History
Milwaukee Babywearing is a greater Milwaukee area group made up of diverse people who love babywearing. There are many great resources online, but there is nothing like being in the presence of babywearing caregivers to be able to learn from each other, make friends, and work together to build a community. We are also a resource for people who are new to babywearing and would like more information on its many benefits.
The original group, “Milwaukee Babywearers,” was founded in June of 2005 by Carrie Dallner. She started the group as a way to share information and help other people with babywearing. Carrie realized the impact babywearing has after the birth of her 2nd child. She began talking to others to see if there might be any interest in running a group, and heard about the now-defunct international babywearing organization, Nine In Nine Out. After a little research Carrie realized that there wasn’t a local chapter in Milwaukee and decided to start one. The first meeting was held in Carrie’s house and was attended by 3 people. Word quickly began to spread and the meetings outgrew Carrie’s house and were moved to the Bay View library and then to the birth center in Menomonee Falls.
Carrie’s children have now grown beyond the needs of babywearing and so she is no longer actively running meetings. The group now has some wonderful co-leader volunteers that help run the meetings and keep sharing their love and joy of babywearing.
In 2018, Milwaukee Babywearing was born. We adopted the vision and practices of the original Milwaukee Babywearers, but now we also are able to rent baby carriers from our vast Lending Library. We host several in-person Fit-check Carrier Clinics and Lending Library meet-ups monthly, as well as social get-togethers. [Upcoming Events] We also have a vibrant local Facebook babywearing community, and fun off-topics Facebook discussion group. Since Carrie founded the group, we have helped hundreds of caregivers/parents learn about the use of different baby carriers and how useful babywearing can be.