I can’t do it.  Just when I thought I’d developed a kind of wrapping invincibility, I find myself totally stumped by a simple challenge - breastfeeding in a wrap.  We’re out for a bushwalk and Meena is crouched over like a hunchback trying to reach my nipple; but I can’t get the wrap loose enough without running out of fabric.  I sigh and sit down on a nearby log to feed her. 

 

I feel like I’m back where I began, in a muddy forest, flummoxed by this stupid piece of cloth.  It’s a rainy day (rare in Adelaide) and I start to realise that wrapping presents a whole new challenge with wet, muddy ground underfoot.  Once Meena is on my back, she’s going to stay there!  Forget about changing carries - no way can I keep her dry and restrained while I redo the wrap.  No unwrapping for every wriggle, just to see if she needs to pee.  Sorry, kid, you’ll have to go in your nappy.  I throw her on my back again and we head off.  She’s as happy as ever, checking out the scenery and eventually tucking in her arms and starting to hum as she drifts off to sleep.  She wakes up as we arrive home.  I let the wrap slither to the ground and put her on the potty where she obligingly does her pee; then she wiggles down and toddles off to find something inappropriate to play with.  Why was I ever worried? 

 

 

I’ve just realised it’s the last day of my week as a wrapper and I still haven’t tried a hip carry.  I must have had a mental block caused by my slip-knot phobia.  Time to try it. 

 

My attempt at a CHCC takes a ludicrously long time to get right.  Matters are not helped by the fact that Emmy wants to be my wrappee so I am trying to wrap around her 17kg lanky body while she plays at being a ‘little baby’ and dangles limply.  I nearly fall about laughing trying to imagine this as a viable alternative to a ring sling.  I pull Emmy out and stuff Meena in… tighten, tighten, tighten… and it looks good!  My knot actually slips!  It’s incredibly comfortable; I saunter around the house admiring my wrapping and daydreaming about how my life will be transformed by the ability to go from back to hip carries with just one carrier.  It looks pretty cool too… well, apart from the long tail.  I really need another, shorter wrap… hey, what am I thinking??!!  This whole experiment was supposed to either prove I could get by comfortably with just one carrier, or convince me to sell the wrap and stick with the carriers I know and love.  I do NOT need more wraps…

 

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