01 02 03 Down In My Heart Joy!: Didymos April Hemp Indio SBP Sleeping Baby Productions Ring Sling Review 04 05 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 32 33

Didymos April Hemp Indio SBP Sleeping Baby Productions Ring Sling Review

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Didymos April Hemp Indio ring sling green sling rings SBP

Didymos April Hemp Indio ring sling green sling rings SBP



This is a ring sling that I really love.  It has been the carrier I've reached for all winter long, inside the house and out running errands.  Ring slings are quick and easy and perfect for short little distances or lengths of time.  (They are lovely for longer times if your baby doesn't weigh 26 pounds like this one does!).

This is Didymos April Hemp Indio with green sling rings, converted by Jan at Sleeping Baby Productions (SBP).

Translation:

This is a woven wrap made by the Didymos brand.  It began its life as a long piece of wrap fabric.  It was cut by the prior owner, and I purchased a piece of what was cut off (82 inches of length in this case).

The name of the particular wrap is April Hemp Indio.  April is the name of the color.  Hemp lets you know there are hemp threads woven into the fabric (which gives it support, strength, and incredible softness once broken in) - this particular is a hemp/cotton blend, so some of the threads are hemp and some are cotton.  Indio is the name of the pattern or weave.  Didymos makes many, many, many wraps with the Indio weave, in every color and every natural fiber content imaginable (silk, cashmere, and more).  The Indio pattern is one of my all-time favorites.  It is classy, beautiful, and dresses up or down easily.

Within the hemp indios, there is a LOT of variation of thickness of the wrap, and the way it wraps, moves, grips, etc.  April hemp is in the thinner category, with some like Flamenco hemp indio (FHI) and Turquoise hemp indio (THI) being some of the thickest.

April hemp indio is the softest indio I've felt to date (though I've heard there are others that get softer even still!).  You can rub it on your face like silky soft baby skin and it is delicious. In fact, it was its softness and lovely touch that made me want it, not to mention how beautiful it is.  I borrowed a friend's ring sling of the same wrap fabric, and it was so amazing that I got one of my own.

The colors are blue and green.  The blue is somewhere between royal and navy, and the green is somewhere between olive and lime (a shade of citron perhaps?).  I find that I can wear it with so many different things; it seems to go with most of what I wear.  My sweater in these photos is what I would call true royal blue.

After I purchased the 82 inches of this wrap fabric, I had it shipped to a conversion artist who specializes in sewing ring slings.  There are many ideas out there for how to make your own ring sling, but I'm not a huge fan of sewing, and it is worth it to me to pay someone who knows how to do it safely.  After all, you are carrying a child in it, and there are rules and regulations about child carriers, and I'd like someone to sew one for me that is abiding by those safety guidelines.  And did I mention I'm not a fan of sewing? Haha.

I had a hard time deciding which color sling rings to pair with this wrap.  I looked at blue (was too royal blue, too bright to match the blue in the wrap).  I looked at silver (very bright, looked almost glaring white against the fabric).  I looked at slate (was my second choice after the green, as it made a pleasing neutral, but the grey tone of it didn't quite go with the blue hue of the fabric).  I looked at bronze, and if I was bold enough, would have gone for it.  It was quite contrasty, but gorgeous (they are darker bronze hue of the necklace I am wearing in these photos).  In the end, my husband Benjamin helped me decide, and I'm really happy with how the green rings came out with it.  The rings are solid welded aluminum made by Sling Rings .com (although I didn't purchase them; they were provided by the conversion artist).

Eighty two inches is considered just shy of a medium size ring sling.  Most people can wear almost any size ring sling, and the difference in length will just determine how much fabric is hanging down your body once it is on you and the baby.  The medium length comes a bit above my knee.  It's a tad long for my preference, but totally functional. The piece of the wrap I purchased was exactly 82 inches, and I didn't want to waste 5 or so inches of perfectly good wrap, just to make the wrap shorter.  Plus, the bonus of a longer "tail" is if you are nursing in the ring sling, you can lay the fabric over you to make a nursing cover.  This is the only type of nursing cover Jax will allow me to use anymore, so this makes a great carrier for wearing at church.

The shoulder style on this ring sling is called Eesti, and can be worn on either shoulder.  There are many other shoulder styles, the primary ones being gathered (just like it sounds, the fabric just gathered up and bunched up) and pleated (which creates a narrower "base" coming out of the rings).  The Eesti is a hybrid between gathered and pleated, and for now, is my favorite shoulder style.  I find it the easiest shoulder to get a good fit over my shoulder without too much trouble.

