay

Paypal is an easy and quick way to pay for online purchases, especially internationally where there are hefty bank fees for direct deposit to overseas accounts. There’s also some level of buyer protection for Paypal transactions. Sometimes you can swap a sling you’re not using for one you think you will use - check out the FSOT (For Sale Or Trade) listings on The Babywearer or Baby Carriers Downunder.

Not sure?

If you’re not sure whether a particular sling will suit you, talk to the seller about a return policy. If you know the seller well, they may be happy to let you try it out before buying it, provided you’re willing to pay the postage costs (eg pop a replacement prepaid satchel in when you return the sling if it doesn’t suit). Most times I didn’t know the seller, so returns weren’t an option. Because of this, I factored in reselling possibilities when deciding how much I could afford to pay for the sling. I wouldn’t pay more than what seemed to be market average, so that I wouldn’t lose more than postage costs if it didn’t work out.

I’ve got it, now what do I do with it?

Once you get your purchase home, you’ll need to know how to use it. Sometimes second-hand slings don’t come with the original printed or DVD instructions.

YouTube has plenty of online instructions - just look out for good lighting so you can see what they’re doing, and watch more than one video in case the first one you see isn’t doing it right. I invested in a Tummy2Tummy DVD, as it shows non-brand-specific instructions for all the basic sling styles - you could try borrowing a copy from a local babywearing group (some Australian Breastfeeding Association groups also have a copy in their library). Many manufacturer DVDs can be used for other brands in the same style (eg the DVD for one brand of ring sling could be used to learn how to use other brands of ring sling). Ask around and you may be able to borrow someone else’s instruction DVD. Best of all though, get yourself to a local babywearers group meeting or find someone else in your area using that style of sling, as there’s nothing like one-on-one instruction when you’re learning something new.

I’m cheap thrifty saving money for a(n) (expensive) carrier. But, in the meantime, I like to change up the stash a bit without spending much. This post is to share with you my favourites: dye, no sew ring slings, DIY, SPOCS and trade.

Dye:

Everyone loves a good dye job, but alot of us don’t have the equipment to start out with. I’ve only dipped a toe into this world of fabric modification and have had alot of fun dyeing wool and silk with food dye and vinegar so far. I wouldn’t hurry off to dip an expensive silk wrap or sling into a mop bucket full of vinegar and a half a bottle of food dye, but it’s a fun place to start experimenting with scraps of silk or wool and then move on to bigger and grander things. Once you’re a bit more confident, you can venture into the world of procion-type and acid dyes. A great start to the dyeing hobby can be found here. Have you thought about trying your hand at batik, shibori, tie dye, screen printing? There’s a whole world of fabric modification techniques just waiting to be explored.

No Sew Ring Slings:

No sew ring slings are a gift to the cheap and changeable! Take one pair of rings, a suitable length and weight of cloth and voila! You have a new sling for the day (or week, or until you get bored). You can find instructions here.  No sewing machine required. This method is great to use on a short wrap, but I have also used it successfully on cashmere and cotton shawls. It’s a little bit of glam for a very cheap price.

Usually, I find a large pair of rings works best on most shawls, but if you are using a cashmere or other very smooth, slippery or thin fabric, then you may find medium rings work better. Since rings are less than $10 a pair, I have a couple of pairs in different colours for when I like to change things up a little.

The usual safety considerations apply. Use a suitable width and weight of fabric- carrying a large toddler in featherweight chiffon is not safe! There is a good discussion of fabric types here. Make sure you use rings suitable to the purpose. There is a thorough dicussion of ring types to be found here.

Do It Yourself:

Welcome to the dark side. If you have a sewing machine then start here and then clear the schedule for the rest of the week. This is a great way to experiment, come up with designs that suit you and have fun while you’re at it. It’s time consuming, but it is a cheap way of expanding the stash. In the future, we’ll be bringing you blog posts solely dedicated to the DIY phenomenon. We can’t do justice to it here.

SPOCs:

With all the interest in German Style Woven wraps, it’s often easy to overlook the fact that they are, in fact, pieces of cloth. Specially woven pieces of cloth in pretty colours and designs, but pieces of cloth at that. You can also carry your baby in osnaberg, gauze, jersey and many other pieces of cloth, both stretchy and woven. If you add a bit of dye, your carrier will be unique and special for a bargain price.

Trade:

Temporary or permanent, if you find someone with something you’d like to try and you have something they would like to try, then no money need ever change hands if you can get together. This is a great way to try different things.

