1. Start the wrap on your baby's back so that the top rail (or edge) is either at the nape of your baby's neck (if baby will be arms in) or just between the shoulder blades (if baby will be arms out). Make sure the wrap is smooth and not bunched up at baby's shoulder blades. Once baby is on your back, use your chin or teeth to pin the top edge of the wrap down. This holds your baby securely to your back, but leaves the bottom edge of the wrap free to work with. Notice in the picture I am holding only the light blue top edge of the wrap and the bottom edge (darker blue) is loose and not pinned down at all.
2. With the top rail of the wrap pinned under your chin or in your teeth, reach back with both hands and pull the bottom edge of the wrap straight down. This gets all of the excess slack out of the middle of the wrap and gives you plenty of width to work with in making your seat.
3. After pulling straight down, change the position of your hands so that you are reaching UNDER baby's legs rather than over baby's legs. Take a moment to notice the difference between pictures 2 and 3. In picture 2, my hands are over baby's legs. In picture 3, I have moved my hands so that they are under baby's legs. This makes it WAY easier to reach to make a good seat.
4. Keeping the top rail pinned, and hands under baby's legs, begin to hook your fingers into the bottom edge of wrap and start to pull upward, toward your armpits.
5. With your middle and/or index finger hooked in the bottom edge of the wrap, pull the bottom edge of the wrap up and in between you and baby. The bottom edge of the wrap should fold up between the two of you and go about to the top of baby's diaper or up to baby's belly button. Now you have a fantastic seat and are ready to do your carry.
Bonus Tips:
1. If your baby likes to straighten his/her legs while you are wrapping, you can put one hand back to hold baby's legs in position until you are able to remove slack from the tails and create your next pass. Also, babies that like to leg straighten will usually stop if you stand up a little (while keeping a hand back to hold their legs in position).
2. If you find that you have a great seat, but you are losing it after you tighten your carry, you might be over-tightening the bottom rail. Seats are kind of picky about how much you tighten them. If you tighten too much, the bottom rail will tend to creep upward, slowly causing your seat to get shallower and shallower. This can also cause red marks behind baby's knees or thighs. When you are taking slack out of your passes, don't aggressively tighten. Just feel for excess slack and remove it.
Happy Wrapping!
1. If your baby likes to straighten his/her legs while you are wrapping, you can put one hand back to hold baby's legs in position until you are able to remove slack from the tails and create your next pass. Also, babies that like to leg straighten will usually stop if you stand up a little (while keeping a hand back to hold their legs in position).
2. If you find that you have a great seat, but you are losing it after you tighten your carry, you might be over-tightening the bottom rail. Seats are kind of picky about how much you tighten them. If you tighten too much, the bottom rail will tend to creep upward, slowly causing your seat to get shallower and shallower. This can also cause red marks behind baby's knees or thighs. When you are taking slack out of your passes, don't aggressively tighten. Just feel for excess slack and remove it.
Happy Wrapping!
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