Enough with "brockentauglich"!

When I read through the babywearing scene (especially on Facebook), I always read the word brockentauglich in connection with slings. What it has to do with it and what I think about it, I would like to write in this blog post.

Attempt at a definition for the chunk suitability of a baby sling

The word "Brocken" does not stand for the mountain in the Harz mountains, but primarily for heavy or already big children. Another word here would be toddler.

From when exactly this category starts, I could not find out. It is therefore defined by everyone themselves. Whether a child is really considered a "lump" at 9kg or earlier or even at 12kg is therefore different.

It is therefore difficult to give a definition of which slings are actually "suitable for lumps", i.e. suitable for heavy children, simply because of the lack of a definition. In most cases, however, this is understood to mean a high weight per unit area. Here, too, the concept of a "high" grammage varies: for some, it starts at 250g/m², for others at 270g/m² or even 300g/m².

The basis weight describes how thick a cloth is. However, the wearing comfort depends on other factors such as different materials or weaves. There are very strong, "supportive" materials, such as hemp or linen. In addition, these are particularly breathable because they have a different structure than cotton.

If you want to know more about the materials of slings, I recommend my article Small material science - slings.

Furthermore, everyone feels slings a little differently, everyone has different preferences. Different tying methods also change the feeling of carrying.

You notice, it is quite difficult to suck, which baby sling is now brockentauglich and which is not.

My opinion and experience

I have been wearing my son since he was a few days old. That is now more than 2½ years ago. In the meantime, I have tested various slings, from thin to thick, from cheap to expensive, with different material compositions (also called blend). I have published many tests and experiences on my blog. You can find them in the blog archive.

For me, the division between brock-suitable and not brock-suitable slings simply does not exist.

Yes, there are thinner, softer slings that might be better suited for newborns. But here, for example, I could tell that there another (multi-layer) tying method, like the Double Hammock, makes a huge difference. As soon as I had several layers of cloth as support, I could easily carry my son weighing more than 10kg for two hours, even with a basis weight of 180g/m².

It is also always a question of musculature. Since I carry exclusively (when he does not want to walk), my muscles have consequently developed over the last few years and become accustomed to the weight on my back or in front of my stomach.

It's also always important to really tighten carefully and firmly. This can make a big difference in how it feels to wear. Other materials, like hemp, can actually be good and more supportive in my opinion. In exchange, it is also very stiff at the beginning, making it much more difficult to tie.

Conclusion

Whether a sling is comfortable to wear with heavier, larger children depends on many different factors. It is difficult to blame this solely on the weight per unit area. Even very thin slings can be used until the end of the carrying period (usually at around 3 years).