Today is Hyperemesis Gravidarum, and here is one of our volunteers experience… I am blessed to have 3 gorgeous children, but I was really sick with all three of my pregnancies, each worse than the last. The first, I was sick, so very sick, but still able to go to work. I would get in, throw my car keys at my husband and run to throw up, have a glass of water and go to bed. At 13 weeks booking with midwife, I mentioned I had lost a stone in weight. He replied “yes, some women are a bit a sick!” My subsequent 2 pregnancies the symptoms were much worse. I passed out at a work function of my husba ..read more

You might have seen the sign in our Arch, or in an automated email reply or Facebook messenger response talking about how Parenting North East is volunteer led, but not really grasped what that means. In simple terms, no-one is paid for the day to day work of running Parenting North East. We all give our time willingly and joyfully to try make your parenting journey that little bit easier. Some of our volunteers volunteer and hour or 2 a month running a community session, some give up a day a week to help us keep the Arch open for you to come visit, others work nearly full time managing the f ..read more

When we founded Parenting North East in 2015, growing the Slings North of Tyne Sling Library into something else, we had a vision. Our vision was an organisation that helped new parents navigate the over-whelming learning curve that is adapting to life with a baby, to give them the gift of caring for their infant, bonding with them and helping themselves. We wanted to be more than just a sling library. A year ago we took an important step on the road to offering more. We moved into the railway arches. This gave a us a permanent base, a home where we could welcome new parents during the week, a ..read more

  Here in the Parenting North East Store there’s one thing that we never run out of, and that’s coffee! Join us in our Newcastle City Centre store for a listening ear, we’re open 10am to 2pm weekdays, term time. Check out our Facebook page for more information. But we are particular about our coffee too! so we only brew coffee from ethical coffee brand Indigo Valley. We tend to buy in The Coffee of Angles which is grown by an all women workers cooperative in Peru. It seems appropriate for our organisation and its YUMMY! This means that every day we produce at least 100g of used coffee grounds ..read more

following feedback from service users we’ve added more landmarks to our map, as well as parking information. Thank you for all your support and remember we’re open 10-2 Mon-Thurs  you don’t need an appointment, Fridays are appointment only! We prefer to keep the spaces out front for parents with very small babies or children with additional needs, or loading and unloading slings for our community sessions, so it may be beneficial for you to contact us ahead of time if you think you’ll need one of those spaces ..read more

Our volunteers work hard at trying to make support and slings available to as many people as possible, that’s why as well as our weekday shop openings we go out into the community at slingmeets. Lately we’ve been asking how we can overcome other barriers to support. After much thought (and shuffling of our volunteers schedules) we’re pretty chuffed to announce two big new things at Parenting North East.             1) late night opening, every week on a tuesday our HQ will be open later so those who work the 9-5 can return and borrow slings, browse and get advice and information on slings for ..read more

Aggie Maxwell, Director of Parenting North East, and owner of Grow Up Green A typical day starts with either getting the youngest of my three kids to school, or walking my oversized cocker spaniel – my husband and I take it in turns who does what. I tend to get to the Parenting North East arch between 9.30 and 10am ready to start the day. The most important job of the day is to get the coffee brewing, it sets us up for the morning and means we are ready to welcome parents when they arrive for help. One of the things I love about what I do is that no two days are the same, but a typical day mi ..read more

You guys already know lauren right? She’s a good sport who’ll try anything once, so we’re making her do just that and tell us what she thinks. wanna see Lauren Pod for the first time? Pods are flipping amazing Upsides:Positives’ quick to put on, folds small, super comfy and she feels utterly weightless. Downsides:Negatives, straps can be a tad diggy due to the width. Conclusion: Overall I love them. They have the flexibility of a wrap but way quicker. Love the headrest too. She falls asleep almost instantly in it so it’s really handy         You can hire and buy this and other tie on slings ..read more

Can we take this moment to give a big shout and a THANK YOU to all of you who support our work? Without you, we couldn’t: Train consultants – our consultants hold a level three qualification in Babywearing, which trains them in antenatal, postnatal and neonatal physiology, the mechanics of carrying, and the intricacies of all the different kinds of slings on the market. It costs upwards of £400 to train a consultant. Train our lovely volunteer peer supporters. Our peer supporters hold level 2 qualifications in Babywearing, covering listening skills, carrying positions and types of sling. It co ..read more

Do you guys know Chris? Chris is an interesting volunteer, he doesn’t get to choose something, he wears whatever I carry Sunny home from HQ in, it leads to some interesting revelations. We’ve been using one of the sling libraries sleepy nico carriers, mostly because it was in the wash pile and I was running late for the school run, these are Chris thoughts: I usually like using buckles and meitei’s as I find straps much easier to work with and tighten. Some are difficult to get comfortable if the straps have too much padding or if the buckles are situated in a way that causes them to dig in to ..read more