Baby on board: the impact of sling use on experiences of family mobility with babies and young children

ABSTRACT

Today many parents in the UK are choosing to carry their children in slings. Despite this, there has been no research on how babywearing might change families’ experiences of journey-making. Based on interviews with parents in the North of England, this paper uses literatures on affects and mobilities design to contribute to a growing range of studies on infant mobilities. In doing so, it extends our understanding of the importance of relationality in family mobility practices and highlights the importance of understanding the dynamism of mobility during early family life.

KEYWORDS:

• Mobilities
• children’s geographies
• families
• emotions
• affects
• relationality
• design
• materiality

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Lancaster Environment Centre for funding this research and the two anonymous reviewers whose insight and suggestions really helped improve the article. Huge thanks also go to the directors and volunteers of Morecambe Bay Slings and Dr Rosie Knowles of the Sheffield Sling Surgery for helping and encouraging me with the research and providing me with photos to illustrate the article. Thank you to my transcriber, Janet Hall, for remaining cheerful while working her socks off! Finally, but most importantly of all, a huge thank you to the participants who so kindly shared their time and experiences with me. I loved hearing all your stories and hope I can do them justice in the ways in which I write about this.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See Van Hout (2008) for a fascinating record of the ways in which local materials, climate, cultural, social and spiritual significance have all played a part in the design of baby carriers across the world throughout history.

2. Photographs kindly provided by team members from Morecambe Bay Slings.

3. Other researchers have written on exactly this topic, including Askins (2009).

4. In keeping with the PAR ethos of the study, the participants were given the choice of using their real names or a pseudonym.