No kiddin, I couldnt agree more. It does look so complicated and it was complicated for a long time for me. I remember many days of sweat, tears and anger, chuckin the wrap on the floor and huffin and puffin and giving up.
Then I thought back even further, before I even knew what a wrap was!
When I had my daughter, Alexis 6 years ago, we had a baby carrier, I had two, they were simple structured carriers, much like a Snuggli
While my shoulders HATED me, my daughter LOVED this thing. It was easy enough to use, practical for us at the time, and served its purpose... even if my back was dying at the end of the day! LOL!
After Alexis, I had Tayven, I went to a second hand store, and not still having a lot of knowledge on what was out there, I knew that his chunky legs were not going to fit in the carrier Alexis and I used. So we found an alternative, a pouch sling. However, I didnt know the sizing had to be perfect for one of these to work... and it was too large.
he was only three months!!!!!!!! lol
So since this wasnt work for us either due to the wrong size, we decided to look into alternatives, and discovered the wonderful ring sling! However, with income being pretty low, I decided to make my own. And thats when the addiction started! LOL
This was my first ring sling I ever made. I have no idea what kind of material it was, the green side was a bit slippery, but the brown was most likley a cotton blend and was very comfy. I purchased a pair of heavy duty hardware rings at the hardware store that supported up to something like 300 lbs and sewed them in. Cosmetically the sewing was horrid, but it was safe. We wore this sucker for a long time. She has since gone on to hold other babies in other families, and will always hold dear to my heart. And I kept on makin them. I made us quite a few, out of all sorts of material- wool suiting material, one out of who knows what, some out of double layers of heavy cotton, some out of flannel bedsheets..ooo that one was sooo comfy!!!
Then I fell upon thebabywearer.com... and boy oh boy did I discover there are TONS of ways to wear your baby! Ooo the options!!! I came across wraps, and was curious...
But wrapping with Tayven backfired hard. The first attempt I had with making a wrap I made it out of some bedsheet material, which can work, however this was a more knitted material, so stretchy, and didnt cut straight, I had no idea at the time how to sew stretchy material, and all in all, just didnt work out... It wasnt long before I put this idea aside for a long time and went back to using ring slings.
Over the next wee while, I came across podagei's as well, and we used them occasionally however the ringsling was still Tayvens main means of transportation
When I had Zayden, I made him a special sling, one with one side tie dyed and one side black.... this sling was lost somewhere and I am still rather sad about it even though it was almost two years ago now. So with that I decided to do a bit more research on these wraps again, and decided to start dabbling in gauze. And my love for tie dye, and it kinda just fell beautifuly into place for us.
boy I look exhausted in this picture!
The first wrap I made for us was a bright funky
orange wrap. And this baby got a lot of use, and is still getting use by another wonderful babe today. While Zayden is a bit to big for it now, we decided, its better wrapping another child, than collecting lint in our closet.
orange wrap. And this baby got a lot of use, and is still getting use by another wonderful babe today. While Zayden is a bit to big for it now, we decided, its better wrapping another child, than collecting lint in our closet. And it kinda just kept going from there, barefootbuttercup which was at the time for me a business where I was selling ringslings from home, began to sell gauze wraps as well.
When Zayden got a bit bigger I decided I was going to try and learn to wear him on my back. MANY Maaannny videos on youtube, countless angry moments and sweat and tears later, and one on one help, we found one carry that would work for us and we stuck with it. After a while we then started looking for other back carriers and let me tell you I am very thankful that my son was as paitient as he was back then because there is no way I would have just sat there on my Moms back for that long while she wrapped and re wrapped LOL. Oh boy was it worth it in the end though ..I have even managed to learn how to breastfeed him while he is on my back..however have yet to try this one in public!!! o_0
This journey, looking back, has been really wonderful. At the time all the carriers I used, whether it was a front pack carrier, a pouch, ringsling, wrap, they all served their purpose, and what I wanted the carriers for was so that my child could be close to me, and we could get places we needed to go, and they did that
This year I stopped selling wraps and ring slings, while it wasnt a hard descision to make, it was still sad. But I changed the angle of barefootbuttercup to helping others with a few tips in what I have learned over these past 6 years. There is still so much I want to learn about babywearing, especially the history, other peoples stories. Its one of my hobbies, its something that makes me smile.
Today I was gifted a Natibaby Dandelion wrap for helping two wonderful women make ring slings here at my home. I must state this is thee most soft wrap I have ever felt in my life. And its my first actual wrap I have ever owned that wasnt DIY! I also recieved news this week of another carrier on its way to me, that I am sooo very excited for and feel so very blessed to be recieving!!!! these past few days have been babywearing excitement overload for my wee head! LOL! SQUEE!!!
Again, another part of our journey is starting and I cant wait to see where it takes me!
Happy Babywearing everyone! Enjoy these babywearing days! They fly by fast!
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