Believe it or not, I am not an avid sling wearer. I have three children and I never slung my first two. Not once. They are wonderfully, well-adjusted children who display no (outside of the norm) behavioral or attachment issues. They sleep just fine. They eat. As far as I can tell, they have no ill effects from being un-slung.
However, when baby number three came along I realized something. I was out of hands. You know, in the parking lot. Hand for child number one. Hand for child number two. Uh. Oh. After trying out a number of baby carrying devices...from hotslings (eh) to Ergos (love, but dang expensive) a friend of mine gave me a ring sling that I adored and I've stuck with it ever since. I was able to adjust it to my baby's body and my own. It was comfortable and it was simple to use.* No instructional CD required. Just a little bit of messing around with the fitting until I got it down and then voila. Baby meet sling and we were all on our merry way.
Nowadays we wear the sling on errands, sometimes at church, and around the house when I know that she's feeling particularly neglected (as a third child is likely to feel). I get to kiss the top of her head while I cook and occasionally she will take a nap in the sling of we are not near her crib. She enjoys her "bird's eye" view and the beating of my heart, while I get to enjoy her closeness and the use of both my hands. It's win, win.
So whether you are a full-time slinger, or part-time like me, I hope we can all agree, that a little extra closeness is a good thing.
*I'm a firm advocate of ease of use. If I can't get in and out of it in a matter of seconds then I'm just not interested.
