Wearing an Infant or Smaller Child

Infant Semi-recline

The infant semi-recline position allows the smaller baby to experience the world while giving him or her complete spinal support.

To place baby in this position:

• Place sling on desired shoulder
• Turn inside batting up against your chest
• Hold baby in your arms with back of baby's head toward the rings
• Place baby in sling in a semi-sitting position

NOTE: For the tiny newborn, you can fold a receiving blanket and place it inside the sling under the baby's torso so the baby can see out.





















Horizontal position

The horizontal position lets your baby nurse or sleep in comfort. Smaller babies will fit curled up entirely within the sling. As your baby grows, his or her feet can hang out.

To place baby in this position:

• Place sling on desired shoulder
• Loosen tail to slack the sack
• Turn inside batting up against your stomach,
• even with the belt line
• Hold baby in your arms in a horizontal position with the baby's head on the side opposite the rings
• Place baby in sling laying down
• Both of these positions can be used with the day-old newborn. They can also be used for the older baby; however, many older babies find these positions to be too confining and prefer other positions.

Remember, if you or your baby is uncomfortable, don't be afraid to shift either the baby or the sling until you are both happy. A baby in a properly fitted and adjusted sling should be comfortable and effortless to carry.
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Wearing an Older Child

(4 variations)




















The Hip Carry

The Hip Carry: Useful and comfortable for babies 4-6 months to 2-3 years.

To place baby in this position:

• Place sling on desired shoulder
• straddle baby on your hip
• place inside batting under baby's buttocks and thighs
• Allow legs to hang out of sling
• Tighten sling as snugly as possible
• Top/outer batting can be pulled up to support baby's back or head if desired

The Back Carry or Papoose Carry.

The Back Carry: For the older child with excellent head/trunk control. Great for cooking, washing dishes!
To place baby in this position:

• Place sling on desired shoulder
• Rotate sling so shoulder pad is on your upper back and rings are on top of shoulder
• Place baby as if for hip carry position
• Rotate baby and sling until pad and rings are in their proper positions. Baby will be sitting behind your hip

The Kangaroo Carry

The Kangaroo Carry: Excellent for the curious baby.

To place baby in this position:

• Place sling on desired shoulder
• Turn inside batting up against your stomach
• Hold baby in your arms, facing out in an "indian style" position
• Place baby sitting in the pouch, crossing his or her legs

Note--the younger baby with less trunk control will tend to "list" to the side opposite the rings. If your young baby likes this position, keep a hand on his or her trunk.




















The Belly Carry

The Belly Carry: Cozy and secure, great for walks--baby can nap with his or her head nestled against you.

To place a baby in this position:

• Place sling on desired shoulder Hold baby in your arms, facing you Place baby in the sling against your stomach/chest with the inside batting supporting his or her bottom Younger babies' legs will curl up in the sack, older babies' legs will hang out of sling

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Midlife Pregnancy

• Being informed on the path to parenting:
• The first thing you need to do to become a midlife mommie is to get pregnant .
• Unfortunately as women get older infertility can become a problem.
• Ectopic pregnancy is more common in women over the age of forty.
• The rate of miscarriage is higher for older women, seek support if you need it.
• Genetic testing testing can ease the fears. of not having a normal child.
• Finding out the sex makes it easier to plan ahead.
• More cesearean sections sections are performed on older moms.

Infertility and You

Infertility can be a touchy subject for women trying to conceive.
According to a national organization on infertility called Resolve," Infertility is a disease or condition of the reproductive system often diagnosed after a couple has had one year of unprotected, well-timed intercourse, or if the woman has been unable to carry a pregnancy that results in a live birth".

Many couples have a hard time admitting they might have an infertility problem. Infertility is nobody's fault, but some people are more prone to having problems conceiving than others.

Most gynecologists will want you to try for around a year before testing, but if you have had trouble with your periods or your partner has a low sperm count you might want to seek help sooner.

It's helpful to remember that you are not alone, 20% of children are now born to women over the age of thiry five. Seek the support of women who have had fertility problems and use their advice.


Ectopic Pregnancy..What is it?


An ectopic pregnancy happens when you conceive but the fertilized egg implants itself somewhere other than the uterus . Around 95% of the time the misplaced implantation occurs in the fallopian tube, usually due to scar tissue from previous pelvic infections.

The major health risks from ectopic pregnancy come from internal bleeding. Before detection methods improved, many women died from an ectopic pregnancy.

If you are in the early stages of pregnancy, look for bleeding, dizziness, or pelvic pain as symptons to be concerned about. This is serious stuff and can prevent your chances of having a healthy pregnancy later on.

Miscarriage..feeling the loss

Finally making it to the pregnancy stage and having it end in a miscarriage is tragic loss. The risks for miscarriage increase with age. Women between the ages of 35 -44 have a 21% chance of miscarriage. That jumps to 50% over the age of 45.

There are various newsgroups and mailing lists on the internet that offer support for those who have gone through a miscarriage.

