The Sling Lady

I love seeing baby carriers in the comics!

I was expecting to have to wait a bit for the new Fall colors from Moby, but we’ve got them already!   Burgundy, Pacific and Slate are such lovely options for the cooler weather.  I’m so ready for sweaters, fleece and fires in the evening!

The Home Safety Council, a national nonprofit dedicated to preventing home-related injuries, recently released research results showing that many parents are unaware of basic steps they can take to keep their babies safe from injury in the home.  Among their recommendations: having a hands-free baby carrier on hand for use in case of a fire or other emergency.  If you have to crawl under smoke or use a safety ladder to get outside, a secure hands-free baby carrier can literally be a life-saver.  Read the full article.

I should have thought of this!  Honestly, even though I’ve been a babywearing educator for close to 7 years, it never even occurred to me that a baby carrier would be the essential item in your disaster toolkit.  I don’t generally dwell on this sort of thing too much, and before reading this article, if you’d asked me about an emergency situation, I probably would have answered that I’d grab my kids and run.  And certainly, there are some emergencies in which you wouldn’t have time (or the presence of mind) to find your carrier, but in many situations, you might have a few minutes for that extra protection.

For this kind of situation, the SlingLady recommends a secure, two-shouldered carrier that you can get on and off in a jiffy and which will allow you to move quickly as well as being truly hands free.  For this purpose, we like a front or back buckle carrier: the Beco Baby Carrier, the Pikkolo, and the ERGO baby carrier are all great options.

This article was a great reminder that it makes sense to take some time now to identify a carrier in your stash for this purpose and to always keep in a spot you’ll remember, even when it’s hard to think clearly.  And now, please excuse me while I grab my ERGO carrier and put it under my nightstand.

I had a great time chatting with Beth from Catbird Baby and hanging out in her cute booth at ABC (that’s it, above). I felt like I’d known her forever, I think since we both hang out in the Vendors Lounge at thebabywearer.com and because Beth is always great about answering my million emails about the Pikkolo.  We had a good gossip about various and sundry thing related to babywearing and the business of babywearing (no more on that, though, my lips are sealed).  She mentioned that many more people seem to know about baby carriers this year vs. last year, and that many people even knew about mei tais. Babywearing is definitely on the rise!

I also got to take pics of the new Pikkolo prints, due to arrive at CMA in early November. On the left is the new Leaf print, a cool Michael Miller fabric that I think will look great with jeans.

On the right is the lovely Georgia. Teal and grey are both very in this season, so I’m thinking Beth was ahead of the curve in picking this geometric print featuring both of these colors on a white background. This is a going to look great with a lot of fall fashion offerings.

In case you need a reminder, there are a lot of reasons the Pikkolo is a must-have, especially for new parents. It’s as versatile as a mei tai and can be a front carrier, a front facing out carrier, a hip carrier and a back carrier. This carrier can be used with newborns (8 lbs and up) with no additional accessories required. You can ever do high back carries with little guys to let them peek over your shoulder while on your back. The Pikkolo is customizable both for the parent and the baby. Parents can wear it with or without the optional support belt. Wearing it without the belt gives you more flexibility. Add the belt and you get more length on the carrier and also more support for you as baby gets heavier. Parents can also cross the straps in back or wear it rucksack style with the included chest belt. For baby, the base of the Pikkolo is adjustable – it can cinch down to 7″ inches to accomodate little babies and then widens to create a supportive seat for an older baby or toddler.

The new Pikkolos are available for pre-order from CMA now, and we hope to ship them late October or early/mid November.

Continuing my report from the ABC Expo: Moby Wrap also debuted its Fall 09 colors.  My favorite is the slate (if you’ve been reading The SlingLady blog even a little, you know by now that I pretty much love anything grey) but the new Pacific  (a deep teal) and Burgundy are beautiful jewel tones that will work well with current fall fashions, too.   They’ve all got contrast stitching on them, which gives them a nice polished look.  I’m kicking myself for not taking pics of the colors at the show, but will post them as soon as I get them from Moby.  Slate is available now, while Pacific and Burgundy will be available later this month.  Updated 9/24 to add: we’ve got all three colors available now, sooner than expected!   Check out the lovely Pacific and the yummy Burgundy now, and get them while supplies last!

