Hip Wrap Cross Carry video

Thanks Nikki for allowing me to post this here!

MaM Coat 2009

It's that time of year again! New MaM Coats will soon be available. I'm sure I don't need to tell you too much about the MaM Coat, (well you can read back here about it anyway) other than it's a super-dooper very clever design for a warm, highly wind resistant, waterproof-bodied babywearing coat.

This year's tweaks include:

• Two-way zips that can be opened from the bottom (great for expanding hiplines or jumping in and out of the car!)


• A poppered strap to secure the hem drawstring inside the coat


• Cap-hood adjustment is more secure


• Teddy-bear ears on the cap-hood!


• A hanging loop inside the jacket (my personal favourite! My coat has been languishing on the banister end since I got it.)

The new colours are anthracite (mid-to-dark grey) outer with stone lining and chocolate outer with sand lining. Black is still available in 2008 model in limited sizes.

Babywearing covers will also soon be available in new colours, and with the new cap-hood adjustment method, as follows:

• Deluxe covers will be available in black, anthracite/stone and chocolate/sand.


• Winter covers will be available in chocolate/leek and black/sand


• 4 season covers will be available in shiitake mushroom/sand and are available in 2008 model in chili red/sand

Unfortunately, as with all things, our prices must rise this season too. MaM Coats will be £99, Deluxe covers £35, Winter covers £29 and 4 season covers £26. However we are running preorders on the new coat colours, watch out on the 'site for further info.

Some stand pics

Summer Sling Show - This Sunday!!

BabyArmadillo is heading south for the weekend! We're exhibiting, in conjunction with Babyidea, at the Summer Sling Show in the centre of London.

We'll be showcasing the MaM and Babyidea ranges of slings and accessories, many of which are patented, all of which are designed by babywearing parents. Come along and have a look!

Baby Sling Safety

Newsletter subscribers will know this, as will any 'TBW' regulars, but I'm spreading this link as far and wide as I can, and I urge everyone to do the same.

I can't find the words to share how I feel about bag slings, about the risk posed by them and the inaction by their makers in the face of the evidence presented on this site. I'm not in any way a scaremonger generally, and I'm genuinely pleased for all the happy users of bag slings that have found them to be a solution for carrying their baby in a way that suits them. Call it a 'Public Service Announcement' or something, take it or leave it, but make informed choices!

Enjoy your babywearing, and please, don't have nightmares ;-)

to market to market...

We've decided to give ourselves a bit of 'real life' presence by having a stall at the general market in Holmfirth. Unfortunately due to time constraints we can't do this more than once a month. Hopefully people will get used to us being there on a certain day, and I put signs up last week saying which day that would be, the 3rd Thursday of each month.

It would be nice if that market was as well attended, both by customers and by stallholders, as the Farmers' Market held last Sunday, which was busy despite the cold damp weather, to the point that Coddy's Farm had sold out and were going home by 1pm! They're having an open day for the lambing season on Sunday 4th May, and all being well we'll have a space there too, so if you're in the area do drop by to pet a lamb and you might just see us too :-)

'Dillo and FBS day trip...

on Sunday, to the fabby trade show Harrogate Nursery Fair We got up nice and early on the morning after the clocks went forward (where's that bozz-eyed smiley??) and got there about 11am. Had a good mooch round, chatted with some people I've met before, poked and played with a lot of cool and not so cool stuff. Had a good long natter with Shani of SlingJax and NapsackBaby and dragged her off for an hour to look at all the different slings and carriers and other bits and bods too, much fun! Hopefully she's now having a well-earned rest, both her feet and her face will be tired from standing up and being nice to people for 3 days solid, lol. We were just about leaving when the 'The exhibition is now closed' message came over the tannoy! Can we chew the fat or what?!

What did we look at? And what did we think of it? Well...

There were a load of slings and carriers! Which is encouraging... Samsonite have a new range of bags for mothers, their 'Lady with a Baby' collection, which is stunning to look at, really made me go 'whoa!' from across the hall. Completely gorgeous, and the one for next year that was hiding in the 'back room' on the stand... mmm... While we were oo-ing and ahh-ing at those, we got a shufty at their front-pack. As front-packs go, this one has the usual limitations for the baby, but the way the straps work for the adults make it much more likely, in my opinion, to be comfortable for more people. The straps don't cross, they run straight down over the shoulders before being anchored to the waistband/lumbar support with a slight angle. This should stop the problem of straps riding up and cutting into the neck, this issue plagues me with MTs too, and I solve it in a similar way, I think they've been reading my forum posts ;)

TotsBots have a new 'arm,' TotsLife, with a clever 3-in-1 potty, changing bag and a carrier based on the stretchy wrap. A very interesting concept, needs a bit of tweaking really. Is going into pretty much direct competition with the Close Baby Carrier, in the 'let's make the stretchy wrap less intimidating' market. I think it will fit more people than the Close but the tweaks are important. I'll be keeping an eye out for a proper launch!

The 'Baby and All Bag' is an interesting thing. We were all set to really not like it but it's actually not all that bad. It's designed as a very short term 'emergency' carrier, so the narrowness of the panel that stops the child sliding forwards off the bag isn't so big a deal as it could be. It's a nifty solution for a common issue, really. But I'd like to see more of a seat and less of a 'dangling' effect.

