About Me

Becky and Finn

My name is Becky Derham, and I am the owner of Mama Natura and a qualified babywearing consultant. I live in Tufnell Park, north London with my partner Michael and our beautiful son Finn, born in September 2009.

Michael and I decided before Finn was born that we wanted to carry him in a sling, and read reviews on various parenting sites but hadn’t settled on which one to get by the time he was born. On a shopping trip to a central London department store when he was 4 days old, I picked out a sling and hoped for the best! Michael got on much better with it than I did, and Finn spent many of his early months in the carefully researched pram kindly bought for us by my parents.

The turning point was when I went on the ‘New Baby and Me’ postnatal course at the Active Birth Centre in Archway, facilitated by the wonderful Lynn Murphy who is well known in north London for her work with expectant mothers and babies. One week on the course she showed us all how to use a stretchy wrap, and I immediately went home, got on the internet and ordered one.

All three of us loved it! The freedom of being able to go anywhere and do anything without having to lug a massive pram onto the tube, or wait for a bus with a free buggy space was amazingly liberating.  Finn enjoyed being close to us and would happily nap in the sling, or just quietly take in everything that was going on around him at the same level as us adults. I enjoyed having my hands free and being able to get on with a few more things both in and out of the house, knowing that Finn was content.

From there on it was a slippery slope! I discovered Sling Meets, and then the Natural Mamas forum. I tried out more slings, bought a few, sold a few, and learnt how to use a woven wrap. Babywearing became a part of mine and Michael’s everyday life and the buggy was consigned to the garage. When the Mama Natura shop came up for sale in Autumn 2010 I jumped at the chance, and took over in November of that year. The shop has gone from strength to strength, and one of the best part of the job is matching parents up to a sling or carrier, and getting an e-mail from them a few weeks later to tell me how much they love it.

In March 2011 I was lucky enough to get a place on the first ever Trageschule UK (part of Die Trageschule Dresden network) Foundation course to qualify as a babywearing consultant. In August 2011 I completed the Advanced course and in November 2011 the Certification course, and am now one of only a handful babywearing consultants in the UK to hold this qualification. Babywearing is an art and a skill which I practice almost every day with a live, wriggly and sometimes uncooperative subject! I have personal experience of using every type of sling and every carry that I teach as a consultant. I am also a member of BABI (British Association of Babywearing Instructors), which means that I am adequately insured for professional liability, have completed an accredited training course and comply with their code of conduct.

I feel very fortunate to have discovered babywearing with Finn, and truly believe that it has helped him become the inquisitive, confident and independent toddler he is today, and I look forward to sharing this skill and gift with parents throughout London.