Happy to travel – Born to Carry

Karen has a background in Human Nutrition and Public Health and became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 2015. Karen works closely with local health professionals and Children’s Centres and runs Kent Sling Library as a Community Interest Company under the umbrella of PSBreastfeeding CIC.

Having trained breastfeeding peer supporters since 2015, it seemed the perfect opportunity for Karen to become a babywearing peer supporter trainer herself in 2020.

Karen lives in West Kent but her babywearing journey began in the US in 2007 with a baby shower gift from a work colleague, friend and Lactation Consultant (Flossie) who gave her a Maya Ring Sling. When Karen’s son was a few weeks old and couldn’t be put down, Flossie showed her how to use that Ring Sling and it transformed her ability to meet his needs. Karen’s journey continued with the birth of her daughter in the UK and she had the chance to use that same Ring Sling again from day 1. Babywearing enabled Karen to stay close, keep her daughter calm, exclusively breastfeed on demand, start a business and also volunteer as a breastfeeding peer supporter. In 2015 as the volunteer coordinator for the breastfeeding support programme in Kent, Karen received grant funding in Sevenoaks to have 12 breastfeeding peer supporters trained as babywearing peer supporters and started Kent Sling Library in September 2016. A year later (2017) Karen received more funding in Dartford and more peer supporters were trained. In the same year Karen also trained with the School of Babywearing as a babywearing consultant. In 2018, Karen then completed a 5 day course with Je Porte Mon Bebe becoming a l’ecole a porter trained consultant.

Lizzie is an experienced educator and mother of two living in Essex. She has a passion for supporting and empowering parents, and is an advocate for responsive parenting. Her ultimate aim is to change the way people view parenting, to improve outcomes for babies and children.

Lizzie was born in England but grew up in Belgium, Austria and Saudi Arabia, before returning to the U.K. for university. She trained as a primary school teacher with a specialism in early years, and also gained a qualification in adult learning. After settling for a few years in London and Essex, she moved to Norway when her first baby was four months old, and along with a friend, founded Oslo Sling Library in early 2015. She returned to the U.K. in September 2016 and gave birth to her second son, before establishing her own sling library and consultancy in Southend-on-Sea. She is a qualified infant feeding peer supporter, and alongside her sling library work she runs a weekly parenting support group at Do It Like A Mother HQ, where she also manages the venue.

Lizzie has trained with several babywearing schools and has been teaching peer support courses since 2017. She joined the Born to Carry team in 2018 and has trained almost 100 peer supporters to date. She enjoys attending parenting and babywearing events, and has been invited to run workshops at large-scale events in London and Norway. Most recently she organised the education programme at The Wrap Show (June 2019) and spoke to a gathering of international babywearing consultants at the Norwegian national babywearing conference, Nasjonalt Baeretreff (September 2019).

Lizzie loves to travel and is thrilled to be able to offer peer support training across Europe as required, as well as around the UK. She also hosts regular courses at Do It Like A Mother HQ. She is able to offer bespoke training to childcare and education settings, as well as to babywearing dance teachers upon request.

Karen McCully

Lizzie Start