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Sick? Here Are Meeting, Carrier Return, and Washing Instructions!

6/18/2014

Have you had one of our carriers checked out while your family has been sick? That's OK! We know that sickness happens (especially with small kiddos!), and we hope the carrier may even have helped you get through the sickness with some snuggles. But we also want to make sure we don't pass that sickness on to other families! Follow this Q&A for advice on illness during meetings or "sick carriers".

Q: My baby is sick (or I am sick, or my other kids or significant other is sick), but I really want to come to the meeting. What do I do?

A: We know you really want to come, but please plan on skipping the meeting. There is lots of hands-on instruction at meetings, plus lots of older kids running around, playing and sharing toys - and germs! Please use your best judgment and err on the side of caution. If you come in with germs, there is an excellent chance that at least one other family is leaving with them. We love sharing, but not that kind!

We have several meetings every month, so check our calendar to see if another monthly meeting works for you when you are feeling better. Otherwise, plan on coming the next month.

If you need to return a carrier, see below.

Q: I have a carrier to return, but I am sick or our family has been sick while we've had it. What do I do with my "sick carrier"?

A: If you are able to get to a meeting (maybe your illness has passed, or maybe you are well enough to get out of the house to come in and quickly drop off the carrier, but not attend), you are welcome to drop it off at a meeting. Please place it in a plastic bag and make sure that the VBE you return it to knows it's a sick carrier (maybe even put a sticky note inside?) so we can wash it before passing it on to another family.

Can't make it to the meeting it's due at? Many of our VBEs are happy to have you drop off a carrier at their home or workplace if you cannot make it to a meeting. Please message the page or a VBE who you know is local to you and see if you can arrange a drop off. If you are dropping off a sick carrier, please make sure we know it's sick and get it to us in a plastic bag so that we can wash it.

**If you have a sick or dirty carrier and are comfortable washing it, please follow these instructions.**
First, please let us know if you want or need to wash a carrier. The below instructions are general, but we do have some carriers that require special washing instructions. Please message the group Facebook page or contact one of your local VBEs if you feel you need to wash a carrier. We know these are tools used for babies and toddlers, so they will get gross and need a wash from time to time! The volunteers try to wash carriers periodically, but it can be difficult, espeically with a large library. It's good to give them a bath occasionally.

Wraps, Mei Tais, Ring Slings, and Pouches
1. If you have a pillow case or zippable washing bag, place the carrier inside the bag to protect it. This is more of a concern with traditional washing machines with a beater inside, but is smart for all machines. For all machines, when washing ring slings please either place inside a bag or place a tight-fitting sock over the rings after unthreading the carrier - this protects the rings from damage.

2. Wash on a gentle or delicate setting with a gentle detergent. NO BLEACH. NO FABRIC SOFTENER. (Bleach will cause the fabric to break down quickly and shorten the life of our carriers. Fabric softener is not recommended for baby clothing because of harsh chemicals. Some of our group's babies do have skin allergies, so we need to be careful. Fabric softener also adds a waxy coating that can negatively affect the grip of the carrier.)

3. For linen, cotton, and hemp blend wraps, you may choose to dry in the dryer on a low setting with NO DRYER SHEETS (see fabric softener notes above). Wool dryer balls are fine. Some carriers, such as our wool wraps, should never be put in the dryer. So when in doubt, ask us or line dry always.

4. Note that carriers will be a little "crunchy" after washing. They will re-soften with time and use. If you'd like to, you may steam iron any of the linen wraps to help soften them back up after a wash.

Soft-Structured Carriers
Please check with us and/or search online for the manufacturer's washing instructions. Some are machine washable, and some recommend hand-washing only or may need pieces removed or covered before washing.

Feel better soon! <3

0 Comments

Tips and Tricks for Breastfeeding While Babywearing

8/5/2013

3 Comments

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

In honor of world breastfeeding week, we have compiled some tips for nursing in a carrier.

First, it’s hard to learn to use a carrier and learn to nurse a baby for the first time all at once. It’s easiest to master each individually before you put them together. So get to know your baby and get the hang of nursing. Next, get to know your carrier and get that down. Then, you’re ready to put it all together!

