Selendang Video Tutorial

I found this video on how to comforbably wear an Indonesian Selandang baby carrier on your back.

When Carlos was a baby I enjoyed wearing our Indonesian Selandang for short periods of time.

For me it’s a quick and easy carrier ideal for toddlers who constantly demand your arms for short periods, for nursing little babies or just any time you need an instant carrier.

Also, a Selandang is very lightweight that you can carry on your purse, just in case.

Wanna get one?

HUGS have a good selection of 100% cotton batik print.

HUGS (Help Us Give Slings) is a non-profit that provides baby slings to mothers living in Internally Displaced Persons Camps in Indonesia

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Babywearing at the Olympic Games

About a year ago I made a phone call to an old friend from my short life as a mountaneer. She didn’t know I’d become a mom, so when she asked if I was still climbing mountains, my response was something like:

“well, I changed the backpack for my son. Literally, because I’ve carried him so much since he was a baby.”

I don’t know what kind of babywearing mom I’d have been if I wouldn’t have had some experience backpacking and climbing with heavy luggage. Maybe I’d have seen the whole babywearing idea as a mothering task, who knows?

Back to my reality, I can say I have experienced our almost 4 years long babywearing journey as the most rewarding sport I’ve ever practiced. For the first time in my life I was receiving unconditional love and instant feedback on my performance. Isn’t it the perfect environment for practicing a sport?

From the first time I carried my baby inside an improvised cloth with a knot, I felt I wanted to achieve perfection, learn new techniques and try different “gear”. I kept learning. We kept learning until we became experts.

Soon we became a team when my little monkey got the hang of it. He’s always loved to ride a sling, and even enjoyed playing with me to invent new positions. We didn’t do this out of necessity, or in order to have him entertained. We played slinging because we enjoyed so much.

Back to the title of this post, I’m not suggesting that babywearing should be considered as a new olympic sport – Not that I think anyone would even find it worth considering.

What I mean is that we moms and dads, and all members of the big babywearing family, can choose to *enjoy* wearing our babies and even feel like elite sportsmen and women when doing so.

Want some after birth fun? Go get your gear (hey, it could be a bedsheet), learn good techniques, practice with safety and get your team partner comfortably attached to you. See you in London 2010!

How I discovered Babywearing

I lived for about 24 years in Ecuador before giving birth to my boy as a foreign student in Japan. I mean 24 years of almost daily contact with casual Babywearing images and I knew nothing about Babywearing.

I’d even been to the jungle and other traditional communities in the highlands, had studied Kuichua for 9 months (when it wasn’t popular to do so) and loved to make friends with indians and rural people. How comes I didn’t notice my country had lots to teach me on Babywearing?

Sure I know the answer: At the time I was not thinking as a mom.

So there I was in Japan, with a newborn baby in my arms, willing to wear him in any sort of baby sling and trying to remember what I’d sought for 24 years. That was frustrating but I was decided to make things work and started looking for information on the Internet.

I started researching about breastfeeding and quickly discovered lots of information (mostly in English) about what I was looking for. There even was an English word for this practice, which helped my status grow from old fashioned traditional mom to modern and informed woman

I was hooked to Babywearing from the moment I learnt the word (pretty much as with “homeschooling”). It was so amazing there were tons of information on how to wear your baby, the benefits, scientific research and lots of vendors offering different sorts of slings from a wide variety of qualities and prices.

I quickly decided to buy a sling and then another (and then another…). They all were so useful since I was having a busy life and was taking my baby with me everywhere.

I surprised myself with my short learning curve because I used to feel so afraid of holding babies , but this time I was becoming an confident babywearer so fast.

This is how I got to know this nurturing practice. The internet and a couple of DVDs were my teachers. I’d have chosen to have in person instructors but didn’t have the chance. However, I believe that the 24 years experience of daily exposure to natural babywearers were crucial on my decision to carry my baby.

An you, how did you fall in love with Babywearing?

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