Hi, I'm Rachel and this video will show how to do Front Wrap Cross Carry
which is a great carry that works really well with a stretchy wrap.
This is a Boba Wrap, donated by Boba Family to our babywearing group in Southern Maryland.
This works with any stretchy wrap including a Moby Wrap. Moby calls this carry the Kangaroo hold.
Start by finding the tag at the center of the wrap.
Place the tag at the center of your chest.
I hold the middle marker at my chest.
Then I reach behind me and find the tail under my arm.
I bring that across my back at a diagonal and over the opposite shoulder.
I do the exact same thing on the other side.
bring this tail across my back and over the other shoulder.
Now I am set up for this carry. I have a horizontal pass here
and two tails here.
At this point I am ready to pick up my baby. I bunch the horizontal part.
Bunching the horizontal part makes it easier to put her in the wrap.
This is Ellie who is 5 days old.
When you pick up a newborn and hold them to your chest,
they typically take this position.
This is the position we want a newborn when wrapping. Her knees are tucked close to her body and are higher than her bottom.
Her legs and bottom make an M shape.
My goal is not to disturb her position as I put her in this wrap.
The secret to wrapping a newborn is to shape the fabric around the baby.
I take the bunched horizontal part
and bring it over her feet.
I am making a tube underneath of her so she is sitting on the tube of fabric and she has not changed her position at all.
Now I take the top edge of the wrap fabric and spread it over baby's back,
Covering both shoulders and going to the nape of the neck.
I'm leaving a small roll of fabric here at her neck.
This excess at the bottom, I tuck in between us, making a straight line from knee to knee.
The bottom edge of the wrap is at about the top of baby's diaper and making a straight line from one knee to the other knee.
I haven't changed her position at all. Her knees are here, higher than her bottom.
Her legs still have a nice M shape and her knees are tucked close to her body.
Now I am going to tighten. Supporting baby with one hand, I use the other hand to pull the tail nice and tight.
Then I do the same on the other side. I make sure the fabric is not caught under my arm.
Now I pull this tail straight up to get it nice and tight.
Now I will feel to see if there is any excess slack anywhere. Does the top edge have some slack in it? Often it does.
You can pull the part closest to your neck to tighten just the top edge of the wrap.
Now I will work with the tails one at a time. I pin one between my knees.
The other tail I pull really snug,
and spread the fabric across her.
It goes all the way over her shoulders from one knee to the other and then I
bunch it and come under this little foot.
Now I will take that tail and hold it with my knees again in the back so that I can do the same thing on the other side.
I pull it really snug and then take the fabric across baby's back up to her shoulder blades,
with the bottom edge of fabric extending from one knee all the way to the other knee.
I take a moment to tighten it across her body and then take it under the baby's foot.
Now I have my two tails in back. I tie a double knot and I'm done!
I will show you a couple more tricks though!
So for one - She can't really see around.
I can see her face, but I can't see her as well as I'd like.
I can take the top edge of the fabric (near my neck) and pull it to the outside of my shoulder.
This caps the fabric over my shoulder so she can see.
It also makes it easier for me to see her.
If she falls asleep and wants her head a bit more supported,
I can take one tail over the back of her head,
about to her ear. That gives her a bit of extra head support.
If she's wide awake and wants to see around,
I can cap this shoulder too,
keeping this fabric nice and high on her back but allowing her to see around.
The other thing nice about this carry is that it's pretty easy to nurse in.
The first thing I would do if I wanted to nurse is loosen the knot at the back.
Then I bring the slack from my knot around to the front to loosen the diagonal cross passes that are going over baby.
I do a slight gentle bounce to lower the baby down.
She has no interest in nursing, she wants to sleep! I will just kind of show what I would do.
I'm going to loosen a little bit more, bring the slack to the cross passes, and bounce gently.
Once you get her to a height where she can nurse,
a little bit lower on your body,
You can take her gently over toward one side (whichever side you want to nurse on)
And then reach inside the wrap with one hand, use the other hand to support baby and lean forward slightly while aiming your breast up toward baby.
When you are done nursing, you always want to reposition back up to your original spot.
Lean forward slightly while supporting baby at the nape of the neck and the back.
Lift baby back up high on your chest so that you can easily kiss baby's head.
Then retighten the wrap, pulling the slack from each of the cross passes back toward the knot.
You can also just re-do the tightening steps from before and re-tie.
Then redo the knot so it is nice and snug.
The big things you want to look for to check your carry:
I made a little chart for you! This is the babywearer's TASK:
T: You can fit TWO fingers under baby's chin. If I were to put my hand right here, you can see that baby's chin is pointed up.
My baby has her whole hand under her chin, so I can definitely fit two fingers under there.
A: Always Visible - She should always be visible. Even if you are nursing, you should be able to look down and easily see your baby's whole face.
You never want to totally cover up your baby's whole face.
S: Snug and well Supported - Baby should be very snug in the wrap.
K: Kissable - Baby should be high enough on your chest that you can easily kiss the top of their head.
Alright! So that's how you do Front Wrap Cross Carry in a stretchy wrap with a newborn!