Winter Babywearing

The past few meetings, we've had a few questions about winter babywearing. One of the biggest questions is how to get baby in/out of the car when following the recommendation against wearing heavy coats. If you don't know why they shouldn't wear heavy coats/snowsuits in the carseat, read about it here. So, in this video, I give some examples of the kinds of clothes I dressed my newborn and now older baby in to keep her warm when going to/from the car. I often hear, "how do I wrap in the winter?" I show how to pre-wrap before leaving the house. Then your coat goes on over the whole thing and you can pop baby in and out. I show a woven wrap doing a Front Cross Carry (FCC). This same pre-tied technique can be done with a stretchy wrap using a pocket wrap cross carry (PWCC) or Front Wrap Cross Carry (FWCC). You could also do a front carry with a ring sling in this same way. Mei Tais and Soft Structure carriers generally don't lend themselves to this technique, however, I did have success doing it with a Beco Butterfly because of it's unique design.

In the video I demonstrate using a babywearing coat. There are many brands and styles of babywearing coat if you are interested in investing in one. If not, for front carries, a coat that is just too big for you will work. Some also find success with an add-on cover for the carrier. For back carries, a babywearing coat can be made using DIY instructions, or you could pick up a cheap oversized fleece coat from a thrift store and cut a hole for baby's head. A few members have gotten as far as investing in a babywearing coat, but then are stumped on how to put it on or take it off. Hopefully this video will help a bit with some of the logistics of winter wearing.



Enjoy babywearing with your little one this winter. It's a great way to keep BOTH of you warm.