Before I had Sara, I always had my own ideas about parenting. What I’m gonna do, how am I gonna deal with her fussiness or whatever, and that includes the kind of baby gears that I might like.

For example, when it comes to carrying Sara while we’re out an about. We bought a nice Bumbleride stroller which we love. I never thought about buying a baby carrier whatsoever because I thought it’s not ‘cool’. (what is cool anyway?)

Then, when Sara was around 6 weeks, she started to become fussy. She wanted to be held, and she wanted comfort nursing almost ALL the time. She nursed for up to 1 hour and a half at one time. Day or night. Everyday felt like a battle. I was stressed out because I felt constrained.  So I started to make a research on how to cope with this. I read an article which suggested babywearing.

I had never considered babywearing before, and I was overwhelmed by the many types of baby carrier. There are ring slings, wraps,soft structured carriers and few others. I did tons of research. Finally, I rented a linen Jumpsac ring sling from SentuhanBayu. Once I got it, I practiced wearing it for a week, with help from youtube and the facebook babywearing support group. Oh, once I got it right, things started to get easier. I was able to put my fussy baby to sleep in just a few minutes, and let me add -handsfree! Of course I love that!

After 2 weeks of wearing her, she fussed a lot less. A LOT. Nursing time gradually reduced to 45 minutes,  30minutes, then 20, and now only 10 minutes. Any longer, she’d puke the excess milk. And then I realized one thing, she wanted comfort nursing because well, she wanted to comfort herself. Also, all she wanted was to be close to me!  With the ring sling, I was able to provide her just that, while still going on with my life, chores or whatever needs to be done. Surely I won’t be able to do heavy chores with baby in front of me, (ironing is a risky task, unless if I pop her at the back!).

So, once my ring sling rental was over, I went ahead and made my own right sling. Of course!

lightly padded shoulder ring sling

I used cotton drill (the fabric used to make uniforms or men’s shirt). It’s sturdy because it has additional diagonal weave, I wasn’t able to rip it apart. Since it’s that sturdy, I only have to use one layer of it. Linen might be a better option because it gets stronger over time, but it’s not my favourite because I find it too warm on me. I made two, one with gathered shoulder and one lightly padded. I’m surprised to find the simple gathered shoulder is more comfy! Perhaps that’s just my preference.

 simple gathered shoulder ring sling

Oh also, the sling rings are made especially for this purpose. It’s unwelded aluminum rings, and weight tested and made in US. I bought them from Snuggbaby.com

Before I knew it, ring sling is a staple wherever we go, even with our stroller. Whenever she’s awake or doesn’t wanna be alone in the stroller, I just pop her right in and she doze off. Now she enjoys looking around at eye’s level. One of the best thing about it, I don’t have to keep an eye on the stroller during shopping, because she’s literally right under my nose. haha! Babywearing is so practical and serves as a useful tool for parents. I can’t imagine caring for Sara without it.

date with my best gal

breakfast with ze hubster

Makan-makan with family

working outside

Babywearing is a mutual. My baby gets the love and security she needs and I get my hands free. WIN-WIN. Period.

Contrary to my misconception about babywearing, it doesn’t make my baby clingy at all, if anything, it made her less clingy because she’s so secure and she knows that I’ll always be there for her. Plus, it makes me feel like a supermom, being able to ‘wear’ her and make morning coffee for my husband. 😉

Oh, a bonus. I learned how to nurse her in the ring sling! Yep, I can NIP on the go!  It’s such an achievement and it brought babywearing to the next level. I can now walk around while nursing her in the ring sling! No need to find a seat anymore. I even shopped while she’s nursing discreetly! woot! *dances like a monkey* It certainly makes my life 100 times easier and Sara is a happy baby Alhamdulillah!

Who knew I would be so into natural parenting. I enjoy it so much! Next up: cloth diapering. yeah, you heard me. CLOTH DIAPERING.

P.s, I’m putting her to sleep in my ring sling as I’m writing this.

p.p.s, NIP = nursing in public

*IMPORTANT NOTE*

Before babywearing, ensure that you do enough research to make sure that you are pacticing safe babywearing. Using suitable carriers for baby’s age and using it correctly is very important as safety is vital. These list should get you started on your reasech.

Babywearing Reasources:

• Ergonomic carrier vs crotch carrier
• TICKS rule for safe babywearing
•  Babywearing 101
• Benefits of Babywearing
• More benefits
• Malaysian Babywearers support group

Alhamdulillah, Sara just turned 4 months old, and while taking care of her, I managed to create my clothing brand, ImanSara. It is inspired by my daughter. I started working on it during my last few weeks of pregnancy. After I got the hang of being a mom, I slowly picked up where I left off.

ImanSara is long due. It’s been my dream to become a designer since I was small, and it is a start of MY journey. I love quality and tasteful pieces while still being affordable, and that is the things I want for ImanSara.

I pray to Allah that He will bless this venture of mine. It is not easy, but that is the challenge I’m willing to take. InsyaAllah, I’m in the process of creating more products which will be on preview sometime this week.