Dressing for Nursing while Babywearing

When you’re nursing in a carrier, it’s MUCH easier to have a shirt or dress that can be pulled down from the top than one that must be lifted from the bottom. Scoop neck or V-neck tees are favorites of a lot of moms. Nursing tanks are also easy to work with. It’s difficult to pull up a shirt that is under layers of wrap (or straps/buckles) and baby.

Nursing Upright

The simplest way is to keep baby upright and just lower baby to breast height. This can be done in any carrier (mei tai, soft structured carrier, sling, or wrap). Once you have baby at breast height, you can reach inside the carrier and aim your breast up toward baby to get baby latched on. Aiming up is key to nursing in a carrier for many moms. Typically, you’ll need a hand on baby’s head and a hand on your breast, at least at first.

Nursing in a Cradle Carry

With a wrap or a ring sling, you can also nurse in a cradle carry. In a ring sling, start with baby upright and tummy to tummy. Loosen the sling slightly and take baby’s legs out of the sling on the ring side. Guide baby’s head toward the opposite side from the rings. You’ll need to keep a hand or elbow under baby’s head while nursing. You can do the same in a wrap, but you’ll need to untie and adjust a little to get baby into a cradle position. In a wrap, it might not be a full cradle carry, but more of a slightly tilted upright position. There are a few videos to show this below!

Supporting your Breast

Once you have baby latched on, there are a few tricks for supporting your breast. What will work for you will depend on your breasts and baby, but here are some ideas:

Leave a hand inside the wrap/carrier to support your breast.
Pull your breast on top of your shirt and allow the neckline of the shirt to support your breast.
Leave your nursing bra latched (or even use a regular bra) and let your breast lie on top of the bra for support.
Tuck a small rolled up wash cloth under the breast to support it.
As your baby gets older, sometimes they will hold the breast at the right level themselves.

Nursing Discretely

First, feel free to just nurse and not worry about nursing discretely. Breasts are for feeding babies! But if you’d prefer to be a bit more discrete here are a few tricks:

Try it out in front of a mirror! You’ll be surprised how much your baby’s head and the carrier naturally makes nursing a bit more discrete. When you look down at yourself nursing, you can see your entire breast typically, but someone looking at you from across the room will probably just think your baby is sleeping.
In a mei tai or soft structured carrier, you can shift the whole carrier a tad to the side you are nursing on. Just take the waist and pull it gently toward the breast you are nursing. This will give more coverage of the side of your breast while you are nursing. You can also use the hood of the carrier as an extra cover.

In a ring sling or wrap carry that ties at the shoulder, you can use the tails as cover. You shouldn’t cover your baby’s entire head, but you can bring the tail up around baby to provide a bit more coverage of the top of your breast if you want.
In a stretchy wrap or woven wrap front carry such as front wrap cross carry, the cross passes can provide great coverage. You can also easily slide a hand under the cross pass to help baby latch or support your breast.

Video Links

For those of you who are more visual, here’s a compilation of YouTube Videos which show how to nurse in a carrier:

Nursing in a Cradle Carry in a Woven Wrap or Stretchy Wrap

Nursing in a Ring Sling

Using a cradle carry:

Upright Nursing in a Ring Sling

Upright Nursing in a wrap with a Newborn

Nursing in a Mei Tai or Soft Structured Carrier

Babywearing can make nursing on demand super easy and convenient. Even if it isn't always completely hands free, you are mobile and have at least one free hand for caring for other children, making sandwiches, pushing carts, or whatever you need to do. Give it a little practice at home and before you know it you'll be nursing out and about anywhere with at least one hand free. :)

3 Comments

Wearing Two!

1/18/2013

1 Comment

Do you have two kids who look something like this?

Babyearing can be a powerful tool for meeting the needs of two kids at once. Strap them on and dance around the living room for a few minutes and you can turn that ^ (Yikes - someone call the exorcist!) into this:

Ahh. Much better. So let me start by saying there are about a zillion different possibilities for wearing two kids. I'm going to link a few ideas and videos here organized by type of carrier(s) and hopefully it will be something to get you started.