Genetic Testing

Women over the age of thirty-five have an increased chance of carrying a fetus with chromosomal abnormalities. Genetic testing can help ease some of the fears that older women have when they get pregnant.
The two most commonly performed tests are anmioncentesis and CVS. Anmio is usually performed 14-16 weeks into the pregnancy and takes about three weeks to get the results.

CVS can be performed earlier, 10-11 weeks into the pregnancy but has a slightly higher risk of miscarriage.

What Does It Show

Genetic tests can help determine if there are specific genetic problems in the fetus. The most common is Down 's syndrome, but tests for Tay-Sachs disease,cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia can be performed if their is a family history of these conditions.

An added benefit is the ability to find out the sex of your baby. Some parents choose not to take this option and wait for the birth.

It can make it easier to plan ahead and tell people what to get you for gifts.

Having a C Section

Statistics show more cesearean section deliveries are performed on older moms. The main drawback is a longer hospital stay and recovery time than with a vaginal birth. It can however be a lifesaving procedure for both the mother and infant.

C sections are generally performed when the baby is breech (feet first) or the mother has other health complications. Many women feel disappointed if they are unable to have "natural childbirth" or at least a vaginal birth.

The miracle remains the same..nurturing a life inside your body and bringing someone into the world, is cause for celebration, regardless of which route you take.

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Ready to Be a Mom?

Take our quiz and find out!!


1. How does your baby lust rank amongst your peers?

a. When you say the word 'baby' to your friends, they either think you're talking about a boyfriend or they flip their hair back and look at you with a blank, uncomprehending stare.

b. Every week another baby announcement from a friend arrives in the mailbox, and you're beginning to feel like you're the only one still menstruating.

c. All of your friends have children over 5, and your nickname has become "Auntie."


2. How will a baby fit in with your career?

a. What do you mean? Don't most people just hire a nanny and get on with life?

b. Well, it's going to be a bit of a mess, but I want a baby so badly that I'm willing to forge ahead, somehow.

c. Career Shuh-meer! Who cares about work when you have a chubby, perfect, sweet little baby in your arms? Give me booties over paychecks, any day.

d. I don't know what the heck I'm doing with my life so I might as well have a baby.

3. How will a baby fit in with your relationship or marriage?

a. One of you is ticking loudly with the biological clock while the other goes to bed wearing ear plugs.

b. "Of course we want to have kids!" you say, but realistically starting a family is always "two years from now."

c. You've already decorated the nursery and now you're plotting out your ovulation together and deciding when to schedule that romantic evening in bed.

d. Babies? You never really discussed them much until you missed your period last month.

e. You are secretly hoping that a baby might make the two of you fall in love all over again.

4. How will a baby affect YOU?

a. You are sick of being focused on yourself and look forward to the fresh perspective that a child can bring into your life.

b. If you have to get less than 9 hours of sleep a night, you'll die.

c. You don't think having a baby is any big deal -- just strap it on your back and go shopping as usual!

d. You can't imagine YOU as a mother. Your life is going to be totally different, and you are both terrified and excited about it. This is a real rite of passage!

5. How comfortable are you around babes and tots?

a. When someone hands you a baby to hold, you blush and go all rigid, afraid that you'll drop it.

b. You start sweating whenever a toddler starts talking to you because they are so unpredictable ("You're a poo-poo head!") and because you really don't want those grubby little hands on your dry-clean-only slacks.

c. You find most babies ugly and uninteresting and wonder if something weird is going to happen to you when you hold your own for the first time.

d. You immediately get down on the floor, grab a rattle, and get all googly.

e. You're a natural with your friends' babies -- until they start howling and you hand them over with relief to their Moms.

6. How up-to-date is your parenting IQ?

a. You think that "attachment parenting" is for monkeys.

b. You think someone would be half-crazy to read a whole book about the "Ferber technique" when it comes to putting kids to bed. You'll just walk in, read them a story, shut out the light, kiss their little cheeks, and walk out, right?

c. You have never heard of inverted nipples and aren't sure you want to find out any more, thank you.

d. You don't know all the words to Barney's theme song yet.

7. Are you prepared for what Pregnancy will do to your body?

a. If you're careful, you'll only gain about 20 pounds.

b. If you're careful, you'll only gain about 20 pounds.

c. If you're careful, you'll only gain about 20 pounds.

d. If you're careful, you'll only gain about 20 pounds.

8. When it comes to imagining yourself as a parent,

a. You see yourself smiling, rocking in a chair with your clean and swaddled baby while the grandfather clock ticks in your clean and well-ordered home and the sunshine pools at your clean feet and homemade bread bakes in the clean oven and the cat purrs... just like they show in those pretty parenting magazines.

b. You know you'll be better at it than all of your friends, especially the ones whose kids have those incredibly out-of-control, humiliating, belly-on-the-floor tantrums in the supermarket aisle.

c. You're sure that you'll never yell those stupid things that your own Mom used to, like "Because I said so!" or "Listen here, young lady!"

d. You vow to allow only aesthetically-pleasing wooden toys into the house. Your living room floor will NEVER be littered with fluorescent plastic pop beads, naked Barbies, and grinning nylon clowns.

Click here to get the answers to the quiz!



