… and our friends at Magic City Slingers have found a great video tutorial on how to do it. Two great things about the video are that it shows how to twist the tails of the FWCC to make a cooler carry (this would work really well with a summer newborn) and making a headrest out of a burp cloth.

If you’ve got a newborn or know someone who has, check this video out!

What are your best newborn wrapping tips? Leave a comment and let us know!

I posted a few weeks ago about our short trip to hospital this month and thought you could all use an update. Firstly, the procedure went well and our results were what we were hoping for. Baby girl is on a specific diet and all her symptoms are clearing up. Turns out, babywearing wasn’t the cure for her insanely high needs, but it did help! (OK, so she’s still very intense, but she’s much better now :))

We had some positive and negative experiences at the hospital while babywearing and this information is probably useful, so here’s our experience: I decided to take a short wrap and a pair of slingrings with me for our day trip. I’m very proficient with short wraps, but I do like to breastfeed hands free in a ring sling, so I thought this would cover me well for back, front, hip and breastfeeding carries.

Actually, instead of my streamlined approach, I wish I’d gone a little overboard and brought another carrier. Since A. needed to go under a general anaesthetic for her procedure, she was fasting for an extended period. A fasting baby smooshed up against lactating breasts isn’t conducive to calm behaviour! My intention here was to ruck (under bum or tie in front), but unfortunately, this isn’t the best back carry for a vigorously protesting child (read: tantrum). Short wraps do have some pretty wiggle-proof options like the strap carry and the short cross carry, however the former isn’t great for snuggling and sleeping, while the latter isn’t so quick to tie on a resistant child. What I really wanted was a wrap long enough to SHBC (or a mei tai!). In the end, I had to make do with front and hip carries to avoid a babywearing accident in a back carry and that wasn’t conducive to settling her quickly.

I also found that my no-sew ring sling idea wasn’t the best option under the circumstances. I spent a great deal of time popping my wearee in and out and these kinds of ring slings have a tendency to twist easily. They’re fine once you’ve got them settled, but take longer than a standard ring sling.

Once I got it settled, I found a ring sling (albeit a no-sew variety) was great for settling a child coming out of her anaesthetic. Wrapped up by the nursing staff like a baby burrito, she was popped into a cradle carry and the requisite monitor was easily accomodated. She slept off the drugs, woke up and demanded milk. After that, she woke up some more and demanded food. From that point, it was obvious she was back to her old self in record time.

Although babywearing was ultimately a very positive part of our hospital experience (and well regarded by the staff), I would do things differently next time. I’d accept from the outset that some carriers do different things better than others and that, even though we were only in hospital for a very short time, it wouldn’t have killed me to have another carrier on the day. Or two. Three at the outside

Have you worn your child in hospital? What was your experience? Leave a comment and let us know!

You need to learn how to do a rebozo carry and then all sorts of items suddenly become baby carriers! Scarves, shawls,  sheets, tablecloths- the possibilities are endless.

An awesome, detailed tutorial on the rebozo and slip knot is here. Nat has put it together for you all and it’s definitely worth a look! Even if you’ve been short wrap challenged up until now, this is the tutorial that will make it for you. If Nat can teach me to rebozo carry, then she can teach anyone

Are you a fan of the rebozo? Leave a comment and let us know!

Welcome to the WOE Ruck (Wrap Once Every Day). Here are Jess’ tips, tricks and internet picks. As always, you can join in the chatter, get some help or admire the wraps, wrappers and wrappees here.

Instructions:

• Picture tute here.
• Video tutes here and here.
• Paulus video tute showing sandwiching of the shoulders here.

Tips and Tricks:

• When wrapping a small baby, align the top of their shoulders to the top rail of the wrap
• Tuck the bottom rail under the child’s butt to make a “pouch” for them to sit into, if possible try to get that fabric up under their needs
• I find it easier to cross the straps at the back together at the same time in one fluid motion
• Focus less on the bottom rail and more on the top - but don’t obsess, it will not be perfect the first few times!
• Don’t forget that final “hop” at the end before you tie in front to get rid of the slack and make it a nice firm carry.
• For smaller bubs who are still “froggied” you can just keep their feet in ala SHBC and wrap over them by first creating a small pocket for the feet by folding up the bottom rail.