Got Two Ring Slings?

You can put two babies into hip carries using two ring slings.

Got a Mid-length Woven Wrap and a Pair of Sling Rings?

Try Jasmin's Tandem Hip Carry. This carry puts two babies into hip carries that can be separately adjusted without the bulk of two ring slings.

Got a Long Woven Wrap?

There are tons of ways to wear two kids in one woven wrap. With this first method, you put one baby on your back in a ruck and the second baby in the front in the crosses of a tibetan tie. This works with twins or with siblings of different ages.

Got Twins and a Stretchy or Long Woven Wrap?

With a long woven or stretchy wrap, you can do Pocket Wrap Cross Carry with twins in each cross or Front wrap cross carry with twins on each side of the pouch. This is a great method with smaller babies (under about 12 lbs) and allows for both babies to be on the front.

This video shows how to tie PWCC and demonstrates the carry with dolls:
http://s391.beta.photobucket.com/user/morse_family/media/Babywearing%20more%20than%20one%20or%20twins%20videos/M4H09772.mp4.html

This next video shows the carry pretied, but demonstrates putting in twins with real babies rather than dolls.

This video shows a variation on Front Wrap Cross Carry that can be done with twins to get both babies on front in a nice snug carry. This can be done with a stretchy wrap or a long (size 7) woven wrap.

Got Two Woven Wraps?

With two wraps, the possibilities are endless. It's easiest to pretie or semi-pretie a front carry. Front wrap cross carry or Front cross carry are great carries to pretie or partially pretie on front. After pretying the first wrap, you can do a back carry of your choice with the child in back. Then, add the front child to your pretied carry on the front. This video shows a pretied pocket wrap cross carry with a stretchy wrap and a ruck back carry.

You can also put one baby on the back and then hook the second wrap onto the first one. Note: This method should only be done with a wrap back carry. It is not recommended to thread a short wrap through the straps of a soft structured carrier or mei tai because these carriers are not designed to withstand the weight of a second child at the shoulder straps.

Got Two Mei Tais or Two SSCs?

It's also possible to use two mei tais or two SSCs or a combination of the two. Here's a video that shows a twin tandem carry with two SSC's.

The possibilities are endless. There are also great forums and groups for tandem wearing support. One is the tandem babywearing facebook group and another is thebabywearer's wearing more than one forum.

Happy Tandem Wearing! :-)

1 Comment

Carrier Pros and Cons

12/13/2012

1 Comment

Shopping for a new carrier can be really daunting! There are so many types and acronyms! How do you know what will work for you? We've compiled a list of pros and cons of each type of carrier which can help you decide what you think will work for you and your baby. And course, you can try all of these at any meeting and even borrow one for a month to figure out if it's really right for you and your baby.

SSC's (aka - Soft Structured Carriers)

Soft Structured Carriers (SSCs) are basically buckle carriers. They have a waist buckle, square of fabric, shoulder straps and often a chest clip.

Pros:

Quick to use
Easy to learn to use
Once you figure out your perfect settings there’s little to no adjusting for future uses
The more structured waist provides lots of back support for toddlers/preschoolers

Cons:

It can be tricky to find your perfect setting
It can be tricky to get a good fit for two very different sized parents
They are the least adjustable to fit the child. You may have to buy different sizes as your child grows from infancy to toddlerhood
Often not comfy to sit when front carrying
Not particularly comfy in a hip carry

Mei Tais

Mei Tais (pronounced “may tie”) are a square of fabric with straps for the waist and longer straps for the shoulders. They are just like SSC’s but instead of buckles, you tie a knot with the straps.

Pros:

They can fit multiple wearers
They are very adjustable
There are adjustments that can make mei tais comfy while pregnant
A mei tai allows for a high back carry, which many babies who like to see out really love

Cons:

There is a small learning curve
The straps are long and can drag on the ground
Not particularly comfortable in a hip carry

Ring Slings

Ring slings are basically a long fabric with two rings at one end.

