Hi, I'm Rachel and this video is going to show how to do Front Wrap Cross carry
with a newborn in a woven wrap.
You want to start with a base size wrap.
My base size is a 6, so this is a size 6 wrap.
The first thing you want to do is locate the tag in the middle of your wrap.
That's the middle marker.
It helps you find the middle of your wrap.
I put that middle marker right in the middle of my chest.
Then, I'm going to reach behind me for the top edge only.
I'm going to bring the top edge of the wrap across my back
and then up and over my my shoulder.
The reason I'm reaching only for the top edge is just so that I don't get the wrap twisted.
I can be sure that it doesn't get twisted if I just grab the top edge.
If your wrap has different colors, that can help too.
For example you can make sure you're grabbing just the white edge which is on top here.
So, I'm going to do the same thing here, reaching only for the top edge.
bring it up and over my shoulder.
keeping it spread nice and wide
and not twisted at all. That's important for your comfort.
Then, I'm going to take this horizontal part and bunch it into a little tube
and at this point, I'm ready to pick up my baby.
If I'm running errands using this carry, what I'll do
before I get in the car, I'll pre-tie to this point
then I just cross the tails and tie them behind me
put baby in his carseat,
and when I get where I'm going,
(I'll drive with the wrap on like this)
When I get where I'm going, I'll untie to here
and I'll be ready to pop baby right in.
Then my tails aren't dragging in the parking lot
and I'm not taking a long time to wrap
because I have a toddler ;) and you have to get her out of the car quick. (laughs)
So, I'm ready to pick up my baby.
he's doing that little newborn stretch
to show us exactly how he wants to be positioned
He wants his knees higher than his bottom
just like that, so I'm actually going to take my horiztonal part
and i'm going to put it right under his bottom and let him position himself
Depending on your baby, most babies like both of their feet turned out like this
He's a bit curled up on one side
So this one foot wants to turn in or hang down
That's fine. You can let baby take his natural position.
Over time, baby will stretch out a little bit and most likely
turn both feet out
He's one month old.
Alright, so I'm seating him on that tube.
and then I'm going to take the top edge
and spread it up over his back
It's nice and snug already, I didn't leave it very loose
That makes it a little bit easier because I don't have to tighten as much.
since I don't have it loose to start.
I'm bringing it over his arms
and up to the bottom of his ear.
or the nape of his neck
And then my bottom edge (the blue edge) should make a straight line from knee to knee.
I can see the straight line knee to knee, but it's not quite between us yet.
I'm going to put my hand on the bottom edge of the wrap, support him with the other hand
and lean forward slightly and just kind of push that bottom edge between us
It's still making a straight line from knee to knee, but now it's just a tad between us
and now I'm ready to tighten up
The secret to tightening this carry is to get your elbows up
There's always going to be slack caught right under your arm
If you keep your arm down, that slack won't move back around
behind you. So to tighten
I'm going to lift this elbow out
that way the slack right under my arm can move
And I'm going to pull straight up and slightly back
So I'm grabbing the top
not just the top edge, but I would say about the top fourth
Lifting my elbow out and pulling up and a tad back.
I'm going to do the same thing, but I'm going to grab the middle third of the wrap.
pulling up and slightly back
I can feel that tightening right around his back.
and then I'll do the bottom third of the wrap
Again pulling up and slightly back
Depending on your wrap you might want to work in thirds or in fourths.
It's really your preference.
Alright so now this side is nice and snug.
I can feel the slack right here on the other side.
and right here
That's the slack I'm going to take out as I tighten the other side.
So I'm going to support baby AND hold this tail
that I just tightened. And same thing again . . .
Lifting that elbow up out of the way, I'm going to pull UP
and slightly back
that's tightening the top third.
Next third or fourth of the wrap, pull up and slightly back.
That's supporting his spine through the middle of the wrap.
and then the bottom third, I'm going to pull up
and slightly back
and then make sure there's no slack at the seat.
I should still be able to slide a finger easily under his leg
and I can do that. You don't want it to be so tight that it digs into his knees.
but you want it to be snug enough that there's no extra slack
Look, I see some extra slack here. I'm going to go ahead and do one more
little tightening on this side through that bottom blue part.
Once I feel like I like how it's tightened, I'm going to lift up one tail
at a time
and place it nicely on my shoulder.
Especially if I'm going to be wearing this carry
for a really long time, I want it just the way I like it on my shoulders.
really comfortable!
Now depending on your wrap, you have a few options to tie off.
If you're working with a short wrap, like a base minus 2
you can tie a knot right under the baby's bottom.
If your baby's legs are very little
and you can kind of just see feet sticking out
my baby is pretty tall so you can see his lower legs
but if baby is really little, you can do a few twists here
so that the wrap isn't pressing on their little feet
especially with a thick wrap
and then tie your double knot in back
That's one option.
Another option is to just cross the tails
under baby's bottom
and take each tail under the opposite leg.
and then you can tie a double knot in back
Usually with a newborn, I like to just leave both of these sides bunched.
just like this. That gives a lot of support
to his body and some horizontal support. It's also nice if you tend to get hot.
You can spread out both sides of the wrap.
If you'd like
Don't cover baby's face.
I spread it knee to knee, but not so far as to cover baby's face on one side.
You want to spread the one underneath first.
I spread the one underneath first. I can bring this over the back of his head to
to give a little head support. You'll find a tiny bit of slack
as you do that.
I like to just grab the slack here and roll it
or you can bring the slack through the knot and retie.
Often I like to just spread out one side.
I find that gives me a lot of support
so that I can bend over (although I won't lean all the way forward)
but I can bend a little and get something done, which is nice.
Now, let's do a quick check of the carry:
So I like to use the acronym TASK
to check my carry. T- A- S - K
T - stands for TWO fingers under baby's chin
I can - but if I couldn't,
what I can do is lean forward slightly, supporting him
and shift baby's head up so that I CAN get two fingers under his chin.
A - Stands for always visible
So even if I'm nursing in this carry (I have a video for nursing in this carry
on my channel if you want to check it out). Even if I'm nursing in this carry
I should be able to see baby's entire face and head, seeing his nose and mouth in particular.
S stands for snug and supported.
So I can make sure baby is really well supported through the spine.
and the last one is K
K for Kissable.
I can easily kiss baby's head and he's nice and high on my body.
And there we have a front wrap cross carry
with a newborn!
Thanks!