Click here to find YOUR base size wrap. Then you can go 2 or 3 sizes smaller to do the 3 back carries I show you on this page.
Short Back Carries with a Woven Wrap
Reinforced Rear Rucksack, Half Jordan’s Back Carry, and Double Sling are all very similar carries that can be done with a very short wrap (size 3 for many moms). All three carries have rucksack straps, two passes over baby, and tie at the shoulder with no waist belt or crosses in front. For this reason these carries are:
- a cool option for hot weather
- flattering (avoiding the muffin-top effect of a waist tie)
- fast to accomplish
Because they can be done with a much shorter wrap, the wrap is:
- less likely to drag on the ground when you wrap up
- easier to fit in a diaper bag
What’s the difference between DS, HJBC and RRR?
When you get to know some wrap carries you start to recognize the same passes are used in different combinations to make different carries and offer different support and weight distribution. Some of the most common passes are Cross Pass, Traditional Sling Pass, Horizontal Pass and Rucksack Pass.
Reinforced Rear Rucksack (RRR) uses a Rucksack Pass followed by a Horizontal Pass (or Torso Pass).
Half Jordan’s Back Carry (HJBC) uses a Traditional Sling Pass followed by a Cross Pass.
Double Sling (DS) uses two Traditional Sling Passes:
In this video I’ll show you all 3 short back carries in one go:
Short Back Carries: Double Sling (DS)
Double Sling is so named because there are two Traditional Sling Passes over your baby. A well done Sling Pass is great for holding your baby very close and preventing any possibility of leaning back so your carry will stay comfortable for the duration. With Double Sling, there are no passes going between your little one’s legs so it’s important to pull the bottom fabric of each pass down to form a wide seat under your baby and pull any slack up to baby’s knees and tighten the rail (edge) along the knees well to hold them higher than baby’s bottom. View the full photo tutorial for Double Sling Carry here.
This is a very fast, very secure carry and is one of my favorites:
Short Back Carries: Half Jordan’s Back Carry (HJBC)
A full Jordan’s Back Carry is composed of three passes: rebozo pass, cross pass, horizontal pass. The shorter variation known as Half JBC has just two passes: sling pass and cross pass.
Because a Traditional Sling Pass is great for keeping babies and kids from leaning back, and a Cross Pass is perfect for keeping a good seat under baby if yours likes to try to straighten his or her legs and pop the seat, HJBC is a very effective wiggle-proof carry.
Half Jordan’s Back Carry is exactly like Double Sling Back Carry, but the second pass coming over your shoulder goes between baby’s legs, spreading wide from knee to knee, and then around your side to tie in front. If you have any trouble making or keeping a good seat with Double Sling, try HJBC instead.
Double Sling and Half JBC both involve a shoulder flip, meaning the fabric coming under one arm, flips up over the shoulder to the back again to form a rucksack strap. Some people find shoulder flips tricky, so you can also do Half JBC slightly differently. Instead of having the long end under your arm, you have the long end over your shoulder, bring it straight down and under the same arm to form the rucksack strap, then bring it up between baby’s legs and spread upward to the opposite shoulder. Here’s Babywearing Faith showing how to do this variation of the Half JBC:
Short Back Carries: Reinforced Rear Rucksack (Pirate Carry)
Reinforced Rear Rucksack is often called ‘the Pirate Carry’ because the abbreviation (RRR) could be read like the caricature of a pirate’s growl, “Aaaarggh!”
RRR uses a Rucksack Pass followed by a Horizontal (Torso) Pass.
The Rucksack Pass, when done well with a properly tightened top rail (edge) will prevent your little one from being able to lean back in the carry. The Horizontal Pass adds an extra layer for support.
NOTE: Reinforced Rear Rucksack (RRR) was previously called Reinforced Rear Rebozo Rucksack (RRRR) and is also popularly known as the Pirate Carry. Why the Pirate Carry? Because RRR = “Aaarghhh (Matey)!”
NOTE: Double Sling (DS) or Double Sling Back Carry was formerly called Double Rebozo (DR).
NOTE: Short Back Cross Carry (SBCC) could also be included in this list, using two cross passes. Because two cross passes alone may not be safe for all babies or children, I am leaving this one out of my instructions.
