International Babywearing Week

October 10th through 16th is International Babywearing Week and Boston parents have something special going on! The non-profit group, Boston Babywearers, is dedicated to educating people on babywearing, promoting safe practices, and helping make sense of all the baby wearing options available. They have an entire ‘library’ of baby carrier that memeers can try for a month to make sure they make the right choice with their purchase before they spend $50 to $150 on a particular brand or style.

This week Boston Babywearers has an event planned each day, including a music class at Roman Music Therapy Services in Melrose; Carrier Speed Dating at Magic Beans in Brookline; their own monthly meeting held at MIT; an Expert Speaker discussion on Babywearing Basics at Isis in the Prudential Center; and a Celebration and Fundraising Party on Saturday. Check out the Boston Babywearers website for a full schedule of the week’s events.

According to the Boston Babywearers press release “The celebration planned to crown the week’s events is the first time such an event has been hosted in Boston.  To accompany the event and to raise funds to support the group, a raffle will take place with numerous prizes geared toward parents and children, including several brand new carriers from a variety of manufacturers:  Boba Baby Carriers, Sakura Bloom, Moby, Infantino, Baby Bjorn and Lillebaby just to name a few.”

The raffle presently has  wide variety of baby and toddler related gear and gift certificates donated from more than 30 generous companies, worth well over $3,500.  Raffle tickets will be on sale at each event during Babywearing week for $5 each.  Bulk discounts are available.  For more info on tickets and specific items to be raffled off, please visit raffle donations.

We love babywearing in this house and I have a bit of an addiction to baby carriers. I have a sling, a wrap, and soft structured carrier, and a light frame carrier. Too much? Maybe! But I use every one of those and each one has it’s pros and cons. I know that when our second baby arrives in November, the carrier will be indispensable since I still have a toddler to take care of. Babywearing is a life saver with sick babies, errands, and colic. I really don’t know what I would do without my carriers. If you haven’t given it a try yet, you should, you just may fall in love. Boston Babywearers is the perfect group of moms to go to if you don’t know where to start. On a budget? Be sure to check out these awesome videos from Emily on how to make a wrap sling and ring sling yourself!