Paulus’ tips for a consistently comfortable shoulder  (see Paulus’ video linked above):

• Basically you focus on one shoulder at a time (put the other tail between your legs), get that top rail (one closest to your neck) taut by tucking it under your chin (or use your teeth ;)), and then flip/fold the bottom/outer rail in half from your arm up to the top rail near your neck.
• If you find it still too wide on your shoulder, do another outer to inner fold (so you essentially fold it into quarter length - or four neatly folded layers of wrap on your shoulder).
• An optional step after this is to do a outer-to-inner twist of the tail down  near your armpit to ‘lock’ the shoulder folds.
• Then take the tail back around to the other side as normal, tuck under legs, and repeat with the other shoulder.

Thanks to Jess (and Paulus) for introducing one of my favourite carries for newborns through to preschoolers! Do you use the ruck or are you “ruck challenged”? What helped the ruck “click” for you? Leave a comment and let us know!

Welcome to the WOE Challenge, BWCC (that’s Wrap Once Every Day, and Back Wrap Cross Carry for those not in the know!). Here are Jess and Paulus’ tips, tricks and internet picks! As always, you can join in the chatter, get some help or admire the wraps, wrappers and wrappees here.

Video & Instructions:

• Video here
• Tutorial here
• Instructions to do the carry with ruck straps here
• Instructions to do the carry with chest belt here. (If you have a shoulder injury or mobility issues, this may be your best option.)

Tips and tricks:

• If in doubt, try it first with the chest belt as it helps “pin” babe on your back while you wrap
• If wrapping with a small baby - make sure your babe is not gassy as, although it can be warming in Winter, you really don’t want bebe vomming all down your back

For those doing the BWCC (or any carry that requires you to spread wrap behind baby’s back):

• Don’t toss the wrap onto your back and try to figure out how to spread it out then. You’ll most likely end up confusing yourself on which rail goes where.
• It’s much easier to handle the top rail ONLY and (if you’re handling the RIGHT tail going over the right shoulder using your right arm):
  (a) Pass the top rail from your right hand in front, over your shoulder (and over your baby’s shoulder - this will prevent the leaning back issue), onto your left hand behind you.
  (b) At this point your left hand is holding the top rail behind your back, and you can use your right hand to grab the bottom rail behind you and help spread out the wrap behind baby’s back. Think diagonal when spreading out behind baby’s back - you want the top rail to go from bub’s right shoulder across to her left side, and the bottom rail to go from the top of your right arm down to under your bub’s left leg.
  (c) After a good spread is achieved, pass the bottom rail to your left hand (still behind you, and now holding the entire tail in a bunch) and tuck the tail under bub’s left leg, bring around to your front, and tuck tail under your legs.
  (d) Repeat with the left tail. 
•  If you look carefully at the first BWCC video above,  the wrapper basically did the same steps I described above but faster. I also find these photo tutes helpful to illustrate these steps: Tute One, Tute Two. These are all in our Wrap Instructions Links page.

Thanks to Jess and Paulus for a fantastic intro to the BWCC. Do you BWCC? Do you like it? Which variation is your favourite? Leave a comment and let us know!

Welcome to the WOE FWCC (Wrap Once Every Day, Front Wrap Cross Carry, for those who don’t think in acronyms ). Here are Jess’ tips, tricks and internet picks. As always, you can join in the chatter, get some help or admire the wraps, wrappers and wrappees here.

Need to learn?

Picture tutorial here (better for slower download speeds).
Video here.

Tips and Tricks:

• One trick to work out if bub is placed to low/high on your chest is to position them so that when you tip your head forward, you’re able to kiss the top of their head
• To remove any extra slack in the wrap, I find that giving a bit of a “bounce” when pulling on the top rails helps to achieve this.
• I often find that a guaranteed way to make babe sleep in this carry is to cover their head with one layer of wrap, to cut off external stimulation. Out of sight, out of mind. Then, we do the bounce-tap

Thanks to Jess for a brilliant introduction to the FWCC. What’s your best tip for FWCC? How do you like the carry? Leave a comment and let us know!