No 296: Happy Baby Slings

Just as necessity is the mother of invention, need compelled one Irish mother to design a way of carrying her baby 14 years ago. Louise MacMahon’s daughter Flo needed to be held and fed more than most babies due to her special needs. MacMahon made a baby sling and has continued to refine the design, selling thousands in the process.

Baby slings are based on the most traditional way of carrying a child — a large swathe of fabric tied over one shoulder cradling the baby like a hammock. Whereas babies all over the world are still carried in this simple way, in the developed West, harness slings are more usual. These have an internal structure that holds the baby in a set position.

What makes the Happy Baby sling . different from traditional slings is that it has padding at stress points and a fastener that allows it to be opened and closed with one hand using two rings through which the fabric is drawn. It also differs from harness slings in its flexibility — the baby can be held in a variety of positions, and right up against the body. As such, it can carry whatever weight the carrying parent can bear, unlike harness slings, where the rigidity of the hold makes them less comfortable as the child grows.

Various holds are created through different ways of arranging the fabric and so the “out of trouble” fold keeps the babies hands inside the fabric, and with the “lullaby lie” the baby can be breast-fed hands-free.

A unique aspect of MacMahon’s business is that she can custom-make a sling in material provided by a customer as well as in plain and tie-dye fabrics she makes herself. This bespoke service as well as the technical design innovations show how flexibility has worked in~ favour of this Irish designer and is an object lesson for other small Irish producers.

Lisa Godson