Conclusion:

You can be cheap and you can change your stash on a regular basis. All it takes is a little creativity, some know-how and a place to start.

How do you change up your stash when you feel the urge? Leave a comment and let us know!

When I bought my first sling, I only needed the one. Then I needed a more comfortable one. Then the baby got a little bigger and there was another one. Then I realized I could sew them. Then I decided that I needed to learn how to wrap. Then I needed something with more support than a SPOC. Soon, I needed more support than the non-GSW I had, then more support than the cotton wrap I had. Got anything more supportive?

In the course of my BWing development, I’ve made a few blunders, bought a few things ill-advisedly and generally accumulated too much stuff. Admittedly, FSOT is handy for sending things on, but don’t let the enthusiasts fool you- buying something just because you’re told it will “hold its value” is not a good idea. Some things do resell quicker than others, but you’ll nearly always make some sort of a loss. In a falling market you may make a considerable loss on an expensive sling. And then there’s postage. Let’s not talk about postage across the Pacific!

Eventually, I landed upon the idea of a stash strategy. I have a strategy- a vision of the stash I want and need. I stick to that strategy and, no matter how tempting, I don’t buy anything that doesn’t conform to the strategy. In the long run, I’ll save money, closet space and hours in wasted time and fluids drooling in FSOT listings.

My particular strategy is simple: anything that comes into the house must be usable for both my toddler (almost three), infant (nearly six months) and any other newborns that may arrive (unexpectedly). I don’t do much in the way of handwashing, so the carriers ought to be fairly hardy. I don’t like to treat wraps gently or worry about them, so they can’t be so expensive that I won’t be able to shrug it off when the kids make a stain. That’s my strategy. Simple enough!

When nesting, for example, I didn’t set out to buy gorgeous carriers, soft and suitable for a newborn. To me, they weren’t worth the investment since it would only be for a few months. I did have a couple of wraps already in the stash I’d been holding onto that were suitable for the baby but not the toddler- but they were rehomed very quickly since invariably the toddler wanted whatever wrap the baby was in. There was no point having carriers I didn’t/couldn’t use.

Some people have a stash strategy that balances hard-nosed common sense with a desire to try different things. Others plan their strategy around the ages and stages of their children- soft, stretchy wrap for the newborn period, heavy duty mei tai for the toddler/older baby stage. Others choose according to their own wardrobe or what visually suit themselves or their children. To some people the gender of their children and the colour of their carriers matter, to others not. There are no hard and fast rules except one: it’s your stash so you decide.

Next time you find your keyboard suspiciously wet while checking out FSOT, close your mouth and think. Try and decide how this carrier may fit into the stash that you have and the stash that you want. If you have a stash strategy already in mind, then you’ll find it easier to bring carriers home that you’ll use and love.

What’s your stash strategy? Do you have one? Leave a comment and let us all in on it!

Another in our series of informative posts on topics that just don’t get enough attention. We’ve discussed what to do in the certain event of a zombie apocalypse. Just in case that apocalypse is preceded by an alien invasion, we give you the rundown on how to save the world. Babywearer style.

Unfortunately, the first thing that happens during any large-scale alien invasion is that all of our high-tech defensive weaponry and installations are blown to smithereens. This means that saving the world is generally left up to a small band of people like you and me, some of whom may or may not have a military background.

But, you see, people like you and me have kids. We can’t just run off and save the world whenever we feel like it. In the middle of an alien invasion, we don’t have time to ring around and see if one of our sisters can babysit, pump some milk, pack the nappy bag and drop the kids off with strict instructions of no chocolate before bedtime and then go take out that mothership. The kids are going to have to come with us while we do it.

Babywearing during an alien invasion requires quite a different technique to babywearing during the zombie apocalypse. In this particular case, you need a carrier that will allow you to crawl through those air ducts in the space ship, jump through a wormhole and hack into that alien computer using nothing but your mobile phone. All the while, you’re being boinked on the head with a rubber monkey by a toddler who is bored and wants to get down so he can poke in the unaccountably slimy muck on the floor.

This post will give you the basics for babywearing while repelling an alien invasion. We expect that come that fateful day, a babywearer will leap into the fray, undeterred. Because that’s just the way babywearers roll. We’re hands on kinds of people. Hands on, high touch with our kids. Hands around those alien throats, throttling as we go.

Stash preparation

Unlike a zombie apocalypse, which happens fast and furiously; alien attack is usually pressaged by warnings and presentiments of doom. If you are observant, you will have time to gather a stash ready for leaping to the defense of earth. An increase in inexplicable probings is one sign. Pay particular attention to apparently crazy vagrants muttering about the end of the world. Not only are they in need of a good social support network, but they are our first line of defense against aliens. When you spot one warning you of impending peril, organize your invasion stash immediately.

