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Omg! That's crazy!

I support having more rigorous standards and safety testing. If someone wants to make a wrap or sling and put their baby in it, go ahead, but if they're going to sell them to strangers for money, I think the consumer should have some assurance of safety.

How sad. It's such a tricky thing to try to regulate though. The official docket even goes over the issues that have lead to this proposal and a huge percentage of them have way more to do with user error- almost a quarter were literally because the wearer fell which I feel would be easier while carrying the baby in your arms. Obviously, its near impossible to regulate people's education before purchasing an item but to basically make it impossible to purchase them since so many businesses would be forced to fold is really unfortunate.

It is so tricky though, I still wonder if I should say something to people who aren't wearing their babies properly. I saw a woman wearing her newborn in a ring sling way down by her navel, not to mention, it was so loose I could have reached in and picked up the baby. I have seen many people wearing mobys or similar wraps in the strangest configurations, often with holes in the bottom or so loose that it is not only uncomfortable looking but wildly unsafe. I am comfortable enough using a soft stretchy wrap that I could trouble shoot but with the ring sling all I could possibly say is something trite about being tummy to tummy and being able to kiss your baby's head as opposed to helping her fix it.

Do any of you have suggestions on these situations? Normally, I am a mind your own business type of person but I do feel badly thinking about these situations that are blatantly dangerous and also probably make these parents give up on babywearing.

I am reserving judgement for the moment. On one hand my favorite carrier is a custom wrap conversion I bought on the swap and the new rules make carriers like mine a lot harder for people to make, and therefore a lot harder to get and more expensive.

On the other hand, I regularly see carriers pictured in the Facebook groups that are unsafe and not well made. People that open shops on etsy and think if they take a pretty piece of fabric and some plastic rings they've got a great ring sling. Never mind that it's only a matter of time before the fabric rips or the rings break.

@ShootingStar: They're talking about doing away with wraps, PERIOD
I feel like compliant, registered, and tested makers should still be allowed to do so (by following the regulations) but I really hope we don't see wraps go away all together due to the flippant statements made this weekend. But by all means, YES to the random ring sling and gauze wrap makers on Etsy going away.

I would rather see more compliance and regulation from the big retailers because some of the soft-structured carriers that are available look awful!

This is pretty scary. My main carrier is my Ergo, but I have a Boba Wrap on loan to a friend and am interested in wovens. Yes, you need to use carriers safely, but instead of doing away with them, there should be more instruction on how to safely use them. Hopefully this blows over.

@LovelyPlum: Ring slings would be gone too.

@Boheme: I get that people won't be able to sell them but wouldn't they still be able to use them? This regulation isnt making it illegal to babywear, right? So if that is the case, some people will still wrap, but if the good stuff isn't available, they will have to use the cheap, possibly unsafe fabrics. Hence my comment about it being better to regulate than to have it gone away with entirely. People are still going to wear their babies, so it seems wise to have standards so they can do it safely.

@ShootingStar: I think I didn't word my response well. I fully support the regulations. They've been in the works for 5 years, and hand weavers and machine woven wrap manufacturers should have all set up their business plan with these regulations in mind. Many of them did. However, a select few (ironically, the ones who have been most vocal) did NOT set up their business plan to accomodate these new upcoming regulations, and the regs have the potential to put them out of business. Therefore, they sicced their supporters on the federal government during the open comment period, and made statements like "ALL wraps are unsafe without instruction", since they don't support the regs. What did the government get from those comments? "All wraps are inherently unsafe". I'm friends with one of the weavers who made the flippant statements, and I'm really disappointed at how damning those uninformed comments turned out to be. This really sucks.