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1 Comment [ View ]Children a handful? Just wrap 'em up
By BECKY CAIRNSSling keeps hands free for other tasks
ROY -- Her new baby needed attention, but so did her 2-year-old son.
So Lori Jones found herself looking for a way to tend to both children's needs at the same time.
That's how she came up with Wrap 'n Wear, a fabric baby sling that allowed the Roy woman to hold her infant but have her hands free to play with her toddler.
"I needed to be able to continue doing the regular mom stuff I do," says the Utah inventor and stay-at-home mother.
Jones and a couple of friends started experimenting with ideas for a baby carrier about three years ago and eventually turned their efforts into an official business 18 months ago.
"We developed this for us, for our own kids," Jones says.
Along the way, Jones also discovered her baby wrap fits right into a hot parenting trend -- babywearing.
Babywearing promotes keeping your child close to you most of the time, something Jones had done with her own children by natural instinct.
"I didn't really know I was parenting that style because I didn't know the style existed," she says.
The concept is fairly new in the United States, Jones says, but has been popular in other cultures for generations.
When she would "wear" her son Joshua in the wrap, Jones says, "I would get stopped every time I went grocery shopping."
Folks wanted to know: "Where did you get that?"
It's a wrap
She made the sling herself, on a sewing machine set up on a card table in her basement.
Wrap 'n Wear is a 5 1/2- to 6 1/2-yard swath of crinkle-cotton fabric that can be wound around the body in various positions to hold an infant.
There are 12 different wraps for carrying baby on chest, hips or back. The carrier can be used with children from newborns to 45 pounds -- and can be doubled up to work with twins.
The sling distributes weight evenly across a parent's back and shoulders, Jones says. Other baby carriers she tried cut into her shoulders or hurt her back.
"They just didn't really feel very good," she says.
Jones also wanted a carrier that could be used for nursing, so moms can be up and about even when babies are eating.
Founding mothers
Jones and partners Kristi Norman and Beth Whitaker, formerly Top of Utahns now living in North Carolina, started making baby wraps for each other and friends at church.
Soon, women were telling them, "You should sell these."
So they put the wraps on eBay and in no time were staying up sewing until 3 a.m., making 10 slings a night.
"People would place an order and we'd sew it really quick and mail it to them," Jones says. "After about three months, we couldn't keep up with our orders."
The trio found a Pennsylvania manufacturer to produce Wrap 'n Wear, which is now sold in shops nationwide.
"I have never had any aspiration of starting my own business," Jones, 30, says, "so I'm still sort of surprised."
Hands-free help
Mindy Nielson started carrying Wrap 'n Wear at her Kaysville baby shop about one month ago.
Nielson has used one of the wraps for months, with her 9-month-old son. One day it hit her that maybe she should sell the carriers at Cuddle Haven.
"The kids can grow with it and you can still carry them around," Nielson says. "And my back never hurts."
She likes the different ways the wrap can be tied. Nowadays, she carries her son facing away from her body, so she has more control over what he's doing "now that he has little hands and fingers that get into everything."
Margie Constable, of Washington Terrace, is using Wrap 'n Wear with her new baby Isaac, born in April.
"I just love having my baby with me all the time," she says.
And the sling means one less thing to tote, Constable adds: "I hate carrying those (heavy, seat-type) carriers around."
Off you go
Wrap 'n Wear comes in solid colors ($49) or prints ($55) and features a front pocket for stashing pacifiers, burp clothes or Mom's car keys.
Jones now sells 300 to 400 wraps per month, either in stores or online at www.wrapnwear.com. Most customers are women, but some dads like the slings, too.
The Roy mother visits baby fairs from Boston to Houston to promote her product and plans to attend the International Babywearing Conference in Chicago in June.
Yet Jones says her first priority is being a full-time mom. She and her partners typically work while their children are sleeping, and the women have recruited their husbands to handle chores like phone orders.
Jones is expecting her third baby in August and plans to use the wrap right away.
She remembers when Joshua, now 2, was a baby, the sling came in handy as Jones did housework or took big brother Alexander on outings.
As she says, "Just put the baby on" -- and off you go to the park.
HOW TO WRAP
-- Wind the wrap around your body first, before putting baby inside.
-- Tie the wrap with a knot.
-- Make sure there's enough room in the fabric to hold the baby.
-- Listen to your instincts; if the wrap isn't comfortable, take it off and try again.
-- When finished, remove the baby first, then take the wrap off.
Source: Lori Jones, co-founder of Wrap 'n Wear
Add Your Comment
Baby wraps are not a new trend. I started wearing my first baby over 8 years ago and I learned from others who had been wearing their babies even longer! I know so many other people who sell different slings and wraps here in Utah - they've been doing it for years! This is definitely not a new "invention".
That said, I love my wraps. I've been teaching babywearing classes for 5 years now and wraps seem to be the favorite! Way to go!
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