Do you love babywearing and want to know more about it, or be able to support others with their sling use? Then a training course could be just what you need!
I offer babywearing safety and signposting courses focused on those working with new parents (particularly in the health and social care sectors). This course is designed to give people a good understanding of how baby carriers work and how to support families to keep their babies safe in these carriers and is a mixture of theory and simple practical. My theory course is a good option for those who wish to understand more about safe sling use but will not be actively advising families. More about both can be seen below.
I am now no longer offering the in-depth peer supporter and consultant training that I have done for many years, due to my own increasing NHS workload and other responsibilities. These courses have always involved face to face, hands-on training, which has been of paramount importance to me. I have loved the part I have been able to play in this industry for over 15 years and it is fantastic to see so many excellent resources now available across the country. I am aware that my medical background has played a key role in my training offers around the UK - and as more and more of the NHS staff I have worked with become involved in their own training, I am hopeful that this focus on excellence will continue. All parents should have access to information about safe and comfortable babywearing as part of the standard antenatal and postnatal care offered to them by statutory bodies.
I work with other trainers in different parts of the country, who can offer peer supporter courses that are of high quality and involve the vital face-to-face training that I believe is key to ensuring the health and well-being of young babies when being carried. Please see here for more information. I am hopeful that one of my colleagues will be offering similar excellent peer supporter training in person in Sheffield later in 2026.
The Building Bonds Project is going strong with the recent grant from the National Lottery (providing access to babywearing support and high quality carriers to families in need) - I remain very involved with this, and I am always happy to offer advice and guidance from my experience - please feel free to get in touch with queries.
Babywearing theory and sling/carrier safety – online course, £49
This online course is a comprehensive introduction to babywearing theory and safety, which will give an excellent grounding for becoming an advocate for carrying behaviour and how slings can help promote health and wellbeing. It is a deep exploration of the science around connection, child development, infant mental health, anatomy, physiology, psychology, sociology, neuroscience, anthropology and more! It also provides a brief introduction to the major types of carrier.
This is open to everyone, and can be completed at your leisure. There are short tests of your knowledge as you proceed through the course and a final assessment to complete the course for a certificate of online learning.
- This will suit many people who wish to enhance their knowledge and understanding, become evidence-based babywearing advocates, be able to signpost to local libraries with more confidence, and are not planning to offer in-person support to families on a regular basis.
- This course is not timed, and can be done at your own schedule and to your own pace.
- Please be aware that this course is not a Peer Supporter or Consultancy course and the certificate cannot be presented as such.
- This course is not sufficient on its own for anyone planning to offer any form of movement classes with babies in slings.
Structure of the course
- Why Carrying Matters – the science.
- Introduction to Basic Babywearing Safety.
- The Different Types of Slings And How To Use Them.
- Assessment Module (to confirm learning)
Sling and Carrier safety and signposting course for organisations working with parents – hybrid online and practical course, TBC
This hybrid course is a combination of an adapted introduction to babywearing theory and safety course, exploring how slings can help promote health and wellbeing, alongside a thorough look at the key features of keeping babies safe in slings and carriers and how to recognise and avoid risks. It also provides a brief introduction to the major types of carrier via video, and there are quizzes to assess understanding. This is followed by a practical session to see good carrying in action, discuss how to check carriers for use, practice identifying suboptimal positioning and learning how to engage families in conversation. You will learn how to give general advice, answer common questions from parents (eg feeding, sleeping, temperature, facing out, duration of sling use etc) and how to signpost to appropriate services who can offer in person support and fitting.
This course is particularly suitable for organisations who work with antenatal and postnatal families, wishing to be able to offer basic safety advice and are not planning to offer in-person one to one support to families with their own slings.
- Please be aware that this course is not a Peer Supporter or Consultancy course and the certificate cannot be presented as such.
- This course is not sufficient on its own for anyone planning to offer any form of movement classes with babies in slings.
Structure of the hybrid course
- Online – Why Carrying Matters – the science about why using slings is so beneficial for families
- Online – Basic Babywearing Safety
- Online – The Different Types of Slings
- Online – Assessment Module (to confirm learning)
- Half day in person training with a Carrying Matters trainer to consolidate learning
- Assessment MCQ to assess competence, if passed, will be issued with a certificate of learning.
Peer Supporter Course
The March course will be the last in its current format. I am training one of my colleagues to offer a high quality face to face Peer Supporter course from Summer 2026. Please do get in touch if you wish to register interest.
Feedback
“I really enjoyed trying different carriers. I found the trouble shooting sections particularly interesting and fun. I learnt a lot and feel more confident with all carriers and especially with how to wrap a new born.
I really loved it and now want to do the consultant training even more. Rosie was clearly very enthusiastic and dedicated and made everything so interesting. She was pretty inspiring.”
“Everything I had hoped for was met, I feel like a peer supporter now, not just someone who loves slings!”
“Rosie was born to teach people. Simply fantastic in the way information was relayed. Would highly recommend.”
“The whole day was so good! A key element was the ability to see and try so many different types of slings and to have time to go through basic principles regarding how to use them all. The role play aspects where we were able to troubleshoot carrier problems was also very useful.”
“Hi Rosie, I couldn’t go to bed without sending you a note to say a huge thank you for the course today. I’ve never felt more included and welcome and I’m so thrilled I came along. Thank you for your hospitality and brilliant teaching, I’m raving about babywearing to my husband and cannot wait to volunteer at a meet soon.”
“I loved the content of the day, the discussions, playing with different slings, learning new ways of slinging, wrapping etc. The course was well run, well organised and I felt empowered to speak, share and question.”
“I feel much more confident in my knowledge of both the benefits of babywearing, and how to go about enabling parents.”
“I really enjoyed meeting other like minded people. I liked the theory of babywearing as it related closely to the work I do as Breastfeeding Lead in the NHS. I enjoyed trying all the different slings and carriers and understanding in what situations they would be used.”
“My personal learning aims were met, it exceeded my expectations. I found the course was extremely enjoyable and covered so much subject matter but was not overwhelming. My aims were well and truly met. I now believe I could give a new babywearer good/correct advice and help in ways I was unsure about prior to the course.”
“Having someone with your experience and knowledge available all day to ask questions and watch demo was incredible. I really enjoyed the contextual and historical information about Babywearing and what led us all into that room that day. It put everything into the ‘bigger picture’ and made me feel such a part of the huge Babywearing community. Having such a massive amount of slings in the room to try and compare was utterly invaluable – such a rare opportunity. I thought the balance between practical and theory was absolutely spot on. As someone who’s very interested in the sociopolitical aspects of Babywearing I was really pleased to see this covered in the course and really appreciated that you placed Babywearing so firmly in this context during the day.”
“The course really opened my eyes to consider the needs of individuals and how essential it is to be inclusive and approachable and gave me the tools to do this confidently (especially regarding narrow base carriers). It was useful to be shown how to exaggerate movements and words when teaching and to have the opportunity to practice this. Rosie’s enthusiasm was infectious and made the whole day very engaging. The size of the group worked well and I especially enjoyed how well we all got on.”