Choosing the Right Sling for You and your Family

We often get emails and phone calls from customers who are overwhelmed with the choice of baby slings and carriers on the market. Choosing a product you haven't used before is always daunting, especially when you are a new parent and want to ensure you make the best choice for your family.

Baby slings have been around since the beginning of time in some form or another; as our babies are born in a relatively helpless state humans have had to devise ways of transporting their young while carrying on with their day to day tasks. Nowadays, even though we are 'blessed' with all manner of gadgets and conveniences, parents realise very fast that keeping your baby attached to you is a very easy solution to coping with the addition of a new family member. Over the past five years the baby sling market has grown fast, with new manufacturers appearing almost daily.

Many sling companies are small; this limits the amount of products they can make and means that you can only buy them in specialist sling shops as they cannot supply major chains with the volume needed. However there are brands who are moving into high-street shops which spreads the word that there are some great, comfortable and attractive options available to the new parent looking for a sling. We are often asked why slings aren't more readily available, particularly as parents want to be able to see and try on slings before spending their money; we usually recommend Sling Meet. If you are in Bristol or North London you can also visit BORN who stock a nice range of slings.

If you do decided to purchase a sling online, there are several specialist sling shops selling almost every type of baby sling being produced. You can also buy slings off ebay but do pay particular attention to the quality of the product you purchased; if in doubt please ask the seller before buying. There are several reputable sellers on ebay who will happily answer your questions.

Purchasing a sling from Big Mama is very easy; we are happy to answer any pre-sale questions and have a customer-friendly returns policy. Our consultants are available to chat online as well, just click on the Live Chat box on our site. We have put together a comprehensive page on choosing your sling as well.

We will be adding some in-depth articles on choosing slings for different age and need groups shortly, which should hopefully be helpful.