Moby’s also got some new prints, including Tattoo, which is pictured.  Tattoo reverses to solid rose pink.  I bet anything that people are going to take a look at your bundle of joy “wrapped with love” and they won’t be able to stop cooing.

My favorite thing about the Moby booth: I fell in love with Babylegs!  I’ve been resisting this trend, I think because so many of my competitors carry them that they don’t feel all that unique to me.  But Moby now has BabyLegs created to match its wraps, and they are SO cute together!  I just had to add them to our lineup – now I’m wishing I had a newborn to carry around in a Moby wrap with some matching BabyLegs!   As any babywearer knows, baby’s pants ar forever getting scrunched up when you wear your child in a carrier.  BabyLegs are great as a sun cover or to provide extra warmth for that bare patch of skin between their socks and the bottom of the pant leg.   Available in five colors: pink, green, aqua, organic purple and organic green.  Check them out!  How cute are they.

Whew!  Karin Frost (owner of ERGO) and her team have been busy this year!  Their booth at ABC debuted a whopping number of new color combinations, a completely re-thought infant insert, and organic sucking pads. Plus, they’re bringing back an old favorite – solid cranberry.The ERGO booth was hopping, too! I got to meet Judie Anderson, who has always been helpful and responsive when dealing with my customer service questions.

ERGO has been teasing us about the new Heart-to-Heart product: turns out, it’s their new infant insert, completely re-designed. My favorite part of the redesign is that it allows for newborns to be held in a heart-to-heart (hence the name) upright position. This is more natural for both parent and baby and will definitely be less cumbersome than using the old infant insert, which was used with baby positioned sideways in the carrier. The new insert has a small bolster at the bottom to provide support for baby’s spine and pelvis and also to mitigate the wideness of the ERGO’s base until baby is big enough to be comfortable with legs spread that widely. I also think parents are going to find the strap handy – this allows you to get baby positioned into the insert, strapped in, and then placed into the carrier. For what it’s worth, mei tai owners who are having trouble positioning newborns may also find this helpful. The infant insert will be available in Natural and Galaxy print (swirly grey and cream) as well as Organic Beige and Organic Silver.

As for the new color combos, where do I begin? What caught my eye first was the Sienna Sunset organic carrier- it is absolutely brilliant. It’s a lovely embroidered burnt sienna with a the lining and hood in a muted rainbow of color. This is one carrier that looks even better in person than in pictures! There’s a matching front pouch as well.

I’m in love with grey at the moment, so was so happy to see that ERGO has caught the craze with the new Galaxy Grey carrier. A pretty shade of grey that’s neither too light nor too dark, this carrier has a swirly “galaxy” lining and star embroidery on it. The new Heart-to-Heart comes in a Galaxy Grey pattern to match the lining on this carrier and the Organic Silver insert will look beautiful with it as well.   A matching front pouch is available, too.

Although ERGO retired the Organic Green carrier, they are bringing green back this Fall, in a lighter shade of Sea Green, paired with a silver hood and lining. In organic cotton twill, this is a refined and pretty combination. Matching front pouch. This would also pair nicely with the old green front pouches, if you can find them!

The Navy/Midnight is another option I loved. Made with organic cotton twill, this has a very polished finish (vs. the old brushed canvas). It’s lined with cotton sateen in midnight blue. This is a great neutral that Dads will love, but it’s definitely prettier than basic black.  Of course, this also has a navy front pouch.

Last but not least, ERGO finally has organic sucking pads! Available in natural only, these have snaps instead of velcro, which seems much easier to deal with.

All of these options will be available for shipping at CMA no later than mid-October (and hopefully sooner). Pre-order yours now!

Meeting Gabby and Ruth from Beco was definitely an ABC highlight. Ruth is calm, cool and collected, which I knew from dealing with her via email, but I hadn’t realized she is also a Beco model! Gabby, owner and Beco designer, is a ball of energy, full of enthusiasm, funny, and totally adorable. She was kind enough to answer all of my questions about the newest Beco carrier, the Gemini. That’s Gabby on the right, showing off a new Beco Butterfly print for Fall called, appropriately enough, Panthers.

