22-9-2009 - Baby on a budget Part 3 - useful links attached

My mood while writing this blog: Yay - 10 weeks and counting

I have put my hand sewn hooter hider on hold for now, cos I am really struggle to sew threw the various layers by hand with my carpel tunnel.

But I am pleased to say I did manage to finish not one baby sling but TWO! Thank goodness DH got the sewing machine out and lifted it onto the dining table for me. I don't want him to put it back in the cupboard yet, as I am mulling over some other projects.

As an avid buyer of bargains on Ebay, I bought a baby sling pattern with two sets of rings once I got to 13 weeks (even though I was still at risk of miscarriage at that point, I was hoping that positive thoughts and actions would triumph over adversity), but haven't dared sew it until now!

Well, I followed the pattern exactly saying it was suitable to be worn by both Mum and Dad, so I thought it would be fine, but with baby bump in the way it wasnt very forgiving. After getting DD1 to try it on with one of DD3 newborn sized dollies, I realised that it hangs perfectly on someone who has 34"-36" chest, and realistically I was gonna need at least another 12" of material if both DH and I were gonna get any use out of it. DD2 has my "boob gene", so when she tried it with DD3's very co-operative dolly it didnt hang right on her either. So Sling No 1, is reserved for DD1 when she is baby sitting, so he can be all snuggled up but she can have her hands free for writing up her study notes! or for DD3 when she is playing "house"!

So I decided to scour the internet for free baby sling patterns and found the following:

http://geocities.com/sling_a_ma_bob/instructions.html

Wow, this one was sooooo easy to make in comparison to the first one. I sent DH off to the habberdashery shop with a shopping list ( I broke two sewing machine needles on the first project :-( ...) and just told him to hand the list to the oldest FEMALE shop assistant in the shop to help him, but that HE must chose the fabric (I didnt want to risk 1950's chintz curtain material for my little boy's sling!)

He was back within 30 minutes with EVERYTHING on the list (which is a miracle as men do not believe in shopping lists, in the same way they don't believe in reading instruction manuals!)

Not only that, but he had brought back a black and white chequered material to match my winter coat AND he said it would do for baby no 5 if its a girl (I haven't even delivered yet and his mind is ready racing to do the BD again!)

Well, I made the basic sling in under an hour, called for DD3 to provide the necessary dolly to trial it. Baby dolly obliged and I was very impressed with how much easier it was to adjust. IF I decided to hire an ex-sumo wrestler as a baby-sitter for the night, then this sling definately had the girth to accommodate!

I didnt want to loose to much of the additional length, cos I thought I could use the rest to discreetly cover flesh when breastfeeding. So with a quick adjustment, I moved dolly into traditional breastfeeding position in the sling and checked exactly how much flesh would be exposed once I knotted the "tail" at the opposite hip (I was wearing a top with elasticated neckline rather than ordinary t-shirt). Ta-da! Perfect, not a millimetre of skin on show, I wouldn't particularly want to breastfeed on a bench in a light shower of rain, but he would stay dry but still get sufficient airflow. Success.

The website suggested making pockets to customise it further. So I decided to make an "emergency" nappy pocket, (I used one of my one size re-usable nappies to ensure pocket would be big enough for an age 2 size nappy if need be!) I lined the emergency nappy pocket with plastic to ensure it could be wiped over with antibacterial liquid rather than have to put the whole sling through the wash every single day, and ensured I had enough space for one nappy, one trial size pack of baby wipes and a handful of disposable nappy sacks!) For safety sake I decided to pin in towards the hip end of the "tail" so its well away from baby's head end of the sling.

I decided to make a mobile phone pocket and a purse pocket and mount them on top of the nappy pocket (just in case of mobile radiation, I didnt want it anywhere near his face and wanted some additional barrier between the phone and any part of his body!)

Still a bit of material left, so I made a larger pocket nearer to the shoulder rings, deep enough that I could fit a small bottle of water for me (feeding can make me really thirsty), a couple of breastfeeding pads, a dummy (pacifier) in a little sterilised box, with just about enough room to put the house keys aswell!

If anyone remembers the plastic kids toy "Buckaroo", this is how I feel leaving the house with kids in tow for the last 16 years. Yay, now I will actually be able to leave the house, carry the baby, have all the important stuff and have both arms free!

I have been scouring Ebay for some nice breastfeeding tops, as I dont really want to be lifting up a tee-shirt in public (my belly hasn't seen daylight for quite a few years and I intend to keep it that way!) All the nice ones are really expensive, so fuelled by the success of my baby sling Mk2, I have been hunting for free breastfeeding top patterns.

Be advised, I havent tried this yet, but I am intending to give this one a go:

http://breastfeeding.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_make_your_own_tshirt_for_breastfeeding

I will send DH to supermarket clothes section and tell him to buy 2 t-shirts for £3 in my EXACT size. If it works out fine, then I will send him back with DD1 to choose two identical patterned shirts (if you are stuck out & about and have suffered a milk leak/explosion/breastpad malfunction in a plain coloured top, the resulting dried milk ring is visible from 50 paces, a patterned top obscures the eye away and saves a lot of blushing)

As I find other "crafty" ways of saving money, I will blog on here, so you girlies know!

Good luck to us all in the final trimester, and lots of love and babydust to all those TTC.

xxxxx