Pros:

Quick, especially for a baby/toddler that wants up and down frequently or while running quick errands
Allow for a comfortable hip carry, which babies who want to see out usually love
Provide excellent support for a newborn
Can be inexpensive
Easily adjustable for switching between adults.
Easy to nurse in discretely

Cons:

Can become uncomfortable with bigger babies (25lbs or heavier) for longer periods of times
One shouldered carries are not typically comfortable for extended periods of time
There’s a little learning curve

Stretchy Wraps

Stretchy wraps are a long (typically 5 meters or longer) slightly stretchy fabric.

Pros:

Inexpensive
You can pre-tie and pop baby in and out
Provide great positioning and support for newborns
Very soft and moldable for newborns
Can easily fit multiple adults
Warm and snuggly in winter
Wonderful for skin to skin time

Cons:

Many people find them saggy or less supportive after the baby reaches 20lbs
Cannot be used for back carries
There’s a slight learning curve
Depending on the brand, they can be too warm for summer time

Woven Wraps

Woven wraps are long non-stretchy fabric. They come in varying sizes (basically lengths from about two through six meters) and different carries can be done with different sizes.

Pros:

Infinitely adjustable
Can be used for front, back, and hip carries
You can pre-tie and pop baby in and out of hip or front carries
Allow for high back carries
Can be used from birth-preschool
Can easily fit multiple adults

Cons:

There’s a steeper learning curve
Depending on the carry, wrapping can take a few minutes
Cumbersome for wearing older kids who want up and down frequently unless you use a pretied carry
The long length of fabric tends to drag on the ground while wrapping

1 Comment

Cold Weather Babywearing

11/27/2012

1 Comment

The weather has been getting colder and colder! Babywearing is a wonderful way to keep your baby warm and snug on cold days! The warmth of your body is one of the best ways to keep your baby warm.

Staying Warm with Front Carries in a Wrap or Sling

If you're using a woven wrap, try a carry like Front Cross Carry that is easy to pop baby in and out of.
If you're using a stretchy wrap, try a carry like Pocket Wrap Cross Carry that is easy to pop baby in and out of.
If you're using a ring sling, set it at about the right setting so you won't have much adjusting to do later.
Pretie your wrap or put on your sling before you leave the house and put an oversized jacket overtop. A maternity coat or a spouse's coat often works really well.

When you get where you're going, you can sit in the back seat for a moment and put baby in the carrier. If you have a small car (or can't sit in a backseat b/c it's full of carseats!), just stand outside for a moment and pop baby into the wrap or sling. Then zip your oversized coat over both of you. Zip the jacket as high as you can get it, but be sure that you can always see your baby's face.

Staying Warm with an SSC or Mei Tai

Just like with wraps and sling, when you do a front carry, you can put baby in the carrier and then zip a large coat over both of you.
With front or back carries, you could also put both you and baby in a warm jacket or fleece bunting and then put baby in the carrier.
If you're just running into the store, carry baby and the carrier into the store and put them in when you get in the door. That way you can do it without rushing.
Consider using a fleece bunting that folds over the feet entirely. Not only are they adorable (look at that cute little guy above!), but they are wonderfully warm and toasty and won't ride up.

Staying Warm with Woven Wrap Back Carries

I wouldn't recommend back wrapping over top of a heavy coat (on either you and baby). For one, it's hard for the wrap to stay put on a slippery coat. Plus, it's more difficult to feel to be sure you've got a great seat. It's also tough to be sure that baby's coat doesn't ride up and cover their face. If you're using a wrap, it's easiest and safest to do a front carry and zip baby over you. However, you could do a back carry and then put a special babywearing coat or poncho over both of you.

Special Babywearing Coats

You could wrap baby or put baby in a mei tai or SSC and then cover both of you with a special babywearing jacket or poncho. There are tons of these on the market (ergo, peekaru, etc) and there are also loads of ways to make them yourself.
You could purchase a big poncho or oversized fleece jacket and basically cut a second head hole for baby.

