We do a lot of size exchanges, so every couple of weeks it is necessary to go through all of the baby slings sent back to us, inspect, press, fold, occasionally resize, and then add them back to our inventory. This can take a couple of hours. Occasionally there is a sling found that isn’t resellable. These are either sold to distributors cheap as “demo” slings, or donated to www.NoMotherLeftBehind.com .

This is an interview that I did in October with Dawn from Mamaslike.com –

http://mamaslike.com/slinglings/

Today I’m interviewing Sara from Slinglings.

Hi Sara! Welcome to my blog. I have to say, I was so excited to do a review for your company because I carried my 6th baby in a sling all the time for nearly a year. She was a high maintenance baby and the only way I ever got anything done, was by wearing her next to me. She just thrived on that closeness.

First, I think a lot of my readers are interested in how moms have started their home businesses. Can you tell us when and why you started your baby sling business?

Slinglings officially opened for business in July 2005, however I have been making baby slings and other types of baby carriers since 2001 when my son, Nicholas, was born. I sold pouches on Ebay and locally here in Seattle off and on between 2002 and 2004. I mostly used a Baby Bjorn when my son was a newborn, and never fully realized just how great baby slings are until my daughter, Katherine, was born in 2005. She literally lived in her slings from the minute she was born until she was well over a year old. She still occasionally rides in a sling now, at two and a half years old.

We were on a family vacation when my daughter was 4 months old, and my husband was amazed at the response to my slings. We were stopped so many times by interested people, asking where they could get a sling like mine. We went hiking in the Olympic mountains, walked along the Pacific ocean and visited parks, gardens and shops that a stroller never could have made it through. My daughter was content to sleep and nurse in the sling whenever she needed. That vacation would have been very different if I hadn’t had my slings along. I remember one very specific incident on a mountain trail at Hurricane ridge. There was a family with a stroller, who couldn’t make it any farther along the trail, it was too steep, rocky and narrow. They had to turn around. Our family easily kept climbing up up up to the very top. We touched the clouds that day!

At nearly 6,000 feet on Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park

At the beach:

The idea of starting a business was very overwhelming to me, and much of Slinglings’ success I owe to the help and encouragement that I received from my dear husband. Slinglings is very much a “work at home family” business.

What are the benefits of carrying your baby in a sling?

The main benefits for me are that carried babies cry less and sleep better. Babies are simply easier to take care of when they are quiet and content. My hands are free to do what I need to do. I was able to run errands more easily. Neither of my kids was ever happy in a stroller, car seat or shopping cart for long, so the only way for me to finish a long shopping trip, for example, was to carry the baby while shopping. We didn’t drive for the first 2 years of our son Nicholas’ life, so we relied on Seattle’s great bus system to get around. Using a sling or other baby carrier made it much easier for me to carry a heavy load AND the baby while on the bus or walking home.

Since Katie is a second child, carrying her in a sling made it possible for me to better take care of our first child. I was able to continue with most of the activities that he and I did together before Katie came along. In this way it eased his transition from only child to big brother, and avoided sibling rivalry. I have been a work at home mom since Katie was just over 5 months old, and I did much of that work while carrying her in a sling!

Carrying a baby close to your body can also help regulate their breathing, heart rate, temperature, and encourages frequent nursing. A baby that is carried more cries less and spends more time in the “quiet alert” state. A happy, content baby makes for a happier mother, and can help diminish the effects of post partum depression and ease the adjustment into parenthood. Using a sling is also a good way for fathers, grandparents, babysitters, etc, to care for and bond with a baby. A baby that is used to being soothed in a sling by his mother will be more easily soothed by another caregiver in a sling. It’s a useful tool!

What kind of slings do you sell?

Slinglings Baby Slings are fitted pouch style baby slings, available in 10 sizes and dozens of fabric prints and solid colors. We offer slings both with and without leg padding for the baby.

How do you know what size sling to order?

Pouch slings are fitted to the person wearing the sling, not the size of the baby, and one size of sling typically can be used from birth until approximately 35 lbs. A good fit is important, so we offer a size database for customers to compare their measurements to previous customers. Size exchanges are not uncommon, so we offer one free exchange per order.

I love the variety of stylish fabrics you offer. What kind of fabrics do use for your slings and why?

Most of our fabrics are woven stretch cotton fabrics, either twill weave or sateen weave, 97% cotton 3% Lycra. I started using stretch twill to make pouches when my son was a toddler. I loved the stretch of the home made fleece sling that I had made for him when he was younger, but it wasn’t supportive enough as he got heavier. Stretch twill offers the best mix of support and widthwise stretch, without the lengthwise stretch that fleece has.

We also have an organic cotton/hemp blend stretch twill, and we occasionally offer specialty fabrics such as embroidered twill, stretch corduroy, and reversible slings.

We have recently had our own line of stretch sateen fabrics designed and printed, and they will be available in early 2008. This was a huge undertaking and we are very excited to have these exclusive fabrics. We also had some of our best selling fabrics re-printed. They will be available beginning in late 2007.

Do you sew the slings yourself?

When we first opened, I did all of the sewing myself. My husband very quickly learned to do some basic sewing, and he took over all of the hemming, while I continued to do all the other sewing. In the beginning, almost all slings were sewn to order, yet we still managed to ship orders within 24 hours almost every time. We now have a company that cuts our fabric for us, and we have several sewers/seamstresses that work for us either at their home or ours. We also have a friend who works 4 or 5 days a week packing orders, sizing slings, counting slings, helping with Katie while I’m with a customer, whatever I need done.

I occasionally do sew a sling here or there, but mostly I do customer service, local sales, and I double check all orders before they are sealed and shipped. I keep the books, track inventory, make production decisions, order supplies.

How fast do you ship/do have slings in stock ready to go?

We currently have about 6500 slings in stock. Our current inventory can be searched by fabric, padding and size on our website. New slings are delivered to us every Thursday and Friday, and we try to have them added to our website by Monday. We try to ship orders the same or next business day. We use USPS Priority Mail and most US orders are delivered within 3 business days.

Slinglings start at $36.95 and they are 33% off when you buy 3 or more at once. Doll slings are available for $14.95.

This is the same baby and the same sling last June—he’s grown so much!  One size sling really does work from birth until age 2 or 3.

Karin recounted size 26 padded slings today and found just 36 slings that weren’t in inventory, including one Pinwheels padded and one Olive green padded..the last ones left in that size!

Restocked:  San Antonio padded, khaki unpadded, black cottage garden unpadded, pink twill padded

Nicholas is missing the school field trip later this month to a pumpkin patch due (more…)

restocked:  navy bubbles unpadded, joanne unpadded, camo unpadded, leopard padded and supernova padded…more to come on Monday!

Karin was able to finish counting all the padded 24’s today (more…)

Karin is counting size 24 padded slings. This is a big project… (more…)