With Summer peaking around the corner, a lot of us like to start using shorter wraps–less fabric wrapped around you is bound to be cooler for parent AND baby!  So I thought this was timely.  I made this video this winter, however, at the Grand Canyon.  Because if you find yourself about to wrap up your baby at the Grand Canyon, you might as well have your husband pull out the video camera, right?

Give this Short Double Hammock Carry a try, and let me know how you like it!

I’ve always used 100% cotton wraps.  There is a lot of variety available in 100% cotton.  But other textiles are popular, and I’m branching out now to find out why:

Bamboo is popular in wraps primarily because of how soft and airy it is.  It has a light, silky feel and a lovely sheen but is very strong and durable enough to machine wash (a big perk for parents).  What’s more, parents or children with sensitive skin–or those prone to allergies– may find that bamboo’s hypoallergenic and anti-fungal properties and natural UV protection make it the most comfortable carry around. To cap it off, its antibacterial properties make it naturally odor resistant.

Linen, as a fabric, feels fresh and smooth to the touch. In a wrap, the lightweight, breathable fabric is known for cooler wrapping and is often recommended as a Summer wrap for this reason.  Because it wicks moisture away, it keeps you and your baby feeling cool and dry.  Linen is not very elastic, and perhaps that is why it is popular with parents wrapping heavier babies or bigger kids: as they have less bounce, or give, linen wraps are very sturdy and hold a rock solid wrap job without having to worry about sagging.  Linen is also very durable and can be machine washed.

Silk has a beautifully luxurious sheen, and a lovely drape, making for some very classy baby wraps.  It is very flexible, molding around you and your baby like a glove, and provides a supportive carry that is also soft and comfortable.

There are countless ways to tie your wrap, but even one basic tying method, such as the Front Cross Carry, can be used to carry your baby in an upright tummy-to-tummy carry, a semi-reclined or sideways carry, a high and safe cradle carry, a low nursing carry, a high-shoulder/burp hold carry, or even a facing-forward carry for short periods (though I recommend against the forward-facing position).

Front Cross Carry - Newborn Burp Hold

To become an expert, pick one carry that works for you.  Learn to tie it, to insert your baby, and then learn to snug and tighten every part of the wrap so that it holds your baby just where you want him or her.  Each time you do it, you will become better and faster.  The wrap will become like an extension of your own body, another set of arms to cradle the one you love.

But if you don’t pull the slack out of the wrap, it won’t do the job perfectly.  Your baby will start to feel heavy and you won’t wear him or her for long.  Or you won’t be able to nurse hands-free, because you need to use your arms to keep baby high enough to stay latched. Or you’ll use one hand to support baby’s head.  Or baby will complain because the carry is too loose.

Don’t fret.  You’re learning.  Next time, pay more attention to snugging and tightening every part of the wrap and it will be better.  And you do it every day, and in no time, you’ve got it down and can do it without pausing in conversation.

How to snug and tighten properly?

When you put the wrap on, make sure you are not twisting it anywhere.  This is easiest accomplished by holding onto only the top edge as you bring the wrap around your back.  Gravity will hold the bottom edge down for you, and you have no chance of getting it twisted where you can’t see.

Holding only the top edge of the wrap as I bring it around my back keeps it from twisting.

Because your wrap is not twisted, you can see where there is slack–perhaps at the top, near baby’s head–and you can tighten along that very strand of the wrap at the end of the wrap before you tie.

If your wrap is striped, or has a color gradation, you can use the colors to help know which part of the wrap to tighten.

Remember that the bottom edge of the wrap should be holding up your baby’s knees higher than baby’s bottom.  Pull any slack through so that the wrap is smooth and tight under the knees and around baby’s bottom and back.

Some of the ladies on the Facebook page knew what to do when one member of our community had this problem and I wanted to preserve the answer for others who need it in future:
“You just use a machine to straight stitch long zig zags (like 3 inches long back and forth), then repeat the same thing in a perpendicular pattern.”

After that, just keep an eye on it to make sure your fix has solved the problem and . . . Happy Babywearing!

