Nina managed break her leg 3 weeks ago, during a ‘routine’ leap from the window ledge onto the settee! As the damage is above her knee, her leg is in a full length cast, making her pretty much immobile for 6 weeks while it heals. She is too little to use crutches, so we’ve had to carry her everywhere. She is quite small for a 4 year old, and we still have a large off road buggy which we’ve found very useful for going out and about on long trips- if a little cumbersome. We’ve mostly worn our 3 children, and the buggy has just been used for the school run or walking round the village. The complicated logistics of taking wheels into the town centre or the supermarket has been quite an eye-opener!

The trickiest bit has been managing round the house. Whilst she might only be small, Nina still weighs considerably more than a baby, and her heavy, straight leg knocks her off balance and stops her clinging effectively.
Constantly lifting and shifting her round the house soon takes its toll on my shoulders, and carrying her in-arms unaided for more than a couple of minutes is uncomfortable, so just ‘popping in’ to a shop for example either requires a good deal of folding and faffing about with the buggy, or a shoulder-aching effort.

I’m definitely a wrapper at heart- I’ve always found wrapping easier and quicker than using buckles or other styles of carrier. The length of Nina’s cast makes getting a comfortable seat pretty much impossible, and even the quickest wrap job isn’t practical to cope with repeated carries of only a minute or two at a time. Her reduced mobility makes it difficult to get her in and out of a poppable carry.

Luckily for me, when I explained all of this to Jenni from It’s a Sling Thing, she had not only one suggestion, but several potential creative solutions that would help us through the next 6 weeks.

We had a good chat and decided that a hippychick hip seat would lend some support for transporting Nina round the house, and take some of the strain out of in-arms carrying. For longer  ‘quick’ carries, using a woven scarf or a short wrap to do a basic ‘strap carry’ helped to take the strain out of my shoulder. I tied a basic slip knot, with the wrap/scarf cupping my shoulder and either spread across Nina’s back or bunched up under her armpits- whichever felt comfiest for her at the time. This method has balanced ease and speed with comfort and support (and looks pretty too)!

It was so helpful to be able to discuss my needs with someone so knowledgeable about all the carrying aids out there, and also to be able to borrow something when I needed it, rather than purchasing something that might not have worked, and which I would only need in the short term.

It’s a Sling Thing run a postal hire service for a wide range of carriers, including all of the wraps in stock in our shop (and many more that are no longer available). They can help you to find exactly what you are looking for- or even discover something that you didn’t know you needed!

If you hire a Firespiral wrap from them and then decide to buy your own, we will refund your hire costs (upto the value of £20). They also run a wrap club, allowing you to try multiple wraps and broaden your experiences.
The whole system is really simple to use and the prices include all the postage. You can find out more on the It’s a sling thing website