Babes in Arms, Inc. is a family-owned and run company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Owned by:

Jaime Sanderson and her husband Troy have two children, Taryn born in March 2006 and Leif born in October 2008.  Originally from Saskatchewan, Jaime and Troy moved to Calgary in 2002.  Jaime stumbled upon baby-wearing after Taryn was born -- it was often the only way to settle the baby.  Jaime's baby-wearing "stash" is always growing; she often considers her slings an "accessory" & likes to pick her fabrics accordingly.  Taryn started out as a part-time cloth-diapered baby, by the 14-month mark however, they found a brand that worked for them and exclusively cloth-diapered until she was potty-trained.  With Leif, the benefit of experience has led to an exclusively cloth-diapered baby. Jaime believes that everyone's parenting style is different, and that we're all doing what works best for our families.  Like many parents the more she learns, the more her parenting style is evolving.  Her love of natural toys and natural baby products is becoming a bit of an obsession, especially in light of the questions arising regarding pthlates and Bisphenol A.

Lindsay Ross has one daughter, Neko, born in December 2005, and lives with her husband, Justan, Neko, and their cat, Harley in Calgary. Lindsay tends to question the "norm" relentlessly and it was no different when she became a mom. "Why can't you carry your baby all the time?," "Why do toys need to be plastic?," and "Why NOT cloth diaper?" were just a few of her musings as a new mom. She was thrilled to discover the beautiful, practical world of slings and baby carriers, and used a combination of cloth and disposable diapers (90%+ cloth) until Neko was potty-trained. Lindsay believes that parents tend to instinctually know what is best for their children, and is happy to have the opportunity to help parents find the confidence to follow these instincts. She doesn't buy into the idea that you need a lot of "stuff" to parent well or to have fun with your child, and lives by a motto of simplicity.

Our Fabulous Staff:

Erin's background both professionally and as a mom are like the perfect storm of qualifications to work at Babes in Arms. Her BA in Political Science and BSc in Environmental Sciences (Biological Sciences Concentration) gave her the knowledge and awareness to know why it is important where our products come from, and understand the implications of the products we choose to use. She is a woven wrap fanatic and because learning to nurse in a wrap was life changing for Erin, that is something she especially loves to help other moms with. She loves fitted and prefold diapers, and helping families to find nighttime cloth diapering solutions.
	Nicole is our Sunday staff, and enjoys the (normally) slower pace of the shift because it allows her to spend lots of one-on-one time with each family. Her favourite carriers, both to use and to sell, are the Moby D wrap, the Beco and the Babyhawk, and her family uses cloth diapers from Bummis and bumGenius. She is also a believer in amber teething necklaces, and is a certified Bravado bra fitter.  While Nicole says her favourite part of the job is talking to people about their children and helping families find solutions that work for them, she admits her real favourite part is the baby cuddling.
Jenny is our Saturday superstar and has a passion for babywearing and cloth diapering. Jenny appreciates the practical, economic and environmental reasons behind a lot of the products in our store, and has cloth diapered her three girls part-time and worn all of them in a variety of carriers. Jenny's real strength is explaining proper positioning in a carrier, which is why a piece she wrote on the forward-facing out position was featured on our blog in early 2011. Many of our customers specifically come in on Saturday just to see Jenny.
	Debi knows her stuff because she has tested out a wide variety of cloth diapers and carriers with her own children. She is partial to bumGenius 4.0s and the Beco carrier, but has a ton of background knowledge on washing cloth diapers, choosing a carrier, and proper positioning in a carrier. Debi is looking forward to once again cloth diapering and wearing a newborn in spring 2011!

Our Amazing Instructors:

Jen is our pre-eminent babywearing expert. If you have a question about babywearing, Jen can answer it. She has been teaching babywearing to other parents since 2004 and has been babywearing with her own children and others since 2002. She is fascinated by using simple pieces of cloth to wear babies; baby carriers from other cultures and other times (she has a very impressive collection that was featured at the 2010 International Babywearing Conference in Idaho!); and wraps. Jen says, "My favourite part of teaching babywearing would have to be the look on a parents face when we finally find the right carry and the right carrier.  When it just clicks and you can tell that they are comfortable, baby is comfortable, and it all comes together.  You know the whole idea of babywearing has just totally made sense, and I have been able to share my most favourite parenting tool with another parent.  My personal favourite part of babywearing is having a sleeping child on me and how warm and snuggly they get.  I can lean down and kiss their sweet little heads, or hear soft sleepy breathing over my shoulder."

Renee is a long-time customer who became a friend, then an employee, working for Babes in Arms as both a Babywearing 101 and Cloth Diapering 101 instructor. Renee first learned the ins and outs of babywearing from Jen (above) in spring 2008 at one of our first babywearing classes, and soon went on to help run Babywearing Calgary along with Jen. Renee loves woven wraps the best and says her specialty would have to be short wraps - "I spent 3 months traveling with only a 3m wrap, no stroller and no where safe/clean to put my baby down and managed to carry her comfortably the entire time with 2-shouldered and 1-shouldered front, back and hip carries.  If zombies were coming to get me and I only had time to grab one carrier, it would definitely be a short wrap!" Renee and her husband have also cloth diapered their two children full time and have tried many different types and brands except all-in-ones. They also fully cloth diapered for the three months they lived in Indonesia. Her favourite parts of teaching babywearing are helping parents learn a tool that will help them to carry on with their day-to-day tasks while keeping their baby close - and also meeting all the "squishy babies that come to classes."

These lovely photos were taken by Nikki of EpicDanger Photography in Okotoks, Alberta. We love Nikki and more of her photos can be seen on the walls of Babes in Arms. Babes in Arms members receive 10% off from EpicDanger Photography!