Blog

Join BWI-BA for a family picnic at Castro Valley Community Park on Sunday, August 21, 2016! If you’ve been to one of our previous picnics, remember this is at a different location! All family members and friends are welcome to party with us. (Sorry, the park does not allow dogs.) Meet babywearers from all over the Bay Area and try on carriers from all of our libraries. This is the only time each year when ALL 11 of our subchapters will have their libraries in one place! VBEs will be available to help you with your own carrier or one of our library carriers.

We also have a bunch of carriers that we need to distribute between the libraries! Help us figure out where they go and lobby for your favorite to be in a library near you!  We’ll be playing some games to help us decide, you won’t want to miss the hilarious things we come up with for your amusement!

There is a big site with lots of tables this year, but bring a blanket if you want to sit on the nearby lawn. Don’t forget a towel for the splash pad! We request that you also bring your own reusable plates, utensils, and cups, and napkins for eco-friendliness. 

You can let us know what you’re bringing and see what others are bringing to the potluck below. A yummy, babywearing-themed cake may be on the menu!
     
Google form:  https://goo.gl/forms/EClNfuV5WQKn5MDq2
Google sheet:  http://tinyurl.com/baywidepotluck

(The google form is easier to see on mobile devices, the google sheet shows what everyone else plans to bring!)

This event will also include our annual membership meeting. Learn about what we’ve been doing and what plans we have for BWI-BA. This is a great opportunity to talk to BWI-BA’s leadership about your thoughts and ideas, what it takes to become a VBE, other ways you can volunteer, and any other administrative topic that are on your mind. 

If you are a dues-paying BWI member you should have received an email with information about the election of the Board of Directors. If you did not, please contact us at bayarea@babywearinginternational.org.

We can’t wait to see you!

BWI-BA Baywide Summer Picnic 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016, 11:00A – 2:00P
Castro Valley Community Park
18988 Lake Chabot Road
Castro Valley, CA 94546
 

When I told people that I was headed to the International Babywearing Conference July 14th – 18th in Atlanta, the most frequent reaction was, “…the what? They have a conference for that? What would you even do?” I’d never been before, so I didn’t have a great answer for them. What DO you do at a babywearing conference? Luckily for all of you, several of your friendly VBE’s (Volunteer Babywearing Educators) attended this year and over the next couple weeks we will be sharing more in-depth some of the things we learned.

So what do you do at a babywearing conference? Turns out you do a lot! The days were packed with great sessions geared toward a wide audience. There were classes specifically for educators, enthusiasts, and medical professionals, on everything from Social Justice, kangaroo care, carrier geekery, teaching tips, history of babywearing, traditional carriers, and more! There were multiple sessions going on at once which made choosing which to attend really difficult.

When we weren’t going to sessions, we spent a lot of time talking about each other’s sessions and just bonding as a team. That part was really important, especially to me as both a newer VBE and new to the Bay Area. I got an opportunity to really get to know some of my fellow educators that I haven’t been able to spend much time with. I learned a lot just by talking with them and sharing experiences.

There was also an amazing vendor hall, including some locals! It was so fun to browse carriers, accessories, and talk with many of the manufacturers themselves. There were some cool exclusive releases and a lot of great deals (maybe popping up in a Library near you!). It was a great opportunity to try out some carriers that we don’t see much, or that are brand new, partially in the interests of being able to answer questions as they come up but also just because we love to try new things!

(Me trying out the new XOXO carrier with a demo doll)

In addition to the vendor hall, BWI and many of the brands hosted shindigs that went from pretty informal meetups to full-blown cocktail parties. There were giveaways and contests and a lot of getting to meet internet friends in real life!

(Jay, Anna, Laura, Martha, and Gena at the BWI reception. Check out the sweet water bottles!)

It was great to see how much thought Babywearing International and the Conference Committee put into pulling together such a big conference. There were 700+ people registered, and that’s not counting kids and caregivers that came along but weren’t necessarily attending the conference! There was childcare available, a nursing/pumping room, and approximately 540 ounces of breastmilk donated to local organizations. Even things like including a water bottle in the (very sturdy) swag bag showed a lot of care and consideration.

 (Gena and Libby and so many babywearers!)

It was such a great opportunity to learn, browse, and build community – both local and far away! I got home exhausted, but also full of new ideas on how to better reach communities here, new teaching tools, and only one new wrap! I consider it a great success and look forward to seeing what’s planned for the next International Babywearing Conference in 2018!