As a woman, I know hijab (I don’t mean just tudung but overall clothing) is every women’s struggle, and we all have our own journeys. I don’t believe anyone should condemn the way anyone wear, because you’ll never know who they are in Allah’s eyes. Perhaps they are better than us in ways we don’t know. and only God can be the judge.

That is why, I want to help ease women’s hijab journey by providing apparels that are beautiful and modest.

Visit: Imansara.com

Follow IMANSARA on Facebook, instagram, twitter.

During my third week postpartum I managed to pull off a nursing cover using cotton I already had at home. The workmanship was rather clumsy and it’s a full coverage (with fabric that covers the back). Initially, I wanted a full coverage because I was shy about nursing in public (NIP).

After a couple of NIP sessions I realized that nobody has a clue and I started hating the full coverage and got rid of the back part. Still I wasn’t satisfied because the fabric I used doesn’t fold compactly.   Although I followed online tutorial, the first one has several flaws and this momma is not satisfied!

Actually, I was jealous with the nursing cover I made for my brother in law’s wife. It has a lot of improvement in terms of construction and fabric type. I want a good nursing cover too!  Weeweeweee! So I decided to make a whole new one for myself!

Front view of the nursing cover. I love the vibrant fabric! Sure, it might attract attention, but hey, atleast I can advocate breastfeeding! Also, this fabric folds compact 😀

  The hard boning allows me to be able to see my baby at all times while providing adequate ventilation for her. The construction is also improved so that it falls nicely.

On one of my sleepless nights, (yes, another perks of third trimester common symptoms) I got an idea of making a caddy for the baby cot. I heard that sometimes babies need nappy change at night, and at this point, I’m willing to invest in anything to make my night time easier.

After imagining the constructions in my head, I bought some medium weight fabrics. They feels more like a light canvas, and fairly easy to work with. Actually, I was quite intimidated to sew using medium weight fabrics, only because this project calls for sturdy, sturdy construction because I decided to include a holder for the baby wipes and they are quite heavy, fully loaded.

Eventually, this was born.

I got the fabrics from MayMay Shop. They have quite unique selection of imported fabrics at reasonable price. The colours on the website are close to accurate, which is important to me.  The downside is they take up to 2 days to post out orders.

I used  elastics to secure the baby wipe case.

I made a couple of top stitch lines at the top to make it more sturdy. Otherwise when the baby wipes case is loaded, the fabric will pull slightly. The small pockets on top is to hold small essential items like nappy cream, and perhaps lotion or baby oil.

The two bottom pockets are for diapers and some clothes.

We got this SNIGLAR baby cot at Ikea. It costs RM165, (whaaat!). It doesn’t have a drop down side though, which I don’t really see the point of it. It’s either you co-sleep or not. Choose! At first I wasn’t too keen on getting this one because it’s Ikea. However, the reviews proved that this cot is long lasting, sturdy and meets safety standards in various countries. We tested it, and yes it is sturdy. We are sold.

Anyway, what I love about it that the highest bed setting level up to our bed, and it’s paint-free! Meaning it’s low VOC and I’m just a freak when it comes to chemicals and stuff. I also love that it’s so simple and modern.

Of course we are not putting this baby cot by the window. It’s just temporary until baby arrives. We also got the VYSSA SNOSA mattress for RM99 and also a mattress protector, LEN for RM29.90. Inside the cot: Tilam kekabu and baby nap mat.

Apparently, people are very opinionated when it comes to baby cot. In our Malay culture especially, we co-sleep with babies up until they are 2, (some even more than that). To me, it doesn’t matter if you want to co-sleep with your baby or not, I believe every parent is different, and they know what’s best for their children.

We’ve decided to use the baby cot for a number of reasons. My husband may have different reasons, but here are mine.

Number one reason is safety. My husband is a heavy sleeper, sometimes he even roll up against my side and I had to wake him up to move. We tried to move our furnitures around so that our bedside is placed against the wall, but Eddie disliked the arrangements and won’t stand it (I agree but was willing to compromise). In addition, I think we occupy most of the bed already and I wouldn’t want to have my sleep compromised because I don’t have enough space.

Next is attachment issues. I wouldn’t want my child to be too attached to me. I want her to be more independent. Also, having her in the cot will teach her boundaries. I’ll cuddle her, feed her and give all my attention to her but when it’s night time, I go to my bed and she goes to hers.

Whenever we mention we bought a baby cot, people would laugh and say it will never happen.

To me, I believe we can teach our children however we want them to be. If we speak English to them, they’ll speak English.  If we talk to them a lot, they’ll know how to keep conversation going. If we let them play, run, fall and make mistakes,  they’ll learn how to be fearless. If we put them in baby cot from day one, they’ll sleep in the baby cot.

Also, it’s not like I will put the baby cot in another room or anything, I will have the cot near our bed. So she’ll be safe and sound and also within my reach for me to feed her. If all else fails, I can just remove one side of the cot and have it pushed against the side of our bed, so it feels like co-sleeping but she’ll be on her own bed.