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Natural Gender Selection

So you have two boys and are looking for a girl to cuddle. Maybe you have three girls and are looking for a bit of testosterone in the house to even things out. Perhaps the idea of the "balanced" family appeals to you: one girl, one boy. Whatever the reason, the idea of choosing the gender of your next child can be appealing.



Some couples choose the scientific route: gender selection done in a lab by separating the male and female sperm, sorting them by the weight of the DNA. This new technique offers an 85 percent chance of conceiving a girl and a 65 percent chance of conceiving a boy. Ethical and cost considerations generally lead couples who want to have some influence over the gender of their future child to more natural, less high-tech solutions.

Natural gender selection requires an understanding of a woman's fertility cycles. Unlike a man, who is fertile every day of his life once he reaches puberty, a woman is fertile for only a few days of her cycle, or roughly 20 percent of the time. Because a woman can only get pregnant when she is fertile, it takes a bit of knowledge about the woman's cycle to help choose the gender of the child.

To determine when she ovulates, a woman can chart her basal body temperature, chart her cervical fluid, use ovulation predictor kits, or any combination of the three. Statistically, most women ovulate mid-cycle, about 12 to 16 days before menstruating.

The trick to gender selection is learning about sperm. Male sperm (or Y chromosome-carrying sperm cells) are generally faster, but the downside is that they tend to die more quickly than female sperm (X chromosome-carrying sperm cells). Some researchers theorize this is because the male sperm burns out before the female sperm; others believe that the vaginal/cervical environment is hostile to male sperm.

If you want to try for a girl, have relations as soon as a woman's body signals that she is fertile. Have intercourse every night until two days prior to ovulation. This gives time for the male sperm to die off, but still leaves plenty of the female sperm behind when the egg arrives.

To try for a boy, have intercourse the day before and the day that you ovulate. This ensures that the faster male sperm are still around in greater quantities when the egg is released, giving them better odds of reaching the egg first.

Of course, no method is foolproof (even in the lab, they miss by 15 to 35 percent), so try to go into your experiment with the idea that no matter what your child's gender, you'll love it. When all is said and done, all that matters is a healthy baby.



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Sexual Diseases & Fertility

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are not often discussed in the context of one of their possible consequences: infertility. Great societal stigma has been assigned to these various infectious diseases which are transmitted primarily through sexual or blood contact. Because of this stigma, many women may actually go throughout their lives never knowing they have contracted such a disease until it is too late.

The rapid, epidemic transmission of genital herpes a few decades ago had one positive result -- many people learned that even "nice, clean" people can be infected by an STD. I refer to this as positive because those people then, hopefully, learned about their bodies and took the necessary precautions to avoid further transmission, rather than continuing to look the other way and live in denial of their infection. Unfortunately, however, this more open way of dealing with STDs came to a standstill yet again with the advance of HIV. Now, many are coming to terms with the trademark slogan of HIV activists: "Silence equals death."

For many who have come into contact with an STD, and particularly those who do not yet know that they have been infected, silence may equal infertility and other debilitating health effects. Depending on the specific disease, the amount of time between initial infection and treatment, and the overall health of the infected individual, diseases such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, human papilloma virus, herpes simplex, hepatitis B, and others can permanently alter one's life in sometimes dramatic and tragic ways.

What can be done? First, we must continue to fight the senseless stigma which these diseases carry. If you think that you are unaffected by such societal forces, ask yourself "would I feel as comfortable asking my doctor for a chlamydia test as I do asking for a strep throat culture?" Many health practitioners, unfortunately, still maintain that only certain high-risk groups of people, those who have certain lifestyles or behaviors, warrant screening for STDs. What this means is that many of you who are reading this have never been approached by your doctor or midwife about being tested.

Any woman who is trying to conceive should ask her practitioner for a screen of the major STDs, optimally prior to conception. Women (and men) who are experiencing difficulty conceiving should consider STD screening a routine part of their diagnostic period. Practitioners would do well to avoid some of those discomforting questions about you and your partner's sexual pasts by simply running the same tests on every patient, regardless of socioeconomic status, other demographics, and perception.

Last, and perhaps most importantly, teach your children about STDs. Be an advocate for education. Wouldn't it be grand to be able to say that we've sent some STDs the way of the eradicated smallpox? It can only happen through frank and open discussion.


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Am I Pregnant?

Early Signs of Pregnancy

Feeling queasy? You could be pregnant. The following symptoms are common signs that conception has taken place. Not all Mothers experience the complete list of symptoms. In fact, many of these symptoms can be caused by things other than pregnancy. Please consult with your healthcare provider if you feel you are pregnant. Prenatal care is vital to a healthy and safe pregnancy.


Tender or Swollen Breasts -- Starts 1-2 weeks after conception.

Sleepiness or Exhaustion -- Starts 1-8 weeks after conception.

Darkening of Areola (Nipple Area) -- Starts 1-12 weeks after conception.

Lack of Menstruation -- Evident from week 4 onward.

Food Cravings -- Can start as early as week 1.

Backache -- Can start as early as week 1.

Headache -- Can start as early as week 1.



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