Click here for loads of DIY babywearing coat/poncho ideas! This link is from the babywearer and you need to create a screen name (quick and free) to be able to view it.
You'll probably get some hilarious comments out and about, but you and baby will both be very warm.

General Tips if Baby is under your Jacket

Put a hat on you and baby!
Dress baby warmly, but not too warmly. Baby will be under the carrier and under your jacket. I usually put my baby in a onesie and warm socks with warm footie pajamas overtop. If it's really cold, sometimes I put another pair of socks and/or shoes on top of the footie pajamas to keep those little feet warm.
If you'll be outside for a while, Rock-A-Thigh socks are a wonderful way to keep legs warm when the pants ride up. Another option is using babylegs over the pants so they cover the bottom of the pants/top of the shoes.
If your jacket won't zip very high on baby's back, you can bring a warm blanket and tuck that around baby overtop of the carrier.
Wear a scarf. I always find that my chest and neck get really cold when I can't zip my jacket all the way up. A scarf helps keep me warm. Just be careful that the scarf never blocks your baby's face.

Have fun and stay warm babywearing this winter!

Share your favorite cold weather tips & any funny comments you've gotten while cold weather babywearing!

1 Comment

Stretchy Wrap Tutorials and Tips

11/19/2012

8 Comments

Need help with your stretchy wrap before the next meeting? Look no further! Below are tutorials and tips for using a stretchy wrap.

There are two basic carries that can be done with a stretchy wrap such as a Moby or Boba wrap. They are Front wrap cross carry (FWCC) and Pocket Wrap Cross Carry (PWCC).

Pocket Wrap Cross Carry

Pocket wrap cross carry is the carry that is typically done with a stretchy wrap. Moby calls this the “hug hold.” Boba calls it the “love your baby hold.” This carry is wonderful because you can pre-tie the whole carry before you leave the house and then pop your baby in and out as needed throughout the day.

Here’s a wonderful tutorial for PWCC by Kathy who is a babywearing consultant. Her site is www.kathyheffern.com. You can see how snugly she wraps the wrap when she is pretying. The wrap should be very snug, just as shown here. You really can't pretie the wrap too tightly. Because of
the stretch of the material you will always be able to get baby in comfortably,
but if it's too loose before they're in it'll sag and not feel secure. If you feel you need a hand on your baby or baby is sagging, then it's too loose.

Front Wrap Cross Carry

Front wrap cross carry is a wonderful carry because it’s very easy to adjust and get your baby snug and secure. It’s also easy to lower and nurse in FWCC and adjust back up after nursing.

I love this video tutorial by Tooralei on YouTube for Front wrap cross carry with a stretchy wrap and a newborn. You can see how she tightens each strand (or section) of the wrap. She focuses on the top rail (the top hem and the first few inches of fabric), the middle of the width and the bottom of the wrap. The key to successful wrapping in any carry is strand by strand (or section by section) tightening. You can also see how snug she wraps.

PWCC and FWCC are very similar carries. The only difference between the two when you are wrapping is that in PWCC you tuck the tails (or ends of the wrap) inside of the horizontal pass and in FWCC you keep the tails outside of the horizontal pass and tie around baby.

How Tight Do You Wrap?

The wrap should be very snug, like an ace bandage on a sprained ankle. If you press against your baby’s back and the baby is able to move closer to you, then it’s too loose. If you feel like you need a hand on baby and baby doesn’t feel secure to you, then it’s too loose. In either case you can just adjust by strand by strand removing the slack from the width of the wrap.

Tips and Tricks

To secure a sleeping baby’s head in either FWCC or PWCC, you can tuck their head into one side of the cross pass that comes over your shoulder and pull the fabric away from the other side of the cross so that their face is visible and not covered as pictured here on the right.

If your baby doesn't want their head tucked but seems to need more head support, you can leave a little roll of wrap at your baby’s neck and tighten that well by snugging the top rail of the wrap. If that is very snug, their head should stay put, even without a cross pass holding their head.