Why such discrepancy?  It’s because you have to know how to get a real good seat in a Rucksack, or it just won’t fly.  So if that comes easily, or you figure it out early, Rucksack is easy.  And if it took you two years to finally have it click, well after that it’s easy, too.  I’m hoping this video showing my method for a deep seat will help be that moment that makes it click so that the Rucksack is easy for you.

Rucksack is such a wonderful tool to have in your toolbox! When you do know how to do it, it’s the fastest thing in the world.  I invariably do a Rucksack when the cashier at the grocery store asks me how I got my kid back there by myself.  “Wanna see?” I offer, and I take my child down from whatever back carry he had been in, and toss him up in a quick, easy, secure, and always impressive Rucksack.  Makes babywearing look easy, which it should.

And while my video isn’t about this, I should note that it is also important in a rucksack to pull the top edge of the wrap good and tight so that your little one cannot lean back away from you.  There should not be space between his tummy and your back.

So, tell me, did I do it?  Does this help?

This shows a Double Hammock Carry but my technique is the same with any back carry: Get hold of baby’s hand and pull baby’s arm up over my shoulder; pull the inner/top edge of the wrap (nearest my neck) down and around baby’s arm and shoulder, then up and back onto my shoulder, letting his arm sink down into the wrap.

If your baby is laying his head against your neck or back as in this video, you don’t need the wrap to hold him or her against you.  Sometimes just tucking in the arms pulls baby close enough against you to lean comfortably on you.  If you do pull the edge of the wrap over the back of your baby’s head to support it, make sure that baby’s face is clear.  Baby will usually lay one side of his face against you, and you pull up whichever side will go over the back of his head, leaving the face clear.  Sometimes pulling the wrap up across the baby’s neck will provide support enough to keep his head from hanging.

It should be noted that he stayed asleep throughout (though he doesn’t always) and the squawking you can hear is from his two year old sister who was impatient with daddy for standing still while she was wrapped on him.

Which is your favorite?

Different people have different experiences.  Some find the EllaRoo not as comfy with a heavier kid as thicker German-Style Woven Wraps.  Others happily use their EllaRoos exclusively through toddlerhood.

A recent conversation on the Facebook page addressed the question with a variety of answers.  I loved Jennifer’s point that a thinner wrap does better in layered carries (like a front wrap cross carry or double hammock back carry) than in a simple Kangaroo or Rucksack.   Check out the conversation!

Here’s a quick explanation with photographs.

A wraparound carrier should be used to hold baby with the optimum leg positioning as shown in the link.  This is best achieved when baby is facing your body, with a wide seat underneath the baby’s bottom and thighs.  If you have a carrier that does not allow for this, chuck it! There are lots of better options.

Start with a front carry and move on to back carries once you have a good feel for using your baby wrap.

To keep the fabric from getting twisted when you pull it across your back, grasp only the upper edge of it so that you know gravity will keep it straight for you.

When pulling to tighten the wrap, look to see if a particular strand of the wrap is loose–say the top, around baby’s shoulders– and pull on the corresponding section of the end you are tightening, in this case, the upper portion of the wrap. If you kept it untwisted, you can in this way tighten precisely where needed and you’ll find that this helps keep baby from sinking down in the wrap, helps provide sturdy head support, and keeps baby solidly in an optimum–and comfortable–position.

Wrap your baby high up on your chest. Baby’s bottom should be no lower than your belly button and baby’s head should be close enough to kiss.

Keep baby’s knees raised higher than his bottom whether his legs are tucked into the wrap in a newborn-froggy position, or whether legs are wrapped outside the fabric. This will ensure a good seat in the wrap and proper support of baby’s spine. This means that the bottom edge–or rail–of the wrap will get pulled a little tighter, pulling baby’s knees up and holding them against your torso, while the wrap spread across baby’s bottom will obviously have farther to go, though the wrap should be uniformly taut across all of baby’s body, fitting like a bandage around a wrist.

Each layer of wrap around your baby should be pulled snug before the next layer goes across. Any slack in the wrap means that in a few minutes baby will have sunk down or changed position.

Finally, don’t fret! Practice makes perfect and stressing over it will NOT make it easier. Each time you wrap, you’ll learn more about it, so no attempt is wasted. Try again, later!