(Reprinted from Dr. Maria Blois's book on Babywearing)

Origins of the Two Ringed Sling

The two ringed sling was invented on the island of Hawaii in 1981 by Rayner Garner for his daughter Fonda. Rayner and his wife Sachi had read The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff and they were inspired to carry their baby.

They tried to carry newborn Fonda in a front pack, but she developed a heat rash. Frustrated with the front pack, Rayner reached into his closet and pulled out a wool scarf, knotted it, slung it over his shoulder and put Fonda in it. She gave a soft sigh, curled up and promptly went to sleep. This way of carrying was a revelation to Sachi. She says: ?In the sling, Fonda was cradled in a natural position and nursing her was so easy to do. We both felt close, cool and happy.?

The knotted scarf was fine for the first few days, but they soon discovered that it was difficult to adjust. Rayner is tall and Sachi is short and they had to constantly retie the knot each time they took turns, or each time Sachi wanted to nurse the baby.

Putting his inventive mind to work, Rayner attempted to devise a method for quickly adjusting the fabric without compromising safety. The method needed to ?jam? the fabric and keep it from slipping with the weight of the baby. Rayner had a vision of seeing that sort of design on a boat and decided to try a two ringed design. He took a piece of cotton fabric 36 inches wide and sewed two wooden curtain rings on one end and folded the other end ?like a paper airplane,?? ending up with a two-inch tail, which he threaded through the rings. This simple innovation made the sling remarkably easy to adjust. He added a shoulder pad and eventually side rail padding, at Sachi's suggestion, when Fonda was six months old and started riding in the hip carry. The shoulder pad end was made with the ability to add further padding if it became necessary. They deliberately chose beautiful fabrics because, from the beginning, they felt that the slings needed to be fashionable as well as practical in order to have an impact on our ?image conscious culture.? They experimented with various fabrics for different needs, such as silk slings for formal occasions and net water slings.

Rayner and his family made an enormous contribution to modern babywearing. He gave the simple indigenous cloth sling form and shape. Rayner's basic sling design gives the modern parent many of the same benefits of the indigenous sling ? the simplicity of use (easy on and off), ease of nursing, natural support for holding positions, versatility of

positions, and easy transitions between positions. As Sachi notes: ?Rayner's two ringed tailored sling is, in essence, a bridge between the indigenous cloth sling and the highly constructed baby carriers of modern society (strollers, framed backpacks and such).? He created a comfortable and practical sling for the modern day parent. His basic design (and Rayner and Sachi's vision of the sling as a fashion accessory) continues to be the inspiration and the functional springboard for the development of countless other baby sling models nationwide.

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If you are interested in purchasing one of our slings please email us at rayner@intuit.org.uk or if you would like to be kept up to date with news about our inventions and new products to make life easier for your infant and yourselves.

Savour and nurture your infant in
elegance and beauty with the baby sling