Thursday Tips: Baby carriers & cars

If you are a babywearer, odds are you like to leave a carrier in the car. It's pretty handy having a few carriers you can just leave in the car so you always have something on hand, but it can also be damaging to your carrier if you have something with plastic on it (like a SSC).

If you live in an area that experiences temperature extremes, you might want to reconsider leaving a SSC in your car. The extreme heat and extreme cold can really wear on the plastic buckles, and you could weaken them, lessening their life. Worse case scenario, it could break while you're wearing it.

I live in an area that experiences all four seasons, so I tend to leave my SSCs in my car in spring and autumn, bringing them inside during summer and winter. This isn't too much of a hassle for me since I already bring in my diaper bag during winter/summer to avoid ruining my diapers, freezing my wipe solution spray bottle, or melting my little one's diaper cream/stick.

If you have a a mei tai, woven wrap, or a ring sling with metal rings, I'd recommend leaving these in your car over a ssc. Not only will the temperatures not matter, but in cold weather the wrap or ring sling can serve as blankets for your little ones (just unthread the ringsling).

Vanamo wrap - Kide Tuli - as a blanket

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. 

Vanamo Woven Wraps

It's no secret that I'm big into babywearing. I love wearing my children and will continue to wear them as long as I can, or as long as they will let me. I recently had the opportunity to try out a Vanamo woven wrap from Wearababy; a small, family-run company in Finland. I was sent a Kide Tuli, size 6, to review.

Before washing, taken in poor lighting but a good overall idea of the pattern

While I waited for the wrap to arrive, because shipping from Finland to the states won't exactly happen over night, I exchanged a few emails with Niina, the mother behind Wearababy. She is very passionate about babywearing, having worn both of her children, and these wraps are her dream come to life. The wraps are produced on a small-scale in Finland, requiring lots of hand-work. These wraps only use the best quality materials, using organic cotton, merino wool, and european linen.

When the wrap arrived, I excitedly washed it and hung it up to dry. It is gorgeous!

I couldn't wait to try this out because my husband's (father's) side of the family is from Finland. This shows in my son, Bobble... he looks the part!

Now I promised my husband I'd get a good picture of him. Bobble was not wanting to hold still, and the only other picture I got had his eyes completely closed, so he gets the slightly goofy face picture used. Sorry, hubby! Good thing he has a good sense of humour, eh?

I actually tried to get an action shot with him wearing in this wrap for weeks. I finally gave up on trying to get him wearing Squiggle because she's been super clingy for mom lately (sick plus teething) and hubby has never wrapped before. She simply wouldn't be patient enough to let him try at the moment. Instead, I snagged Bobble for a photo op.

I took the wrap to a local babywearing meeting to let some other moms see it, too. It was a hit! It's a gorgeous design, the materials is a lovely, soft material (this was all organic cotton), and it wraps so nicely!

I was surprised at how secure even Bobble was in the wrap. He is still pretty heavy from his recent health issues, and wiggled around like mad. Even though he popped the seat in the ruck carry shown here, the other passes held so nicely that you would have never known (if you didn't see it)!

Both children love the wrap, as do I! Here's a bit more about Wearababy:

Taken from their website:

"Our ambition is to offer high quality and special woven wraps to meet the needs of a demanding customer. The fabrics and weaving patterns are carefully designed to make the first-class baby wraps. We do not want to make compromises with the manufacture - only the best materials and production methods are used.


Vanamo collection offers both joyful and brightly colored wraps and classical looks for elegant style. You can find a suitable baby wrap for different taste, mood and occasion. The quality of threads, weaving pattern, density and thickness of the fabric all have an effect on the functionality of the baby wrap. Vanamo collection provides many types of baby wraps that differ in the materials, weaving pattern and thickness."


             

Squiggle naps well in this gorgeous wrap, too! I know the above ruck is a bit loose, but she was already asleep when I wrapped her and I was trying not to wake her. Don't worry, she was definitely secure.

Wearababy sells more than just woven wraps, though. You can find gorgeous ringslings, mei tais, SSCs, children's clothes, etc. Check out their shop here.

Braided up



Speaking of their gorgeous ringslings, they also sent one for one of my readers!

Not the greatest picture of the sling, but I didn't want to take it out of the bag since I have cats, so it stays sealed, sadly. (I wanted to try it out!). It is a gorgeous, cotton Karpalo ringsling with a red weft.

There is a stock picture of the sling from the wearababy page.

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Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was sent the above product in exchange for a review. This did not change my opinion of the product in anyway. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.