What's the best baby wrap carrier?

How to choose your newborn baby sling and when to start your babywearing adventure? 

If there are no contraindications: the baby was born healthy and the mother feels good, you can babywear from first days of baby's life.
A lot of emphasis should be placed on uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth. It is a mother's privilege that should be respected at all times both in the case of a natural and Caesarean birth. Kangaroo Mother Care can be also practised on preemies. Yet, prematurely born babies can be worn in a wrap or sling once they?ve reached 2 kilos of weight.  Below are some selection criteria to be followed when buying your first baby wrap or sling:

What is better, broken-twill wrap or jacquard wrap?

A woven wrap is recommended as the first sling for carrying a baby. A woven wrap is distinguished by the weave it was woven with, and the one recommended for the beginning is a broken-twill or jacquard weave. The sling woven in this way works well with the baby, makes the baby's position correct. In such a sling it is not possible to tighten too much or to create uneven tension in the fabric.

How to choose the composition of a baby sling?

Wraps and slings are made from cotton and/or a variety of additives including bamboo, tencel which adds to the smoothness of the fabric, or linen, which contributes to its strength. 100% cotton wraps and slings are recommended when you are first starting out. Cotton creates a custom fit every time you wrap: it softens easily, can be comfortably tightened and is predictable.

Patterns and weaves of baby slings

Woven slings with a twill weave, such as here, most often have a striped pattern or are solid/single-coloured, this is due to the way they are woven.

Jacquard wraps- gives much more possibilities for design, as well as the weaves used, here we are almost limited by our imagination.

Heart weave slings - is a thick, fleshy, high weight sling, recommended most for carrying older children, although there is no shortage of people who use it as a baby sling.

In our opinion, the best baby sling for newborn is a striped or plain sling, but with differently marked edges, or a jacquard sling from the Cube collection. These baby and toddler slings work evenly when you tighten them - this means that learning to tie is effective and you can immediately see if the fabric lays symmetrically on your baby's body. The different-coloured edges will allow you to distinguish the lower edge from the upper edge more quickly and thus - to master tying the sling more quickly. It is important that the edges themselves are folded and stitched. The centre of the sling should be marked with a tag. All Little Frog slings have the centre of the sling marked.

Weight of the sling

The thickness of the baby sling is determined by the so-called grammage, which is expressed in grams of fabric per square metre - gsm. The higher the weigh of baby, the thicker wrap is better.

The thicker it is, the more load-bearing it is, but at the same time it can be more difficult to tighten. However, if we master the technique of correctly tightening the sling, no weight will frighten us and we will be able to wrap ourselves into any sling without any problems. The weight of your first sling should be 190-240 gsm.  Here you will find suggestions for sling sizes 6

How to choose the length of baby sling?

The length of the sling depends on the type of tying we will be doing and also on our size.

How to choose the right length of wrap?

Pay attention to:

• a) the type of tying

There are two basic sling ties suitable for a newborn: the kangaroo and the Front Wrap Carry (FWC). The kangaroo requires a shorter sling, the FWC type tying - a longer one. The newborn can also be carried safely in a ring sling (front), but make sure that the edge of the sling is reversed. The newborn can also be carried safely in a ring sling (front), but make sure that the edge of the sling is reversed.

• b) the posture of the wearer - our size does not affect so much the need to choose a longer or shorter sling, however, looking at the table it is easy to see the differences between the length of the sling offered to a woman and a man - it is worth making a choice for the person who will be carrying the baby more often or just buy a longer sling.
  
  

Here is table which will help you to choose the right size of baby sling:

New or used? Which type of sling to buy?

This, of course, depends on our budget and taste. It is accepted that a used sling is better because it is already "broken" (that means - softer). However, nowadays all new slings are already properly softened, and can be used from the beginning.

If you do not know which sling you will need, it is worth seeing a babywearing counsellor, who usually has a variety of slings with him or her, and you will have the opportunity to try them out straight away during your tying lessons.

New baby sling or used / second hand baby sling?

This depends on your budget and taste. Generally, a used wrap or swing is considered better because it?s already "broken in" (i.e. softer and floppier). 
If you don't know what baby wrap to choose seek advice of a babywearing consultant who usually has a variety of wraps and slings at their disposal and during learning sessions you'll have an opportunity to test them on the spot. We also recommend joining a sling community and meet local slingy types. Popular slingo-meetings and workshops provide an opportunity to explore and test a number of wraps and slings.