Ring Sling - different shoulder styles

Ring Sling - different shoulder styles

Ring Sling is a quick, easy to use and lightweight babywearing option. It is a long piece of cloth (about 2 meters long) with two rings that you can always have with you.Its great advantage is the fact that you do not have to wrap it. The only thing you have to do is to pull the fabric correctly through the rings, put the baby in and tighten it (according to the instructions).

It fits parents of different shapes and sizes so it is a very universal carrier.

You can use it with your newborn baby in a cradle carry

But as soon as your baby can hold their head up, you can also use the upright position. There is, however, a weight limit of 15kg.

The cradle and hip carry are two basic carries you can use with a ring sling but there are more options. You can also use it for back carry.

In ring slings, you will encounter two styles of shoulders: pleated and gathered. The question that is often asked is: which one is better? There is no one answer to this as this will mostly depend on your personal preference.

So how do they differ?

A pleated shoulder is a very structured shoulder type.

The fabric is kept in a narrower distribution but still spreads widely across the back. It gives the wearer a greater range of motion. It proves to be more comfortable for babywearers with narrow shoulders as it does not particularly cup the shoulder. This fact, however, makes it less comfortable for those who want it to cup the shoulder.

A gathered shoulder is the widest type of shoulder you can get. It gives more freedom in spreading it on your shoulder. It can spread out very far to cover your shoulder and distribute the weight. It also gets a good spread of fabric across your back. However, if you have narrow shoulders, you may feel like it swallows up your shoulder.