Baby Carriers, Baby Wraps, Baby Slings Reviews, Info.

Also a joy was the realization that attachment parenting is an inexpensive way to parent. My second youngest child was 7 when my youngest was born, so our baby equipment was long gone, given to various friends or destroyed by active children over the years. My shopping list for the new baby was very short: car seat, diapers and covers, clothes, fingernail clippers, and a babycarrier. Simple, right? I hadn’t counted on the difficulties I would encounter finding a babycarrier that would work for me! I am a large woman.

At that time, I owned a babycarrier that I’d been using occasionally with babies in my in-home daycare service. It was a widely available front/back carrier that I picked up at a discount store. It fit fine; the waist belt would have fit a person larger than I (well, before pregnancy, anyway!). I couldn’t stand to wear it longer than half an hour, though, and never with a baby larger than about 15 pounds. Sure, it came in handy if a baby needed to be held when I had to prepare lunch for the older kids, but I would never consider wearing it frequently nor for very long. And I would never consider wearing that carrier in public! Let’s face it; as a woman of significant size, I can think of more attractive things to wear than a tight belt around the outside of my shirt! The belt seemed to function as something intended to accentuate all of my squishy parts as much as anything else. The carrier obviously was not going to work as something in which to carry my baby for many hours a day. Thus began my research into the world of baby carriers and slings.

Why is babywearing different for plus-size people?

Since my son’s birth (July 24, 2002), I have owned some 35 slings and carriers, helped dozens of parents learn to use slings, including many plus-size parents, and finally opened an e-store specializing in slings and carriers This article addresses other parents like me. If you are a size 20 (or thereabouts) or smaller, you will probably be able to use slings and carriers in standard large sizes without a problem. However, if you are larger, there are some special considerations you may want address before you begin to buy. The following discussion is based on my own sling use and that of others I have spoken to or worked with. Please note that I will always be careful to use words like most, many, and other qualifiers when talking about how a given sling style works for larger parents. There is no “best” sling for all parents, whatever their size. What is a positive about a sling for one person may be a negative for another. Most sling retailers on-line will accept returns or make exchanges, so don’t be afraid to try a few carriers before deciding which one is the one for you!

Most slings available today come in larger sizes. I am thrilled that this is so, but as we all know, just making things bigger is only part of what we need. Who among us has not gone to try on a new shirt and found that, although it fit well everywhere else, the neck hole was huge, or the breast pocket was much too far to the left? Just making everything bigger doesn’t always work! Our proportions are often very different from those of our smaller friends. We also wear more natural insulation, so many of us tend to be warmer than others, making the weight and padding of a sling an important consideration. Digging and pinching are also bigger problems for us because we are softer all over.

Click here to see a breakdown of different baby carriers, slings and wraps for plus size baby earing