Nurnurz Pouch Slings - new to our library

Babywearing Wellington has recently received two Nurnurz pouch slings for our library, thanks to Carissa from Nurnurz Slings.

One of our members, Stefanie, just bought one of these for herself and has kindly written a review for us. Here it is:

"My daughter has just turned 5 months old and as much as I’ve loved popping her in the Moby wrap we’ve been using since birth, I was encountering some convenience issues with it and wanted to find something more handy and easy to pop on.

I live in Wellington and as everybody knows, the weather can be a little challenging sometimes. Battling with my Moby, the wind and the puddles between the car and the pavement, it was not convenient for me when I wanted to just ‘pop in’ to the bank because I happened to be passing it in my car. I found myself just grabbing her and popping her on my hip to run in and out of shops. My chiropractor had words with me about that, much more thoughtfulness was required. Let alone the moments when I have her in my hand and am juggling my credit cards, phone, car key in the other, while trying to pay for something. Having only really known about the Moby since her birth, I decided to investigate other quicker options and found myself on the Nurnurz Nuture Slings website.

Ahah! Here was a double thickness 100% cotton fully reversible, and quite pretty, pouch. Made to measure the wearer exactly (meaning unfortunately my partner can’t have a go), it rolls up quite neatly into my handbag for those dash and go moments. My first port of call was Babywearing Wellington, to see if they had any in their library to hire (which they didn’t at the time but now stock two), but as I’m a little impatient I just went ahead and ordered one off Trade Me.

The moment it arrived it changed my life! My little one likes to look out at the world whether we’re walking down the street or hanging up the washing, and this was becoming a little difficult with the larger wrap that I have.

I keep it in my handbag because it is just so convenient. Simply fold it in half, pop it over the arm babe needs to be sat on, making sure her spine will sit in the seam exactly, it weighs near to nothing and fits over my jumpers and under my raincoat. To use, just pop baby over the shoulder, her legs either side of your hip, bum into the deepest part of the pouch, hitch up her knees, pull the pouch up her back to her neck (arms in or out) et voila! In addition, pull over the loose fabric over the ‘holding’ shoulder to reveal the beautiful fabric design underneath, to cap on the shoulder and produce a lovely balance of the weight. One happy, secure, looking out at the world baby, and one happy, straight-spined mum with two free hands.

The thick cotton ensures that she’s really secure and I feel very confident in just letting her be, she does like to put her hands in her lap and just sit there. Because of the unique vantage point she calms right down if she’s been in a little strop, and we have great fun stopping to look at things that have caught her eye, be it a tree, flowers, a poster, and I get to see exactly what she is looking at alongside her.

So I’ve found all sorts of big uses for this little piece of fabric:

· Popping to the neighbours or dashing in and out of the car to and from shops

· Supermarket shopping (if you’re prepared to be stopped at every aisle to be told how gorgeous your baby is)

· Midnight wind/walking around sessions take the weight off my arms

And my personal favourites, having her:

· Breastfeed

· Sleeping

My little one has had a cold for the last few days, feeling very sorry for herself, and she wants to be upright all the time to drain her nose and near mum for hugs and cuddles as much as possible too. We attended a workshop for two and a half hours on Sunday, space was tight and after a little wriggle, I popped her in the pouch to feed her (very simply, lift up the rear leg, lean forward, shuffle the wrap around, place baby’s mouth on the boob and there you go), then as usual she fed herself to sleep, so a quick shuffle up and back, her head nuzzled into my shoulder and mum was able to do the figure-8-hip-dance-rock to keep her asleep (for an hour), and I didn’t feel it a strain to hold her that long at all.

I am a bit forlorn that I didn’t buy one earlier in little one’s life, as I would so have used it from newborn had I known about it, especially seeing as she was born in summer and the layers of Moby were super heated in the sun. I’m also looking forward to deviating from my favourite ‘hip carry’ position to the other uses; cradle, front, back and kangaroo. And as I’m going to get use out of this until for at least 2 years, it is a great investment and fantastic value for money.

The fabric is beautiful and the make is really high quality, so my impatience paid off. I’m considering buying another now, just a different colour/design for when one is in the wash, or it doesn’t match her outfit, and I’m waiting for the swim edition to come out so I can hold her in the pool when we go.

As for juggling my keys, credit card and phone, never again. There’s the best little pocket right by her back, and the lovely people at Nurnurz said ‘not for mobile phones please, we don’t want those so close to a baby’, so now I just leave that in the car. Who needs their phone when they have the world to explore through their babies eyes?"

Thanks for the great review Stefanie!

Babywearing Wellington has a medium sling (fits 62-64cm) and a large (fits 65-67cm) available to hire. Please contact our librarian or ask at our slingmeets if you're interested.