Are you intrigued by baby wraps, but don’t know where to start? Do you want to try it but can’t get over your niggling worries? Do you look at the lengths of fabric and think “well it’s beautiful but I’d only get in a hideous tangle”, “I couldn’t possibly do that”!?
I have a confession – I was scared of wraps. I was scared of the term ‘babywearing’. Instead of a wrap my husband and I initially bought a carrier that wasn’t well suited to a newborn, and I could never get it to fit or feel comfortable.
“It’s just a length of fabric, and it’s so long”, “Won’t all that material trail in the dirt?”,”I can’t do things like that, it looks tricky”, “I’m no good at knots”,“I won’t be able to get it tight enough”, “How can a wrap be as secure as a buckle carrier?” – These are concerns that pretty much every ‘wrapper’ has had before they start. You are not alone.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking at a stretchy wrap like a Boba Wrap, Je Porte Mon Bebe, Ama Wrap, Hana Wrap – or a woven wrap with makes such as Neobulle, Didymos, Storchenwiege, Colimacon & Cei, Fidella, Little Frog, Girasol, Kokadi, Oscha, Firespiral, Ali Dover, Artipoppe, or what your budget is, the first few times you try wrapping you are going to be on a steep learning curve, and you’ll be worried about getting it wrong.
Why use a wrap?
What you gain from learning to wrap, can be life-changing. Possibly an overstatement, there are alternatives, and the whole ‘having a child thing’ was the biggest lifechanger yet, right – BUT… A wrap can be the best fitting baby carrier for you and your baby, every time. A woven wrap will be the only carrier your baby won’t grow out of – until they stop wanting to be carried that is. It can be the comfiest carrier, and the one you can actually keep on for hours and hours without feeling the strain. One wrap can be used on your front, back and hip. It can even be used for wrapping twins. Together. In the same wrap. The same wrap can be used for snuggly sleepy cuddles with your squishy newborn, then later on be used to piggy-back a grumpy tired toddler home. It can fold up into your day-bag, it can be a blanket, it can be an attractive scarf (kind of!).
When you start to wrap your child in public, people will stop what they are doing and watch in awe. You may feel like they are just waiting for you to drop your child, but honestly, it is a beautiful thing to watch, and a beautiful thing to be able to master.
So let’s look at how to get over your initial fears and worries –
“It’s just a length of fabric, and it’s so long!”
Yes it’s long. Stretchy wraps are normally somewhere around 4.5 – 5 metres, woven wraps tend to be in standard sizes, and a good length to start with is a size 6 or around 4.7 metres. The length of it means you put several layers or passes around to support your baby, and it is nice and secure.
It helps to start in a room with space around you, with toddlers, cats and dogs shut away where they can’t suddenly pounce! And get yourself in front of a mirror, full length is best, so you can watch what you’re doing.
There are shorter wraps, even in the world of stretchy wraps, and a ‘shortie’ can be great for back carries – but let’s not get distracted. Let’s master at least one carry on our fronts before skipping to back carries, OK.
“Won’t all that material trail in the dirt?”
Possibly, yes. But only if you’re taking it on and off. The long tails shouldn’t be trailing on the ground, if you have long bits left once you’ve finished wrapping, they do need threading, tucking or tying back into the wrap. You don’t want to be tripping up on your own wrap job, or have anyone else tread on it.
If all you are doing is nipping to the shops in the car, a woven wrap is probably not the carrier of choice to have to stop and put on in a carpark when its tipping down with rain. If you’re enjoying the sun and having a picnic in the park, and the grass is dry, then taking your baby out of the wrap and popping him back in again and re-tying should be fine.
Most of the time you’ll be wrapping your baby at home before you go out, maybe in a café or restaurant, and you would hope the floor would be clean anywhere like that. Anyway, wraps are washable – just pop them in a zippable pillow case, use a gentle detergent like Fairy, Ecover or an EgoEgg, pop them on a gentle wash, and skip the fabric softener which makes them too slippery. Some blends of wraps will need more care if you pick yourself a good cotton wrap for everyday then you don’t need to worry too much about it getting a bit grubby. The more you wash a wrap, the more broken-in and supple it will get.
It is also possible to pre-tie carries, pop baby in and then tighten. This is especially useful for stretchy wraps.
“I can’t do things like that, it looks really tricky!”
Any new carry looks tricky and confusing, but when you break it down into individual steps to remember it gets easier.
The standard starting carry for a stretchy wrap is a Pocket Wrap Cross Carry (often abbreviated to PWCC), and a good starting carry for a woven wrap is a Front Wrap Cross Carry (often abbreviated to FWCC). In both of these, the term ‘Wrap’ refers to the horizontal band of fabric wrapping round you, and the ‘Cross’ refers to the X shape you will form. Each of these ‘passes’ is created in order, and with practice, these get easier to remember and will feel more natural. There are 3 ‘passes’ in both these carries, each adding another layer of fabric to support your baby.
There are various ways to finish off depending on where and even whether you knot the ends of the wrap, such as under babies bum, or on your back, or on your front. You can also embellish the carries, particularly useful for back carries, with extra twists, chest belts and tucks, which can help with comfort as well as looking pretty cool.
“I’m no good at knots”
There is no special knot you need to know. A normal double-knot is fine. The same knot you tie your shoelaces with, no bow necessary, done twice. It can be ‘nice’ to tie your wrap in a symmetrical reef knot, it can be useful to learn how to tie a slip knot – but not necessary when you start out. A knot is a knot, and as long as it is done tight enough (how tight do you do the knot for your shoelace?) it will hold your wrap securely.