(If you want to know more about the sessions/sponsors/vendors from IBC 2016, check out the website! http://www.internationalbabywearingconference.com/)

By Holly McCroskey Lewis, BWI-BA Secretary-Treasurer

As we all return from our winter holiday break, Babywearing International of the Bay Area is finally sending out its 2014 year-end “holiday letter”.  We want to report to you all on the amazing year we’ve had!  Forgive us if we brag a little.  You all get some of the credit, after all, especially if you’re a dues-paying member, or have volunteered your time to help run meetings and events, or have donated a baby carrier or two to us!

Using membership dues and fundraising proceeds, during 2014 BWI-BA purchased 80 carriers for our libraries: One pouch, 13 mei tais, 17 buckle carriers, 24 ring slings, and 25 wraps!  Plus, two suitcases and several demo dolls.  And these numbers do not include the carriers that were donated to us, of which there were also a substantial number and great variety.  Our combined libraries now contain more than 260 items – every type of carrier, plus accessories like infant inserts and sling rings, and educational materials such as instructional DVDs.

We added two new meeting locations in 2014 (Livermore and Campbell), bringing our number of subchapters to seven – and we have two more launching early in the new year (the long-wanted Marin meeting beginning this month in Mill Valley, and an evening meeting coming soon in East San Jose).

We’ve added nine new Volunteer Babywearing Educators to our chapter this year, for a current total of 16.  And two of our VBEs qualified as Advanced Babywearing Educators this year – Congratulations to Jay and Cristina!  (We already had one Master Babywearing Educator, Sarah R.)  We have great breadth and depth of skills here, and I count myself fortunate to work with such a fantastic leadership group.

On average, we’ve helped 154 people each month – that’s the average total attendance at all of our meetings since Livermore and Campbell launched in early 2014.  Individual meetings range from an average of 14 or 15 people, up to nearly 40!  And that’s counting only the adults, not the babies.

We’re averaging more than 20 new members every month, and our current membership roster is 259 people (including the 16 VBEs).  To give some sense of how crazily fast we’ve grown:  In all of 2013, we had 58 new members (not counting VBEs).  In 2012, we had 18.  That rate of expansion is insane; I have no words for just how astonishing and wonderful – and sometimes overwhelming! – it really is.  Not to mention that those who sign up for membership are only a fraction of the number we’ve reached at meetings and through our online presence!  Our Facebook page, which we created in April 2014, boasts 779 “likes”, and our Facebook group (in existence since 2009) now has 1,988 members.  Our Yahoo Group, still creaking along since its formation way back in August 2005 (under a different name – that was before BWI existed), has 1157 members.

This was a big year for us in other ways too.  We launched a website, and vastly increased our outreach efforts, notably by running the “babywearing lounge” at MommyCon SF in April.  We also participated in a dozen smaller events, from making a video for a “So You Think You Can Dance” contest, to being counted for the Babywearing World Record, to teaching and promoting babywearing at baby fairs and other events serving parents and caregivers from every walk of life.

We also organized some big fundraisers – another new endeavor for BWI-BA.  Many thanks to all who bought t-shirts with our logo (and promote us by wearing them!) and those who booked photo shoots during International Babywearing Week, plus of course a huge thank you to Alli, our photographer who donated her services.  Adding the proceeds of those efforts to the Amazon Smile program and some cash donations, we’ve raised a net total of $915 this year.  That number is small compared to what we receive from membership dues, but it’s a very satisfying result for the first year we’ve made any real effort to fundraise beyond the membership program.

Looking forward, we have many exciting new things in the works, including new meeting locations, greater efforts to work with underprivileged families and help them benefit from everything babywearing can offer them, a program for recruiting and training new VBEs, a better library lending system and ID tags, new fundraising efforts that we think you’ll like, and yes, of course, we expect to buy a whole lot more library carriers for you, our members and fans, to play with and learn from.  Thank you so much for telling your friends about us, for joining our Facebook group, for coming to meetings and listening to us and borrowing carriers and signing up to support us as members.  We’re so thrilled to be spreading the babywearing love throughout the Bay Area!

Happy New Year!

Hi babywearing friends!

Babywearing International of the Bay Area has so many exciting things happening that we thought we’d send out a newsletter to update you all.

