Hi, I'm Rachel and this video is going to show how to use a Soft Structured Carrier while pregnant.
A soft structured carrier is a carrier that has buckles for the waist and for the shoulders.
When you're pregnant, you want to listen to your body and only do carries that are comfortable for you.
If you try something and it isn't comfortable, try something different.
I'm going to show what's comfortable for me.
When I was less than 20 weeks pregnant, I found it really comfortable to put the waist belt high up, above my belly.
Now that I'm a bit further along (I'm about 26 weeks or so), I'm finding it more comfortable to place the waist belt below my belly.
That feels like a little belly support.
What you want to do is try it both ways. If it's not comfortable, adjust it.
If you can't get comfortable with your buckle carrier that's okay! You can try a different carrier,
or it may be that babywearing isn't working out for you for a little while and that's okay too!
I'll show a couple of ways to get a toddler on your back.
The first way I'll show is a super man toss.
I put my thumbs on his chest and wrap my hands around his back.
Then I swing him gently onto my back.
I'm not going to let go of him at any point, so I'm holding his bottom with one hand and his arm with the other.
Keeping one hand on his bottom, I put my other arm under the carrier panel and begin to smooth it up over his back.
Now I switch hands, so one hand is holding him and the panel in place while the other hand finds the shoulder strap.
I put my arm through both shoulder straps.
Now I lift up on the straps and do a little bounce to get the panel nice and high on his back.
Then I clip the chest belt.
If the panel is bunched under the baby's bum, you can do a little cheerleader bounce to get the panel to go higher and get a nice deep seat.
Then you can do any adjustments you'd like.
That's pretty comfortable and is one way to get him up.
To get him down, first I will put one hand back to hold him.
I take off one shoulder strap.
Then I switch which hand is holding him, and remove the other shoulder strap.
I drop the panel down.
Now I can scoot him back over to my front.
Another way to get your toddler on your back if they are pretty cooperative,
Is to stand them on a couch, or a bench, or back seat of the car
and then sit down in front of them and have them climb onto your back.
Then you can bring the panel over their back.
Before you stand up, you want to check that the panel is all the way up over their back.
Then you can do the same cheerleader bounce as before.
Clip the chest belt and make any adjustments.
That's an easy way to get them back down too.
You can sit back down right in front of the couch
Remove the shoulder straps, lower the panel, and set your toddler down on the couch.
The third method is a hip scoot with the carrier hanging down behind you.
You start your child on your hip.
You can slide them back toward your back. Take your front arm and hold your child's bottom.
Swim your back arm up over baby and scoot baby toward the back.
Let your other hand come back to help you center your child on your back.
Then just like the other methods, keep one hand on your child while the other hand smooths the panel up over their bottom.
Hold the panel and their bottom with one hand and put the other arm through a shoulder strap.
Switch hands, holding their bottom with the opposite hand and putting the remaining arm through the shoulder strap.
Clip your chest belt and you're done.
Using a SSC can be comfortable while pregnant, but it really depends on each person. You may even find differences between pregnancies.
You may find one thing comfortable at one stage of pregnancy, but not at another. Just listen to and trust your body. If it's not comfortable, try something else or take a break from babywearing for a bit.
Thanks!