There are variations of some carries that do not need you to even tie a knot. One of my favourites is this https://wrapyourbaby.com/wrap-instructions/front-cross-carry/
“I won’t be able to get it tight enough”
There is a trick to this. Rather than taking the whole wrap in your hand and pulling on the whole width of it at once, you do it bit by bit, strand by strand.
A stretchy wrap will be more forgiving than a woven wrap, and you don’t really need to worry about tightening it strand by strand, the fabric will stretch to where it needs to go. You can wrap the whole thing and tie your knot before your baby goes in, just pull the cross part out in front of you and make sure it stretches to about 3 or 4 inches (this does depend on the wrap and the size of your child, so feel your own way with this) – if the gap is more you will find the carry too loose and your baby will sit too low on you, if it’s less you will find it too tight to get a good position and you can restrict movement and breathing.
With a woven, you will have ‘rails’ which are the hems on each of the long edges of the wrap. Sometimes these are sewn or even woven in different colours so you know a ‘top rail’ from a ‘bottom rail’. Be careful to not twist the wrap when you do the passes, and keep the fabric nice and smooth across baby’s back, and you will find it easier to tighten strand by stand. If the fabric is scrunched and folded up near baby’s neck and on his back it will be difficult to get it nice and snug, so pull the excess fabric downwards and let it give extra support in your baby’s knee pits. Find which rail is by your shoulder/at baby’s neck/under baby’s bum etc. and do gradual little tugs through where you are holding the fabric, once you’ve got it nice and tight, all over, tie your knot. The wrap may get loose during the day, just keep checking for where it’s loose, pull the excess fabric towards the knot, strand by strand, and re-tie.
“How can a wrap be as secure as a buckle carrier?”
It can be more reassuring for some parents to opt for a structured carrier because it looks like baby would be safer in it. However be assured that wraps are safe. A wrap is a single piece of fabric. There are no seams to weaken; no buckles that can perish and crack, or get slammed in a car door; no rings to bend or break open. You will find the maximum ages of soft-structured carriers with buckles tend to be around 4 years, or 20kg. Wrap fabrics are tested to the same weight limits, but can actually carry someone much heavier. There are many elements on a SSC that can fail, and you should check all of them before every use.
A wrap can fail too, but not quite to the same extent, and it is unlike to fail suddenly. It may get ‘pulls’ which you can repair, or it may have ‘weavers knots’, ‘skips’ or ‘floats’ in the weave which are down to the nature of the yarn and weaving process, and do not affect the integrity of the wrap. A pull or even a small hole or will not result in your child crashing to the ground, the flaws will get worse gradually over time. If you are worried about any flaws in your wrap then stop using it and have it repaired or converted into a shorter wrap, ring sling or SSC.
If the wrap is too loose you will be able to feel it, and use a supporting hand, until you can tighten or re-wrap. If your knot is getting loose, again it is unlikely to suddenly come undone, but even if it does, the wrap will hold itself quite well until you can get your baby safely out of it.
More about Safety
Carrying your baby in a sling – wrap or structured carrier – is completely safe, when a few common sense guidelines are followed.
You may have heard of TICKS. The TICKS babywearing guidelines have been developed to be a memorable checklist to help you keep your baby safe in the sling. These are:
T for Tight
I for In View
C for Close enough to kiss
K for Keep chin off the chest
S for Supported Back.
Another one I like is Visible and Kissable which is what they promote in Canada; and there is Babywearing International’s ABCs.
Essentially, your child’s airways need to be clear, they need to not be able to fall out of the carrier or sling, and you should be able to see them at all times. So no sleeping while wearing (however temping that sounds!), and you should not put yourself or your baby in situations that could be dangerous, such as riding a bike, riding a horse, swimming, climbing, fairground rides – anything you’d avoid while being pregnant. Positions like the cradle position where the baby is curled up can be dangerous as airways can be compromised, and babies can disappear deep inside a carrier where you can’t keep an eye on them, so keep your baby in an upright carry.
Most of all I would urge any parent to trust their instincts, and if something doesn’t feel right with your child to remove them from the sling, check them over and reassure yourself they’re OK.
If you’re wanting to start wrapping your child on your back, make sure you’re confident in tightening your wrap with a front carry first, and then practice with a doll or teddy on your back. When you’re ready to do the carry with your child, practice over a bed or cushions and have someone close by who can help.
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TICKS babywearing safety guidelines
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Visible and Kissable
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Babywearing International ABCs
Conclusion
Everyone who wraps their baby was a beginner at some point. It will take some practice before you master the carries you want to be doing. You will have good days and bad days for wrapping; there will be some great carries, some good ones, and some bad ones that you need to scrap and start again with. Keep calm and remember the more you practice the easier it will become.
Before trying a new carrier or a new carry with your wrap, ensure your baby is fed, has a clean nappy and is not so tired she will get fed up and start squirming and yelling in your ear before you’ve finished.
Stretchy wraps are a great way to start, prices are around £35-60. If you like the stretchy wrap, moving on to a woven wrap can give you a carrier that is versatile and will last and last until your child no longer wants to be carried. There’s no need to spend hundreds on a woven wrap, there are plenty of affordable wraps between £50 and £70 – so they can be more affordable than soft-structured buckle carriers – but you can spend (lots lots) more if you want to!
Start wrapping on your front, and when you’re used to the methods needed to tighten a wrap securely, then move on to back carries.
Next Steps
A trained carrying or babywearing consultant can help you learn to wrap in a private appointment or workshop, or you can get hints and tips from consultants and peer supporters in a sling meet or sling library session, as well as trying out different wraps.
