Sling Libraries

Karen McCully

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.

Lysanne Skinner

Lysanne is mother of two children and has carried both of them exclusively, often at the same time! She runs the successful MotherRucker Carrying Consultancy in Worthing, West Sussex, UK and has done since November 2016.

Prior to having children and becoming a Carrying Consultant and Sling Library, Lysanne was a secondary school Drama Teacher teaching ages 11-18, and was a visiting GCSE Drama examiner for AQA. She made the decision that she wouldn’t return to the profession after 8 years, following the birth of our eldest as she had a new passion, babywearing.

When the previous owner, of what was then Worthing Babywearers, announced she was selling, she knew instinctively it was the right business for her. She had fallen out of love with teaching and wanted to help other parents to carry their children safely and comfortably. Having gone through antenatal and postnatal depression and anxiety twice, Lysanne is in a unique position to be able to empathise and support those for whom this also applies. She is also an advocate for responsive, gentle parenting and believes carrying underpins it all.

Lysanne completed her Slingababy Consultancy Course in February 2017 and has also taken the Slingababy Feeding in Slings course. She has attended numerous CPD events to further her knowledge and she has led a tandem carrying workshop at The Wrap Show 2019.

Jess Hippey

Jess is an experienced carrying consultant based in Aberdeen, Scotland. As a mum to two boys who both had severe reflux, carrying was the only thing that soothed. Jess saw a need for parents to be able to try carriers on in person, not just at group sessions, but in the comfort of a home – and so Close and Calm was born. Jess has trained with several Baby Carrying schools, and became a Born to Carry trainer, delivering her first Peer Supporter courses in 2017.

Her vision for Close and Calm, is to impact the community with the benefits of carrying, to make carrying a mainstream occurrence. It is a vision to see Post Natal Depression reduced, babies’ settled, and community built as people are more free and able to venture out. Jess wants to see calm restored to the homes of newborns – and parenting becoming an exciting and encouraging period, instead of one of concern, loneliness and isolation. Through her grass roots connections with parents, caregivers and healthcare practitioners, she wants to set the foundation for the local community, in normalising the safe and regular use of carriers.

With the introduction of the Scottish Baby Box and Stretchy Wrap included, Jess supports and trains both NHS staff and parents to see a safe and high level of uptake of the carrier and provides drop in sessions demonstrating usage – aiming to capture a wide audience, both those who are keen and those who are unsure, by providing a safe, reassuring and neutral venue for people to observe, learn, and meet with other parents –to see that they’re not alone. She also works every week in her local neonatal unit, helping to promote and facilitate Skin to Skin care. Jess has written for the Close Enough to Kiss Babywearing Magazine, for Oscha Slings and her own website and works as a consultant for Oscha Slings, demonstrating their wraps and carriers to customers at events and answering carrying questions.

Jess enable parents, caregivers and healthcare practitioners to safely carry babies and children, through education, hiring of carriers, access to expert support and advice, and delivering training. She also works to promotes the benefits of carrying, recognising the impact that it has on children, caregivers and communities, raising both the profile and the accessibility of carrying in Scotland. Jess also runs a ‘Carriers without Barriers’ scheme ensuring that all families can access a carrier and has worked with Social Services to implement this scheme.

Jess is able to offer tailored training by request, and has a particular interest in training NHS Staff and healthcare practitioners, nurseries, childminders and local healthcare practitioners, as well as working with manufacturers to provide feedback on their carriers.

Lizzie Start

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.

Rosie Knowles

Rosie is a mum of 2, a practising GP (family doctor) and has been a babywearing educator for many years. She is the author of the 2016 Why Babywearing Matters book, and a passionate advocate of using carriers to build secure attachment relationships between children and their carers. With the Carrying Matters resources, she focuses on providing accessible information and education about this for parents and the professionals who support them, empowering and encouraging them to be the agents of such change, for the overall health and wellbeing of the wider society. She has won several awards for her work in this field and writes widely on the topic. She lectures on babywearing throughout the UK and Europe.

She has been trained by several babywearing schools, and she and her team have helped many thousands of families through the Sheffield Sling Surgery, a consultancy and sling library service first set up in 2013. The Sling Spot retail shop opened in 2015. She has been training peer supporters through the Born to Carry Initiative since 2014, and also trains health care professionals and babywearing consultants.

She is the founder of the Building Bonds Project. It aims to break down many of the barriers to babywearing, by fitting and donating slings and carriers to families in health, social or financial difficulties, who are unable to source their own carrier easily.

Rosie is able to offer tailored training by special request, particularly for health care professionals, due to her medical background and extensive experience working with families.