Last month several of your leaders and fellow local babywearers attended the International Babywearing Conference in Tempe, AZ. While only a few left with the flu, we all left with a renewed spirit for the role we play in educating, advocating and sharing the babywearing love! Many generous sponsors made donations to our lending library. We received an exclusive print ErgoBaby carrier which will live in the SF library, a Líllébaby Complete for Walnut Creek, and a size 4 Poe Wovens wrap for Berkeley. Also, in addition to the EIGHT Beco Baby Carriers that we received for teaming with Beco at MommyCon this spring, and the Gemini we received as a prize in the TBW relaunch contest, Beco donated an additional Gemini and Soleil at the conference!  That’s 11 carriers donated by Beco this year! All libraries now have at least one Gemini – our most popular SSC for young infants. Let’s show these vendors some love! If you have a library carrier on loan you love or maybe you have loved in the past, stop by their Facebook pages and say “Thanks!” 

We are working on increasing community outreach efforts, which was one of the main topics of interest in Tempe. This past weekend, Jay, Cristina and Sarah R. attended the Bay Area Birth Justice Fair. Sarah Rockwell reports, “We have made some great connections with birth workers and lactation educators in East Oakland. We’re planning to provide some babywearing education to the midwives at the Birth Center, the doulas at Sacred Birth Place, and to TaNefer and some of the other CLEs. This will allow them to help their clients directly with babywearing.”  We’re thinking of holding a carrier donation drive to benefit these organizations, for them to lend carriers to the mothers they serve who can’t afford to buy their own. We expect many of our members and regulars have stretchy wraps, pouches or other carriers that they no longer use and may be willing to donate. Watch our Facebook group for news on that effort. Also, Cristina and Jay have made some contacts with WIC programs and are working on similar efforts to educate and support the families served by WIC, and you can see Emily this Friday evening at the Livermore #LiveLoveLatch event, sponsored by La Leche League (https://www.facebook.com/events/595779233853036/) We’re excited about BWI-BA partnering with other groups that are working to improve the lives of new parents in communities that we don’t otherwise reach easily!

Which is not to say we aren’t reaching a great many families here in the Bay Area!  Meeting attendance and memberships are at record levels.  Most of your membership dues are allocated to expanding our libraries, and your librarians are currently looking to fill gaps and shopping to outfit their suitcases with carriers that are in demand. If you would like to see something specific added, speak up and maybe we can make it happen!

Thanks to all who participated in our first T-shirt sale! We enjoyed showing off our Bay Area logo in Tempe and hope you love your shirt too.  We raised more library funds that way as well, which we’re currently discussing exactly how to spend. We hope to do another t-shirt sale for IBW coming in October. What’s IBW, you ask? International Babywearing Week, October 6-12; this year’s theme is “Share the Adventure.” https://www.facebook.com/groups/IntlBabywearingWeek/ 

Sarah Rockwell has volunteered to lead the planning for our Bay Area IBW celebration. If you have any ideas or would like to help out, feel free to send her a message!

On the subject of new carriers for the library: I’m excited to share that you all are in for a very special treat! BWI-BA member Alli Novak has generously donated a one of a kind Pavo Guild woven wrap to our lending library! It’s called “Tango Love Birds” and it’s flying home to Berkeley. Because we anticipate that this wrap will be very popular, for the first few months that it’s in our library, we are instituting a special method for lending it out. Instead of first come, first served, we will make it available to new and current members by drawing names of those interested from a hat at the Berkeley meeting. As an incentive to boost membership, if you bring a friend along who signs up for membership, and the friend is actually interested in borrowing a more basic carrier, you may take an additional entry for that month’s drawing in their place.

Lastly, thanks to all who have been enthusiastically attending our meetings and spreading the word about our group. Remember to ask your leaders for business cards so you can pass them along to new families you meet in your everyday lives, and don’t forget to ask for a membership card so you can get those vendor discounts that Libby has arranged! Our meetings have been busy, we are working on many new projects, and we’re always looking for new leaders. If you’ve been babywearing for one year, have a good attitude and passion for helping others, becoming a VBE may be the gig for you! We can help you fine tune skills in your weak areas, so don’t hesitate if you’ve never used a pouch or a mei tai! We also would love volunteers at meetings to do various other tasks…greeting people as they arrive, helping with library check-ins and outs, etc. Send Sarah K. a message if you’re interested! 