Little Company had a carrier prototype, which, really beggars description! The best thing that I could see from it was the straps, the padding was cylindrical rather than flat so even if it does ride up to my neck it wouldn't cut in. Again I'll be watching out for a product launch.

The Belle Baby Carrier is another 'comfy for the adult' carrier, it's very very narrow in the seat though. And the leopard print does nothing at all for me.

Peanut Shell have some bling stretchy wraps, they're rather long! It was trailing on the ground and I hadn't tied it all that tight. I don't like the designs much but people do say life would be boring if everyone thought the same way.

There were other carriers, some front-packs, some others. Oh yes Napsack! Nice :-) Lighter weight than some, making it more flexible and smaller-packing. Can't say anything nasty about it, I'd get hurt ;-)

'Honourable mentions' for non-carrier products, lol...

The Poteez is a neat idea, a throwaway compostable one-use potty. They come in packs of 5, flat-packed cardboard. It pops up for use, has a self-adhesive panel to stick the lid down after use and can be chucked in the heap! Much greener than a throwaway nappy...

I really need to stock the iPlay swim nappy, if only because the distributors were giving away margaritas and peanuts on their stand, lol, oh and I've spent a good deal of time with them 3 times at shows now and not gotten round to ordering. (Hi Brendan, if you read this!!) The same company also distribute some very nice changing bags, something else I need to get round to stocking.

There was a neat tandem pushchair, the ICandy Pear I really like the adaptability of it. More compact than the Leebruss 'Zoom' though that does mean there's a bit less legroom for the back seat passenger I guess. Anyway, if you need a tandem, it's got to be worth a look.

Difrax do a neat training cup (scroll to the bottom) that doesn't bash the child on the nose! One of those 'oh that's so obvious' ideas... They also do bendy bottles that might be of interest to parents of bottle-fed babies who suffer with wind-intake, or ec-ers looking for a night solution for boys ;-)

Last but not least, I have to mention the DreamGenii maternity pillow. Mostly because Kirsty from FBS, who I dragged round the show, managed to blag one from their UK rep! Jammy so-and-so that she is...

All in all, an educational visit, as always. Lovely to meet people and chat stuff, play with a load of new toys, lol. Might just pull my finger out and have my own stand next year... ah, next year...

the hopeless blogger returns...

I was reminded last night what a hopeless blogger I am, and really what's the point of having a blog, and linking to it if you're not going to use it, right? So, here's a little update! We currently have a 'February Sale' on cold-weather babywearing acccessories at BabyArmadillo, along with our longer-standing reductions, and reductions on merino wool clothing at Fanny Fanackapants.

Babyidea have been busy bringing out a load of new products: the fabulous new 'art' eco wrap; new nappies and accessories including new pocket nappies, bamboo inserts, prefolds and flat multipurpose cloths and a cool new backpack-style nappy bag; a cute new range of organic cotton velour clothing made in conjunction with Fizzy Lemon, the German eco-friendly babywear brand.

Finally, we are at Little Ones Fair again in a couple of weeks time, it's always a busy event with lots of stuff going on, and we love to see our customers old and new in person!

I'll try to be a better blogger in future, honest...

Introducing Fanny Fanackapants...

I started this post back in October. Well October was a bit busy for us, and I really got out of the old blogging habit. But anyway. We moved some stuff around and got some new stuff in and we now have another online shop, which we called Fanny Fanackapants. 'Dillo is still about slings and breastfeeding, the potty and nappy-ish stuff has been moved to Fannypants, as some wag (that's wag as in joker, not W.A.G.) called it, along with a bunch of merino and organic cotton clothes from Babyidea. They're all made with the usual attention to detail and with an eye to getting the most possible use, with adjustable this and turn-up-and-down-able that and stretchy the other. I think they're all fantastic, of course! Not enough to have another baby to model them though.

Anyway, better late than never I guess!

MaM Coat 2007

I've just had some news about this year's version of the coat. It will be available in 2 colours, solid black and 'chocolate/hazelnut' (brown/sand.) Alterations to the construction include:

• soft fleece cuffs at the armholes
• zips all have panels behind for improved windproofing
• slight enlargement of the armholes for easier dressing
• internal pocket
• back panel drawstring restraints snap fastening instead of elastic
• adult-side 'dickey' now adjustable to two sizes
• dickeys made of fleece
  
• hemp/cotton dickeys available as optional extra, with more stretch than the fleece dickey and in a choice of colours

The standard child-side dickey in the brown coat is estimated to fit up to 18m, the black should fit any child that fits in the coat.

A major change is that the child-side hood is now designed to be removable to be worn separately as a balaclava-style cap. The caphood fastens to the coat with oval buttons and can be adjusted in height with a D-ring and strap construction. Elastic to the rear and face gives the cap a snug fit and the neck closes with Aplix 500, a soft-touch closure that does not catch other materials. Straps can be attached to the hood and secured on the front of the coat for use as a head support for sleeping children.

Babywearing Covers will also be provided with caphoods. Coat caphoods have 'Bambi-style' ears and covers have cat ears, pictures below.