Slinging Along

Slinging her… I used a mie-tie cloth sling. I abandoned the uber cool organic cotton cranberry ergo baby sling we had got from the US…just didn’t work for an Indian baby size and weather and my narrow shoulder width. With this sling, that can fit in a handbag, the world is mine to explore. We are a nuclear family and you know those days when the household help don’t show up… well…you just swish the sling to your back and there you have your baby perched like an assamese tea basket, looking over your shoulder, feeling your body warmth and safe from the knives and fire. You can also sit comfortably while baby is in the mie tie…so when I didn’t have her in a car seat and chose to take totos (as we fondly call rickshaws), she was safe from all the sudden jerks and bumps.
She’s 2.5 now and I’ve used that mie tie to take her in second class compartments of local trains (off peak hours, but still a way to teach empathy and gratitude really young ), on flights (way safer than the infant seat belt) from Crawford market to Istanbul’s bazaars, in peak hour on the London tube and not to mention to strap her in safely while holding her attention while I’ve taught dance workshops (yes its that secure) and made presentations and done book readings and what not.
Why a sling when you can use a stroller?
– Sling because baby feels your body warmth and does not get overstimulated by a million people coming at him.
– Sling because baby can hear all your conversations and is picking up vocabulary, intonation and a million other facets of communication. Your voice is also loudest to baby and that’s what matters most.
– Baby can sleep against your chest, hear your heartbeat and when it stirs, you know immediately. You can juts sway, sing whatever, you literally don’t need to reach out to him.