Photo by Martin Burns

Here’s the best part of this photo of a woman nursing her baby in a sling while they both rode the train in South Africa — the comments by the wife (the woman shown) and husband (the photographer).

Wife: “Home made sling, home made baby, home made food.”

Husband: “Technically, *hotel* made baby ”

Thanks for the laugh guys, and thanks for showing how comfortably breastfeeding can be done while babywearing.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

You choose the prize in this fabulous baby carrier giveaway from Baby Carriers Direct! You have up to three contest entries to win your choice of baby carrier, sling or wrap under $100! The contest is open to those with a home mailing address in the United States or Canada.

Have a look around Baby Carriers Direct. You can browse by brand, type, color, weight capacity or price (handy for staying under that $100 limit!) To enter the giveaway, leave a comment here saying which baby carrier you want to win! For a second entry, mention the contest on your blog and come back here to leave a second comment with the link to your post. For a third entry (or second if you do not have a blog), tweet with a link to the contest on Twitter @Breastfeed123 and come back here to leave a third comment. After that, you might wish to check out this helpful article from Baby Carriers Direct entitled Breastfeed While Babywearing.

The contest ends at the end of the day Friday, April 24, 2009 PCT. I’ll pick the winner at random on Saturday, April 25. The winner will be contacted by email and with a post here at Breastfeeding 1-2-3, and will have until Tuesday, April 28 to reply with a valid mailing address in the United States or Canada. Good luck!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Doesn’t Laurie look great just seven weeks postpartum?! Thanks for sharing the picture, Laurie, and great job on the sling!

For the record, I still use the sling my husband sewed four years ago! Nicole is five months old in this picture. We were hiking down to the beach.

And yesterday when the whole family went on a hike in the hills, my four-year-old even spent some time in the sling!

I also recently wore Nicole during a day at the San Diego Zoo and a day running errands. On both occasions people marveled at Nicole all tucked in the sling. They implied that she must be uncomfortable, and they weren’t satisfied by my typical positive response that it’s just like being in my womb. I wanted to shout, “She’s sleeping! How uncomfortable can she be?!” Baby-wearing and breastfeeding keep us both happy for grand adventures that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

Do you practice baby-wearing? Where have baby-wearing and breastfeeding helped you go?

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

It took some time, and much begging and learning and ironing, but with the help of family and friends we have sewn our first (of probably many) slings. We’re still debating on the length of tail we want as I’d like for my preschooler to be able to hold onto it on walks and when we’re out and about (it gives him a sense of freedom). Any suggestions on making it more hand friendly? We were just going to make the hem a bit thicker so it was more noticeable in his hand but I’m not sure how, if at all, it will affect getting the tail through the rings.

Over all it was a very easy project but as neither I nor my husband had ever used a sewing machine we had to recruit some help. With the remnants of fabric from the first one we both have intentions of practicing until the fabric is thoroughly worn out so we can make our own. Our intentions are to have a back up in the car, plus another one just to have. I might consider making one with a warmer fabric as we live in the prairies and winters here are quite unpleasant.

Thank you so much for sharing this with everyone, this is my first exposure to a ring sling and was the only affordable option at the time, I’m now enamored even more and plan on making some pretty ones for friends who are expecting.

I’ve included a picture of us using the sling on the first out-of-house excursion – a test walk through toys-r-us.

Thanks for writing Angel! The sling looks great and it’s so fun to see you wearing it with your adorable little girl.

That’s a great idea to have your son hold onto the tail so that he stays near you when you are out in public. To make it more hand-friendly, you could sew another sling ring to the end (of course, that means that you could not take the sling apart completely anymore because you couldn’t get that ring through the other rings, but I can’t think of a reason why that would be a problem). You could also sew the end of the tail fabric into a loop. Anyone else have ideas for Angel? Leave a comment!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3