You will probably only have a few days or a week at most. This is long enough to get something instock, but probably not long enough to organize fabric for a custom carrier. If you feel that a custom carrier is vital for saving the planet, then make sure you organize well in advance.

Alien invasion calls not only for an appropriately functional carrier, but something that is suitable cosmetically as well. Anything with buckles will probably fit the bill nicely. You will need to be able to get it off and on quickly, but you’ll want extra support when your baby falls asleep on your back for an extended period while you’re learning to fly an alien spacecraft on the go.

A supportive front carry is essential for when said spacecraft blows up in the lower atmosphere, forcing you to parachute to safety, your wearee safely tucked over your parachute. Ditching from the upper atmosphere usually requires a rescue craft. This is reliably flown by someone you’d thought was dead until the last moment when they rescue you. It’s a twofold relief when that happens. If you’ve got an appropriately fabulous carrier on at the time, you can rest assured that this happy moment will also be wonderful sartorially, no matter how drab the BDU you’re wearing is (that’s Battle Dress Uniform for those of you who didn’t spend your youth geeking out on sci-fi).

Unlike the zombie apocalypse, I would argue that despite a propensity for even civilians to wind up wearing military clothing, camouflage will not be necessary during a standard alien invasion. Except in unusual circumstances of parallel evolution, alien enslavement of the human race across the galaxy or cloning; it is unlikely you will be able to pass for an alien even under the best of circumstances. As a consequence, you may choose any colour, pattern or print combination you like.

Fabric choice should be proof against slime and general weapons fire. Explosions of all kinds are common during these episodes. Choose a fabric that is resistant to heat and flame. Wool or silk would be good choices.

Given the inevitable defeat of the technologically superior alien race, bear in mind that the carrier you ruin for the sake of saving the planet will lose value drastically. I would not recommend using a hard to find or valuable carrier in this case, as you will almost certainly not be able to sell it on FSOT afterward.

 Carries that will save the world

During your quest to save the world, you’ll probably need to wear your child in different carries depending on the different tasks you will need to accomplish. Classically, crawling through the ducts of the mothership is de rigeur. At this point, space is tight, the situation is dank and a back carry is your best option because crawling around a child in a front carry is difficult to say the least.

When running from a reactor core explosion, another certain event, try to use a front carry in order to protect your wearee from most of the blast and heat. Be sure and cross the straps or tails behind you in order to offer full support for maximum speed. Do try and set the timer on the bomb for more than five minutes, because there is nothing worse than realizing you only have five minutes to fight your way through the alien hordes, steal an alien craft, learn how to pilot the thing, get beyond the blast radius and change that dirty nappy after offering the baby a quick feed.

Unfortunately, hip carries are not very useful in the process of saving the earth from alien invasion. However, during military briefings, they may be used for a change of pace.

Of course, breastfeeding in a carrier is essential for saving the world. You don’t want to have to ask the aliens to direct you to a suitable place for you to breastfeed in private because your infant is at that distractible stage and won’t concentrate on feeding in the midst of a busy spaceship. They’d probably offer you the bathroom anyway.

Likewise, if your baby is nourished with the bottle, I’d suggest rigging up some sort of handsfree feeding device for use during your world-saving duties. Duct tape is enormously useful for these sorts of situations. And if any alien tells you that bottlefeeding your baby without looking lovingly into their eyes the whole time is damaging to their development, especially during an invasion; or worse, that you didn’t try hard enough to breastfeed- this is psychological warfare. Use the duct tape on them. Stick it somewhere it’ll really, really hurt when it gets pulled off.

Above all, you must be able to use these carries and change between them with great speed. I recommend drilling yourself and your wearee(s) regularly for maximum efficiency.

Securing all toys by means of a toyloop of some kind is essential since turning back just isn’t an option once the bomb is set. A mirror used for checking on your wearee in a back carry, signalling for help or checking if there is a sentry around the corner is invaluable.

Conclusion

Come the fateful day of an alien invasion, it will likely be a babywearer, or a team of babywearers, who will save the day and, indeed, the planet. If circumstances align and that babywearer is YOU, I hope that this post has offered you some insight into the complex and exacting task that is before you. Godspeed, babywearer, godspeed.

If aliens attacked, what would you wear and how would you wear it? Leave a comment and let us all in on what we need when that time comes!