The rings should be in the "corsage" position on the wearer's chest.  Too high, and they will press into your body; too low and the will press into baby, or cause discomfort in the shoulder area.  You want the pressure of the baby's weight to be evenly distributed across the shoulder, not pressing too much into your neck, and not with the fabric falling down your arm.  A capped shoulder like I am using can be very comfy, but too much fabric falling over the arm gets uncomfortable, plus you can't raise that arm while wearing, which is annoying.

Jax was still recovering from a bout of sickness in these photos (a bug that Benjamin caught at work and passed on), so he looks sleepy and clingy.

I've discovered that if I wear him in a carrier when he first wakes up from naps, after about 10-15 minutes he is ready to be cheerful and go about the day.  If he gets up from nap and I try to get him going right away, he tends to be grumpy or cry about things for a while until the nap "wears off."  Lately I just pop him in this ring sling every day we wake up from naps, and when he seems happy, he asks to get down and we move on.  It's provided such a nice transition to what used to be a challenging time of day.

So far I haven't met an Indio I haven't liked, and this April hemp indio is no exception.  Some fabrics I've thought they were pretty but then not liked how they felt.  This one is gorgeous and feels amazing, and is supportive while remaining airy and light.  The hemp does make it a bit warm, so this wouldn't be my first choice for summer (my dark blue and white cotton indio ring sling fits that bill), but for winter it has been perfect.

In fact, one of the first cold days of winter, I wasn't prepared for the change in temperature, and hadn't brought a jacket or gloves with me.  And my car doesn't have heat.  I was so cold, and digging around in the car for anything that I could use to keep warm.  I grabbed the ring sling, folded it in three layers, and laid it across my lap, tucking one hand in while I drove.  After ten minutes or so, you could have convinced me that I had a heating blanket on my lap.  The layers of the fabric were so cozy, it was unbelievable.  It's not that hot when worn though, because you have one layer; not three.  It is just a touch warm and snuggly.

What a lovely carrier; one of my favorites!

Last but not least, some ring sling basic wearing and safety tips.

Here are the two videos that helped me learn how to comfortably wear a ring sling.

Threading the Ring Sling
Using the Ring Sling

A few little safety tips for ring slings:

1. High enough to kiss. Baby should be high up enough on your body that you can easily kiss their head without straining. If they are too low on your body, that you cannot kiss at least the top of their head, it is probably not the most comfortable carry for either of you, and for a newborn, it could be unsafe.  If you lower the baby to allow them to nurse inside the ring sling, when they are done nursing, they should be raised back up to the "high-enough-to-kiss" position.

2. Knees higher than bum. You want the baby to be seated deeply in the fabric, so their knees are slightly higher up than their bum.

3. Two fingers between chin and chest. With a toddler, this is obviously not an issue.  But with a newborn or little baby who is still gaining head control, you want to be sure their head is resting in a way that you can easily fit two of your fingers between their chin and chest.  If their chin is down on their chest without any space, this can constrict their airway - which would obviously be unsafe.

4. For a toddler like Jax, the back of the sling should come up to his armpits at a minimum if he is "arms out" like in these photos.  If it were lower than his armpits, he could arch backward out of it.  I like to get it just above his shoulders when He isn't arms-out. For a newborn, the back of the fabric can come up to beneath their ears, so that it gives them some head support for their wobbly head.

5. Ring slings are not recommended for back carries. Although some very experienced wearers have done so, it is not advisable.  Back carries need to be very secure, since you can't see what is going on with the baby, and a ring sling does not adequately meet that need.  It is best to use a carrier that is suitable for back carries, rather than attempting one with a ring sling that might put the baby in an unsafe position.

6. For a baby, you put them into the ring sling from the top (ie lay them over your shoulder and slide them down your body into the pocket of the sling).  With a toddler like Jax, I have him stand still, I already have the sling on, then I slide it over his head like you would a shirt, and down his body, then pick him up and create a seat pocket within the fabric.  To get him down; I reverse that - hold him with one arm and loosen the rings with the other, then let him slide down out of it until his feet touch the floor (I am bending over at that point, so that he is not too far off the ground).

Happy babywearing and toddler wearing!

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