From what I can see, the Gemini is going to be huge. Gabby says she designed it to respond to fans seeking a carrier that can accommodate forward facing out carries, while still being able to grow with your child.  That’s it down there on the right.  Essentially, she’s bringing back the beloved 4th generation Beco, with the addition of snaps to narrow the base to six inches to make forward facing possible. It also features an extendable body, which can fold down for infants and forward carry and then up to provide great support fo an older child’s back.  At 20” length of the Gemini is even longer than 4th generation, and Gabby says it comes up to her 4 year old’s shoulder blades. The body is very padded and supportive so it will make a great carrier for newborns, too.  Some people will miss the safety harness and infant insert on the Butterfly, but I personally find the harness a bit cumbersome for use with my older toddler, so the Gemini will be my choice for the older child and especially for the experienced babywearer when doing back carries.   Gabby says to look for the Gemini to debut in the spring, at the same price point as the Butterfly.  She’s still not sure about prints, but anticipates that both styles will have the same prints so that you can get the print you love in the carrier you want.  The carrier body in the picture is black but she did also show me a fabulous soft eggplant color (designed especially for Beco) which is absolutely gorgeous.  Hopefully we’ll see that soon!

Whew!  I just returned from 3 days in Las Vegas attending the ABC show (as previously advertised).  I fully intended to do daily updates from the show, but I hadn’t anticipated how exhausted I would be at the end of each day.  Now that I’m back, and have had two decent night’s sleep, I’m starting to put my thoughts together, finally.   To those people who managed to blog about your days  at the end of each one, I salute you!

So wow, ABC is pretty cool.  It’s huge – two floors of baby and kid products!   While I loved the freebies and gawking at the all the schwag, my favorite part was meeting a bunch of my current manufacturers in person.  It’s so fun to put faces to names and to have a conversation instead of only emailing.  I had a good babywearing biz gossip with Beth from Catbird Baby, talked at length with Gabi from Beco about the new Gemini carrier due in the Spring, peeking in on Audra’s Scootababy booth and had a lovely couple of chats with Lynne from Sakura Bloom (I SO want to carry her line of gorgeous ring slings – they are to die for).

It was also fun checking out their fabrics, new carriers and finding out about about upcoming products.  I felt so cutting edge.

Watch this space for:

*details and pis of the new Gemini from Beco

*the SlingLady’s thoughts on the new adjustable pouch from Hotslings

*info on a new “basic” (and lower-priced) Scootababy

*the scoop ERGObaby’s new infant insert, the heart-to-heart, and the new colorways for the ERGO baby carrier

*pics of the new fabrics for the Pikkolo from Catbird Baby and the MobyWrap.

Beth from Catbird Baby says it’s cool to give y’all a heads up on the new Pikkolo pattern from Catbird Baby.  This carrier will be shown in it’s full glory at the upcoming ABC show next week, but meantime, here’s a fabric sample.  It’s the lovely Leaflet fabric from Michael Miller:

No word yet on the strap color.  This Pikkolo should be available in October.

I’ve been making an effort to get the word out about Carry Me Away and our services in my local community of Napa, CA.  I kick myself every time someone says “Wow, I’m so excited to know about you – I asked lots of my friends where I can buy baby carriers and they told me I had to travel out of town to actually try anything on.”  Clearly, I need to do more to make sure that every caregiver within 50 miles at least knows we exist!

So I’m excited that we were featured in our local paper over this weekend:

Carry Me Away brings parent and child closer together

Laurel McCarthy wants parents to get carried away — with their children. Mom to kids who are 4 and 7, McCarthy moved to Napa from the Bay Area in 2001. Like many new parents, McCarthy carried her newborn son in a BabyBjorn, a popular baby carrier. Her son liked being carried, and she liked carrying him, too.

“I was able to interact with him and we could feel close to each other,” McCarthy said. She also liked the convenience of keeping him happy while doing housework or shopping. “But at about five months he started getting too heavy for me,” she said.

Read the full article.