A baby sling is a convenient and often soothing way to carry your baby throughout the day. While leaving your hands free, a pouch or pocket sling keeps your baby in a comfortable position while you attack daily chores. Peanut Shell Baby Slings give moms the basic comforts of a pouch sling with added amenities to make baby-wearing more comfortable and convenient. Learning to use your Peanut Shell properly will ensure you keep your baby safe, warm and snug.
Cradle Carry (Zero to Three Months)
Step 1
Slide the sling over one shoulder with the seam at the bottom. Place the sling on your dominant shoulder and tuck the bottom corner of your sling under your other arm. This will create a pocket for your baby across you chest, notes Slinglings.com.
Step 2
Support your baby's bottom with one hand as you open the pocket with your other. It may help you to place your baby on your dominant shoulder for stability. Open the pocket and slide your baby's legs and bottom into the sling.
Step 3
Slide baby's shoulders and head into the pocket. Ensure that your baby's airways are left clear of fabric and that her neck and chin are not touching.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported three infant deaths in 2009 due to suffocation when a baby's neck was constricted inside of a sling-style Infantino carrier. While that product is a different brand than Peanut Shell, parents should make sure to check the baby frequently; her new neck muscles are not yet strong enough to readjust when her breathing is constricted.
Kangaroo Carry (Three to Six Months)
Step 1
Slide the Peanut Shell over your dominant shoulder, placing it around yourself as if you were going to carry your baby in the cradle carry position.
Step 2
Hold baby with his body facing outward from yours and his back against your chest. Cross his legs "Indian" style and lift his bottom with one hand, supporting his body with your chest. Open the pocket of the Peanut Shell with your free hand.
Step 3
Place your baby, bottom first, into the sling with her belly facing outward. Pull the excess fabric up around her chest. Grasp the top lip of fabric from your dominant shoulder and pull it down over the bottom lip for added strength and stability.
Hip Carry (Six to 12 Months)
Step 1
Slide the Peanut Shell over your body, placing one side on your dominant shoulder and the other side tucked under your other arm.
Step 2
Hold your baby on the hip opposite your dominant shoulder as if you were going to carry him without help from the sling. Lift the sling over his head and slide it along his body until you get to his bottom.
Step 3
Place his bottom in the pocket of the sling by positioning it under his bottom, and then pull the fabric to stretch under the crooks of her knees, says the Peanut Shell website. Pull the upper lip of fabric along her back until it's stretched enough to provide stability.
