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First, I am almost the steriotypical gun owner (50 something guy carrying to much weight on top of my belt) and carry a 5 inch Kimber 1911 in a comptac ctac iwb at 4:30 exclusively so I have no actual experience. I am endlessly curious and always reading and questioning how other people solve problems as I may actually find something I would like to try.

Why I suggested the two carry systems I did:

First you made clear that you, as a mom, frequently carry a baby/toddler on one hip therefore you needed a system that 1. Secured the gun from the child and 2: was accessable to the hand on the same side of body (no crossdraw).

Second your description and picture shows you to be relatively trim and athletic in build and prefer casual clothing including a belt and an overshirt.

Therefore a belt holster or a shoulder rig should do the job.

On the belt, I believe that an IWB, which draws the gun close to the body, would be better suited. Since you said you prefer low rise pants, a shorter barrel gun would be easier to conceal. There have already been several posts about various IWB and SOB (Small Of Back) holsters and I really can't add much info there. However, I listened to an episode of Gun Nuts Radio where Julie Golob was interviewed shortly after she resumed competitive shooting after taking time off to have a baby and remember her saying that her most common daily carry was a S&W 38 snub (a 642) in an Appendix Inside the Waistband holster because it was easily concealed, she carried it on the opposite side from the baby (like most women she uses her hip) and yet very accessable and I get eMail alerts from Comp-Tac and remembered their annoucement of the neutral cant AIWB. I experimented with this style of carry and found that it only worked for me with basically sub-compact or compact guns with shorter barrels and slim grips (I actually really liked the Ruger SR9c) because of my belt overhang in the front. However I was able to effectively conceal the smaller guns without changing my normal cover shirt and it was amazingly fast to draw.

On the shoulder holster, I got the idea based upon a post from Michael Bane about his trip to the Wild Bill museum in deadwood where he talks about a holster they have that is supposed to be one of Willd Bill's own. The Calvery Draw was used quite commonly because it carried the gun up high so it wouldn't snag on brush and did not require crossing the body and therefore avoided the reins and horse's head while presenting the gun. I took my son's dual CZ85 shoulder rig to the range and found I could draw either gun faster using calvery draw. And drawing both at same time was a LOT faster.

If you search gun forums(including this one) you will find lot's of people who swear both AIWB and Calvary Draw are very dangerous and only a fool would use them but I don't agree. Both techniques require proper equipment and practice but are not inheirantly any more dangerous than the standard strong side OWB Hip Holster.

I would like to suggest you consider an Appendix Inside the WaistBand holster. CorneredCat discusses using a crossdraw holster as such but Comp-Tac sells the Minotaur Neutral Cant specifically to use as an AIWB and there are others on the market. Julie Golob , a top ranked shooter and captain of Team Smith and Wesson, had a baby recently and claims that for her, carrying a S&W j frame with such a holster is the most practical when carrying baby and diaper bag as well as the easiest/fastest to access.

As for shoulder holsters, Mernickle makes great ones but they cost.

The problem of certain female shapes making shoulder holsters problematic can be addressed with a vertical oriented holster and using a Calvary Draw instead of a Cross Body draw. Early gunslingers like Will Bill Hickock who were horse riders often carried in holsters set very high, basically where a modern shoulder holster is, and gun butt forward. The draw is using the hand on the same side of body as gun and presentation includes a twist of the wrist to bring muzzle to bear on target. I sure someone will immediately comment on how DANGEROUS the calvary draw is and DON'T EVEN CONSIDER IT. In actual usage, with a moderate amount of practice, it is no more dangerous than any other draw stroke and in fact quite fast.