Yola

My name is Yolanda and I am a sling-a-holic…

When pregnant with my first child in 2008 we were bewildered by the amount of stuff baby retailers and health care providers told us we needed to help raise a happy healthy baby. What you need lists came at us from all sides, info packs from the midwife, baby magazines, on-line forums etc. Both friends and family would ask have you got everything? Are you ready?

I sat in the car in a car park, eating my lunch and waiting for a work call on my mobile. I must have been about 5m pregnant. I watched a lady and her mother get out of a car, go to the boot and proceed to extract a huge contraption, erect it, add a carry cot, faff around with blankets and hoods, get a very small baby out of the car seat, put it in the pram, faff some more. They walked 200 yards to the cash machine, stood in line jiggling the now crying new born in the pram, taking it in turns to put their heads in and talk to the baby. They then proceeded to use the cash point, walked back to the car and reversed the whole process. I decided then and there that we wouldn’t buy into the retail frenzy that seemed to posses all the new mums-to-be that we were meeting, we would buy the essentials and then see if we needed anything else when the time came.

I had read about babywearing and some of the benefits and it made sense to me that keeping baby close when out and about would help us both feel more secure so a sling was already on my list of essentials. We didn’t go anywhere that I could think off where a pram would be more appropriate than a sling. So I crossed pram off my list, thinking we could get a push chair later if we needed one. I then started to research the world of slings…

…Over 8 years,  hundreds of slings tried and tested, and another baby later I am now a Trageschule, slingababy, and school of babywearing, trained babywearing consultant. I am the director of slinglibrary.com, my aim is to help you on your babywearing journey and you can find me every week at the Huddersfield and Halifax sling libraries

We also offer training to become a sling librarian yourself. Drop us an email to find out more.