Safety

Stretchy wraps should never be used for back carries. They are stretchy and even if wrapped well are not safe and secure used on the back because the baby could lean and fall. Here’s a video that shows how dangerous a stretchy wrap can be if used on the back.

When wrapping, be sure to always remember TICKS:
Tight
In View
Close enough to kiss
Keep chin off chest
Supported back

Your baby should be held snugly and well supported, high enough to kiss, easily visible to you (without fabric covering baby’s face) and with chin off of chest. You should be able to get two fingers under baby’s chin and hear baby breathing normally. If you hear grunting or snoring sounds, that is a sign that baby is having trouble breathing. If that happens, remove baby and rewrap being sure to wrap very snug and tight. If you have any problems, feel free to contact us. We can help you trouble shoot via email or facebook until you can come in for the next meeting.

Happy Wrapping! If you need any help with your wrap, we'd love to help at any meeting.

8 Comments

Sick? Here Are Meeting, Carrier Return, and Washing Instructions!

Tips and Tricks for Breastfeeding While Babywearing

Dressing for Nursing while Babywearing

Nursing Upright

Nursing in a Cradle Carry

Supporting your Breast

Nursing Discretely

Video Links

Nursing in a Ring Sling

Upright Nursing in a wrap with a Newborn

Nursing in a Mei Tai or Soft Structured Carrier

Wearing Two!

Got Two Ring Slings?

Got a Mid-length Woven Wrap and a Pair of Sling Rings?

Got a Long Woven Wrap?

Got Twins and a Stretchy or Long Woven Wrap?

Got Two Woven Wraps?

Got Two Mei Tais or Two SSCs?

Carrier Pros and Cons

SSC's (aka - Soft Structured Carriers)

Mei Tais

Ring Slings

Stretchy Wraps

Woven Wraps

Cold Weather Babywearing

Staying Warm with Front Carries in a Wrap or Sling

Staying Warm with an SSC or Mei Tai

Staying Warm with Woven Wrap Back Carries

Special Babywearing Coats

General Tips if Baby is under your Jacket

Have fun and stay warm babywearing this winter!

Share your favorite cold weather tips & any funny comments you've gotten while cold weather babywearing!

Stretchy Wrap Tutorials and Tips

Pocket Wrap Cross Carry

Front Wrap Cross Carry

How Tight Do You Wrap?

Tips and Tricks

Safety

Archives

BWI of SO MD

Categories

Sick? Here Are Meeting, Carrier Return, and Washing Instructions!

Tips and Tricks for Breastfeeding While Babywearing

Dressing for Nursing while Babywearing

Nursing Upright

Nursing in a Cradle Carry

Supporting your Breast

Nursing Discretely

Video Links

Nursing in a Ring Sling

Upright Nursing in a wrap with a Newborn

Nursing in a Mei Tai or Soft Structured Carrier

Wearing Two!

Got Two Ring Slings?

Got a Mid-length Woven Wrap and a Pair of Sling Rings?

Got a Long Woven Wrap?

Got Twins and a Stretchy or Long Woven Wrap?

Got Two Woven Wraps?

Got Two Mei Tais or Two SSCs?

Carrier Pros and Cons

SSC's (aka - Soft Structured Carriers)

Mei Tais

Ring Slings

Stretchy Wraps

Woven Wraps

Cold Weather Babywearing

Staying Warm with Front Carries in a Wrap or Sling

Staying Warm with an SSC or Mei Tai

Staying Warm with Woven Wrap Back Carries

Special Babywearing Coats

General Tips if Baby is under your Jacket

Have fun and stay warm babywearing this winter! Share your favorite cold weather tips & any funny comments you've gotten while cold weather babywearing!

Stretchy Wrap Tutorials and Tips

Pocket Wrap Cross Carry

Front Wrap Cross Carry

How Tight Do You Wrap?

Tips and Tricks

Safety

Archives

BWI of SO MD

Categories

Have fun and stay warm babywearing this winter!

Share your favorite cold weather tips & any funny comments you've gotten while cold weather babywearing!