Do you want to book an appointment for training, a trial, or both?

We’ll be very happy to meet you in person! You can book an appointment and come to try on Asterakia or to get answers about the Asteraki you already have. (Note: If you’re not in Athens, this meeting could take place via video call. Get in touch with us to arrange it.)
But first, take the following points into account. They will help make this meeting a truly pleasant and fruitful experience for you!

Free appointments for training or a trial take place Monday to Friday, from 10:00 to 14:00.
At this time, appointments are not held at weekends.

If you are pregnant, you’ll be able to try on carriers using our special model-dolls (which have the right weight, natural flexibility and require head support, just like a newborn baby).

If your baby has already arrived, do bring them along! The appointment will be just for you and your baby; there won’t be another baby on site. Your partner is of course welcome, whether they intend to wear the baby or not!

Appointments should never last more than 45 minutes. There will be a lot of information for you to take in during this meeting. After 45 minutes, your mind stops absorbing new details. Both you and your baby will get tired. It’s better to book a second appointment on another day than to get confused by too much information in one appointment. Not to mention that standing with the baby for longer than that will tire you out!
The time you’ll need depends on many factors: on the type of carrier you want to try on, on whether you’re pregnant or have your baby with you, on whether your partner also wants to try one on, etc. Quite often, 20-30 minutes are enough. But an appointment will rarely last less than 20 minutes.

We understand very well that when you have a baby, you may run into all sorts of unforeseen factors. Keep in mind, however, that another appointment may follow yours, and in the end you might not have the time you need. Look at it like going to an appointment with the paediatrician, where you need to be on time – and you won’t have to wait in the waiting room!
If for some reason you need to cancel your appointment, let us know as early as you can, so that we can give the slot to someone else who is trying to book an appointment.

The meeting will help you much more if you’ve done a little research of your own beforehand. Download the app and take the little quiz to see which carriers suit you. Watch the videos of parents wearing them so you get an initial idea. You can see prices for the carriers you’re interested in, which carriers offer the positions you want, and which are suitable for your baby’s current age/weight.
If you’re breastfeeding and want us to try a breastfeeding position, wear the clothes you would normally wear to nurse.

Think in advance about the goal you’ve set for your appointment, so that afterwards you can assess whether it was met. Here are some examples of appointments with realistic goals:
– I don’t know which carrier will suit me. I want to try 3-4 types just to get a feel for how they sit on me and how I feel wearing each one (not to learn how to use all 4!)
– I want to learn to wear one type of carrier well, in one or two basic positions.
– I already have an Asteraki and I want us to look together at how I’m wearing it, get my questions answered and/or learn more positions.
– I can’t decide between two types. I want to try both and compare. I want to learn the basics of one of them.
– I have questions about the baby’s positioning or safety and I want to discuss them.

In any case, it’s not a realistic goal to want to become an expert in 4 types of carrier in one appointment. Besides, you can’t become an expert from the training you’ll get here, because the real practice is the one you’ll be doing anyway, every day, with your baby!

Appointments are offered free of charge for the Asterakia. It is our pleasure to answer every question you may have, but it is also our obligation to make sure that when you have your Asteraki in your hands you can use it comfortably and safely.
Training with individual appointments is not intended for slings that are not Asterakia. However similar they may seem, experience proves every time that they are not. After 18 years of experience, one thing we are now absolutely sure of is that small details play a huge role, not only in comfort and ease of adjustment but also in the way you handle it.
If you have a sling from another manufacturer and need help, you could come to one of our babywearing meetings, which are open, free and independent of brand/type/manufacturer. You can keep an eye on the site for the schedule of the next meeting here.

If you only want to come to see (and touch) the fabrics in person, or to pick up/buy an Asteraki, you probably don’t need an appointment with Stella. You can come at other times too, by arrangement, and the Asteraki Slings team will assist you just as well. The reason you book an appointment for training and/or a trial is to see a trained, professional Babywearing Consultant with a great deal of experience.

If you want to buy an Asteraki as a gift, there’s no point in doing the training with you. You won’t be able to correctly pass on every rule and instruction. If the person who will receive it as a gift can’t come here, they’ll get more out of watching a video, or scheduling an appointment via skype.

Remember: it’s one thing to learn to wear your own baby and another to be able to show someone else how to wear their baby. That is precisely why the training is done only by Stella, even though the Asteraki Slings team are also experienced in babywearing.

Some days it’s very easy to find a free appointment. Other days they get booked up quite early. Note that the e-shop is open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.