Your BWI-BA officers,

Sarah Kemper, President

Holly McCroskey Lewis, Secretary/Treasurer

by Sarah Rockwell

Today is Memorial Day – the start of summer. Summer means enjoying cookouts, running through sprinklers, and eating popsicles. It also means enduring heat and humidity. The summer heat may be welcome to many people, but for babywearers it’s a major concern. We wonder how we’ll ever be able to continue wearing our babies in the heat. So we read blogs that offer conflicting solutions to hot weather babywearing and wonder whether we need to buy all new carriers to endure the heat.

Here is the simple answer: NO. You do not need to buy all new carriers to babywear in the summer. 

If you’ve been planning to upgrade your Soft Structured Carrier it may be helpful to buy one with a mesh panel that will help keep baby somewhat cooler. If you’ve been wanting an excuse to try out a linen blend, 100% linen, or gauze wrap summer might be the ideal time. But you do not NEED to buy all new carriers to use in the summer. In fact, you probably shouldn’t buy all new carriers. Chances are you’ll regret selling carriers you love to buy what someone else thinks is comfortable in the heat. In reality no carrier will keep you cool when it’s 95 degrees and 70% humidity.

Babies are hot. They have a larger surface area to volume ratio than adults, so they dissipate heat rapidly. This means your little one will often feel like an oven. When you press that warm baby body against yours it will be hot. In hot weather it will be even hotter. I’ve been known to get sweaty while babywearing even in cool weather. My arms or legs or face may be cold, but my chest or back where baby’s body is pressed against mine gets hot and sweaty. There is no getting around it. When you babywear in the summer you will be hot and sweaty no matter what carrier you use. So, my advice to you is to use what you love. If you’re going to be hot and sweaty anyhow you might as well be comfortable otherwise. That said, there are some tips and tricks that will keep you a bit cooler in the heat without the need to revamp your entire stash:
 

• Shade is your friend. Consider carrying a parasol or umbrella for portable shade. You may look silly, but you’ll be more comfortable.

• Get a spray bottle with an attached battery-powered fan. Fill the bottle with ice water. Give yourself a spritz when you’re feeling too hot.

• Stay hydrated and keep baby hydrated. Insulated water bottles and sippy cups will keep fluids cool. Remember to nurse or bottle-feed on demand.

• A cooling towel like Chill-Its or Frogg Toggs can be placed between you and baby to help keep you both cooler.

• A water-friendly carrier will allow you and baby to cool off by wading and splashing.

Yes, I did just suggest buying a new carrier. A water-friendly carrier is my only recommendation for purchasing a carrier for hot weather. If you can afford to buy a carrier specifically for summer, a water carrier is an inexpensive and useful addition to your carrier stash. Remember that it’s an addition and is not intended to replace any of your current carriers. If you have to sell in order to buy, a water carrier may not be ideal for you.Keep in mind that water carriers are not intended for swimming. But you can wade, play in the sprinklers, and support older children in shallow water while babywearing. There are a variety of water carriers available at different price points:

• Solarveil Ring Slings and Pouches – If you’re willing to hunt the used carriers you can find a Solarveil carrier. Solarveil is a sun protective mesh polyester fabric that is no longer made. It’s a bit rough, but it dries quickly, doesn’t get heavy in the water, is breathable, and protects baby from the sun.

• Solarweave Ring Slings – Solarweave is a sun protective woven nylon rip-stop fabric. It is soft and supportive, dries quickly, is readily available, and protects baby from the sun. It is not as breathable as Solarveil and tends to get a bit heavy in the water. It is great option if your child, like my first, is sensitive to polyester.

• Athletic Mesh Wrap or Ring Sling – Athletic mesh is made of polyester. It is not sun protective, but it is soft, breathable, and dries quickly. It is less supportive than other options, but is also less expensive.

• Stretchy Water Wraps – these wraps are made from the same polyester/lycra knit material as women’s bathing suits. They are soft and dry quickly, but tend to be a bit warmer than other options.

• For those of you who prefer Soft Structured Carriers, I am not aware of a carrier that is marketed for use in the water. I suspect that the Boba Air may be suited to this use. I have an inquiry in to Boba to be sure that the carrier would not be damaged by use in water. I will update you with their response.

I hope that this gives you some ideas to stay cool(er) and keep babywearing through the summer months. Happy babywearing!

***EDIT*** I’ve received a response from Boba. The Boba Air is a water resistant carrier. It would be fine for use to play at a splash pad or run through a sprinkler or for wading, but should not be submerged for extended periods of time.

You can follow Sarah Rockwell @ http://www.specialconnectionsconsulting.com