Babywearing « Mama By Design

Archive for the ‘Babywearing’ Category

The HUGS Calyx

Saturday, June 14th, 2008

MBD and Help Us Give Slings have teamed up for the Babywearing Conference! These beautiful carriers will be available at the HUGS booth and through MamaGear.com. MBD buys the Selendang slings at full price, and uses the fabric to decorate the Calyx. In addition, a portion of the sale price is donated back to HUGS. As well as the Emerald Green carrier shown, we also have Garnet Red and Ruby Pink.

HUGS is a non-profit family effort that provides baby slings to mothers on both sides of the Pacific. Purchase a beautiful Indonesian selendang baby sling to enjoy the benefits of the traditional practice of baby wearing. The funds raised are used to donate slings to mothers still living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in tsunami affected regions in Indonesia.

MamaGear.com will continue to offer these as a special order Calyx, so don’t worry if you can’t make the conference or need a special size.

Posted in Baby Carriers, Babywearing, Design Notes, Notices | 2 Comments »

How to Attach the Headrest

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

The first thing you need to know, is that the rings attached to the Calyx have nothing to do with the headrest. Those rings can be used to attach toys, teethers, sucking cloths, or anything else you might find useful. They’re also for the Kit Bag, a diaper bag attachment we’ve got in the works.

The headrest is rectangular. Along the top edge is a strip of webbing, which extends out to each side. The straps on the sides have clips, which allow the webbing to loop around the shoulder straps and clip to itself. That holds the headrest in place, and allows the headrest to adjust to support the baby in a comfortable position. The bottom edge is hemmed, with elastic cord loops at each corner. The shoulder straps are threaded through these loops before you put the carrier on.

While your baby is awake, it will look like this. If you don’t want it to hang down in front of the panel, you can attach the webbing straps in advance, but it makes it much harder to deal with when you want to use it. If you have a helper with you, it’s not as difficult.

$This is how it would be attached around a sleeping baby\'s head.$

When your baby has fallen asleep, you reach back to grab the hanging webbing strap. Gently ease the headrest over the baby and loop the webbing around the shoulder strap, clipping it to itself. It is a good idea to use a mirror, window, or helper to make sure that the head is positioned well, and airways are clear.

Posted in Baby Carriers, Babywearing, Design Notes, How-to | 1 Comment »

Chicago and the Babywearing Conference!

Friday, May 16th, 2008

I’m really excited about the 2nd International Babywearing Conference, being held at DePaul University in Chicago June 25-28. I grew up in Chicago, my Dad has been a professor at DePaul since I was two years old, and I went to school there myself back in the 90’s. I’m taking my girls to Chicago to see their grandpa and to attend the conference via Amtrak, because I’m crazy. 48 hours from Eugene to Chicago, and no sleeping car.

Here’s the important part, we will be leaving June 10th and coming home July 3rd. All of my current custom orders are scheduled to be finished in time for me to ship them out before I leave, but the shop is slammed right now and I can’t guarantee that I can sneak any more in. I’ll be picking up samples of some new lines, including the Solids and the Amy Butlers*, and some extra-special ones just for the conference…more on that later…

If you are sending in fabric, get it to me ASAP. I will prep it and give it to the shop, and they will work on it while I am gone. (Any fabric received after June 7 is going to have to wait until I come back.) I do have someone to help with shipping. It might be just once/week shipping while I am gone, but orders will go out. I will also arrange to have anything that gets finished after the 9th picked up, so I’m hoping that things can be fairly smooth while I’m gone.

*The really bad news is that some of the Amy Butler fabrics are still backordered, so it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to squeak those through until later. IF they do happen to come in time for me to get them to the shop before I go, then I’ll put in the order and hopefully they’ll be waiting for me when I get home. I’ll have samples of those and some other things with me in Chicago, look for them in the fashion show.

Posted in Baby Carriers, Babywearing, Notices | No Comments »

Calyx on You Tube

Monday, April 14th, 2008

MummyBeeLee from TBW made some Calyx videos!Â Links are here:

Back Carry

Getting out of a Back Carry

Because I’m unbearably picky the only thing I’d change here is that when you are putting the baby on your leg to go up to the back carry,Â begin by laying the Calyx along the top of your thigh.Â Keep the waistbelt and harness portion out of the way,Â and straddle the baby on what looks like the middle of the panel portion.Â Then,Â when you buckle baby in,Â the waistbelt is to the front of his thighs.

When you go to take the shoulder straps in your hands,Â if you bring them under baby’s armpits,Â it can feel more secure.Â Also then baby’s weight doesn’t cause the wasistband to end up in the wrong place.

Thank you very much,Â Bee!

Posted in Babywearing, How-to | 1 Comment »

Suggest a Babywearing Group!

Monday, April 7th, 2008

If you lead or belong to an active babywearing group, please drop me a line! I’d like to make some library donations, and I’m looking for groups with a good membership, regular meetings, and an online presence. Convince me that your group needs a Calyx!
If your group has a Calyx already, but I don’t have you listed on my site, let me know that too. I often have people wishing they could try one on, and I’d like to be able to direct them to somebody local.

ETA- Wow, I’m getting quite a response Â That’s great!Â I might not be able to get one to everybody all at once,Â I’m going to make a “wait list”Â to fill as I am able.

Posted in Babywearing, Notices | 3 Comments »

Cute Pictures

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

Posted in Baby Carriers, Babywearing | No Comments »

Send me action photos!

Friday, February 1st, 2008

Seriously, people, I am seeing some adorable pictures on TBW lately. Send them to me, I’ll make a gallery or something. I can use that Flikr account…

Posted in Babywearing | No Comments »

Because We All Love Babywearing Dads

Sunday, December 30th, 2007

Our friends came to visit this weekend and agreed to model for me. They are organic farming and sustainable construction experts. Mom is the knitter, though I did crochet Dad’s hat my very own self, several years ago. Dad is my dh’s old high school buddy. Their baby is a petite 10 month old who likes to stretch her legs out when she’s in the carrier which is why you’re not seeing great knees-over-bum placement. Click for a lightbox slideshow thingy…

Posted in Baby Carriers, Babywearing | 2 Comments »

Well, what do you know?

Monday, November 26th, 2007

Someone asked me once if there was some way to roll up the Calyx into a more compact bundle, like a hip pack, when not in use. I decided to play with that today, and discovered something interesting. Apparently not only is it possible to make a tight little roll, it can also be used as a hip seat for tigers! (I tried it on myself with my 3yo, too)

It would be hard to explain what I did to get there. Basically, I undid the shoulder straps and adjusted the webbing out to the end, opened up the seat, folded the shoulder straps so that the clips were sticking out at the sides a little, then rolled it up tightly, folding the seat over the roll, and clipping the seat clips around the outside. In the process I discovered that you don’t want to clip the seat clips with one of them upside down, they are next to impossible to undo again. After that, I wrapped the webbing end of the shoulder straps around the whole bundle and then clipped them to the clips on the strap that I left sticking out the sides. I managed to do this so that I could turn the whole thing over and put it on upside down, so that the ~~tiger~~ child could sit on the part of the bundle that has the seat flapped over (it was stronger that way. I realize that this explanation is really difficult to follow. Here are some pictures, which I hope are helpful. I encourage you to play with it yourself, just don’t clip the clips upside down!

Functionally speaking, I don’t think a roll like this makes as good of a hip carrier as a ring sling or pouch. You still have to hold on with your arm. What is nice about it is that it keeps you from having to stick your hip out to the side to bear the weight, so it is easier on your back.

Mama By Design