Today we celebrate homemade carriers:
Carriers for dolls:
As you can see, with a sewing machine and a little skill, anyone can create a carrier that will bring enjoyment to his or her family.
Beltway Babywearers: Metro DC Babywearing's Blog
Sunday, October 9, 2011
International Babywearing Week Day 1: Make It Monday!
As we kick off International Babywearing Week, we want to remind you off our upcoming events to celebrate. We hope to see you this week!
Today we celebrate homemade carriers:
Carriers for dolls:
DIY babywearing clothing:
As you can see, with a sewing machine and a little skill, anyone can create a carrier that will bring enjoyment to his or her family.
Today we celebrate homemade carriers:
Carriers for dolls:
As you can see, with a sewing machine and a little skill, anyone can create a carrier that will bring enjoyment to his or her family.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Mark Your Calendars! International Babywearing Week Activities
Next week is International Babywearing Week! Here at BWI of DC-MD-VA we have planned several events to celebrate babywearing. One thing we have planned is a collection of blog posts. We are looking for pictures of your DIY carriers, your traditional carriers (ie from around the world), and just plain old enjoying babywearing pics! Send photos with subjects (DIY, traditional, or fun) to beltwaybwers @ gmail.com and we will include you in next week's posts!
Awards - there will be awards handed out next week! Nominations are due by Oct 7th!
Now, on to the events!
Monday, 10 October - Silver Spring meeting, Silver Spring Learning Center (Atrium) 9:30am-11:30am
1401 Arcola Ave. Silver Spring MD 20902
Tuesday, 11 October - Take it Tuesday! Take information about babywearing to your OB, midwife,
pediatrician, LC, chiropractor, whoever!
Wednesday, 12 October - Tysons meeting, Tysons-Pimmit library 10am-noon
Saturday, 15 October - See, Sample, and Swap with Takoma Attachment Parenting 5-6:30pm
Heffner Community Center, Takoma Park, MD
There will be crafts for the kids and carriers available to try for the adults
Sunday, 16 October - Sunday Stroll, Great Falls National Park, Great Falls, VA 2-4pm
This will be a light hike, the planned route is not stroller friendly
There is a $5 per car charge to enter the park
We hope to see you as we celebrate babywearing!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Real Men Wrap
When my son was born in early 2009, my wife bought a ring sling to wear him in. I liked the idea of
wearing our son, but that was just not manly to me. I searched for something that I felt comfortable
with, and found the Moby wrap. I liked the fact that it looked kind of like I was wearing a karate suit.
Fast forward to 2011, we had our second, a little girl, and my wife discovered wrapping. Who knew there was to much to know? There are wraps of different colors, textures, weights, some that are $50 and some that are over $1000. Apparently, my wife must have them all. She sold me on it because it was the one carrier that we could use to put our newborn on our backs. I loved my Ergo and Moby, but they weren’t options for newborn back carries (Mobys are never good for back carries). Anybody who has experienced the rude awakening of the second child knows how hard it is to keep both kids fed and clean. There were tons of things that needed to be done around the house when I got home from work, and I couldn’t really do that much while wearing Callie in the Moby on my chest.
Raagen learned to put our little girl on our back by going to babywearing meetings where I’m pretty sure the goal is for women to convince each other to buy more stuff. Anyway, I noticed that she was wearing the baby every evening during what would otherwise be my time with my little girl. So I decided to learn, too. Of course, my wife was excited because now she needed to buy me my own wrap, a size 7 Didymos Iris.
First my wife taught me how to put the baby in a FWCC (front wrap cross carry) because it was similar to the Moby. Then one day she put the baby in a ruck on my back. I wasn’t too keen on that because I hate having people do stuff for me. So I decided to go to one of these crazy babywearing meetings to learn how to do it myself.
Thanks to a nice lady named Angelique, I learned the BWCC (back wrap cross carry). I have to be honest. It took me about five times wrapping and unwrapping. I wrapped til I had nothing left in me. But I was determined. I wanted to be able to wear my baby while getting things done. It took practice, but I can now do a BWCC and a FWCC. For my purposes, that’s good enough. I want to let the rest of the dads out there know that you too can wrap your baby. And also, your wife doesn’t REALLY need ten wraps.
Editor's note: Yes, she really does.
Posted by: Jermaine
wearing our son, but that was just not manly to me. I searched for something that I felt comfortable
with, and found the Moby wrap. I liked the fact that it looked kind of like I was wearing a karate suit.
Fast forward to 2011, we had our second, a little girl, and my wife discovered wrapping. Who knew there was to much to know? There are wraps of different colors, textures, weights, some that are $50 and some that are over $1000. Apparently, my wife must have them all. She sold me on it because it was the one carrier that we could use to put our newborn on our backs. I loved my Ergo and Moby, but they weren’t options for newborn back carries (Mobys are never good for back carries). Anybody who has experienced the rude awakening of the second child knows how hard it is to keep both kids fed and clean. There were tons of things that needed to be done around the house when I got home from work, and I couldn’t really do that much while wearing Callie in the Moby on my chest.
Raagen learned to put our little girl on our back by going to babywearing meetings where I’m pretty sure the goal is for women to convince each other to buy more stuff. Anyway, I noticed that she was wearing the baby every evening during what would otherwise be my time with my little girl. So I decided to learn, too. Of course, my wife was excited because now she needed to buy me my own wrap, a size 7 Didymos Iris.
First my wife taught me how to put the baby in a FWCC (front wrap cross carry) because it was similar to the Moby. Then one day she put the baby in a ruck on my back. I wasn’t too keen on that because I hate having people do stuff for me. So I decided to go to one of these crazy babywearing meetings to learn how to do it myself.
Thanks to a nice lady named Angelique, I learned the BWCC (back wrap cross carry). I have to be honest. It took me about five times wrapping and unwrapping. I wrapped til I had nothing left in me. But I was determined. I wanted to be able to wear my baby while getting things done. It took practice, but I can now do a BWCC and a FWCC. For my purposes, that’s good enough. I want to let the rest of the dads out there know that you too can wrap your baby. And also, your wife doesn’t REALLY need ten wraps.
Editor's note: Yes, she really does.
Posted by: Jermaine
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Wearing Through Chronic Back Pain
I’d
always hoped to wear any baby we were blessed with, but when the
ligaments of my pelvis over-loosened to an extreme degree at 24 weeks
pregnant, and I began living in near-constant pain, I wondered if it
would work out. My medical team all assured me that my body would heal
itself shortly after delivery, so I kept on figuring out which wearing
options were best for our family.
While I was interested in soft-structured carriers, namely the Beco Gemini, the idea of wrapping really enticed me. I loved that woven wraps were amazingly beautiful and versatile from infancy to toddlerhood. When Baby Boy V was born, I was armed with a stretchy Moby Wrap and a Neobulle woven wrap. I wrapped baby for the first time at about thirty hours old in a Moby.
To the surprise of all, instead of my pain getting better after V was born, it got worse and worse as the pain spread from my pelvis to my lower back, upper back, shoulders, and neck. Life became consumed with thrice weekly chiropractic visits, weekly physical therapy, and a battery of doctors who didn’t quite know what to do with me.
Holding baby in my arms would exacerbate the pain, but what else is a new mom to do? I quickly discovered that when I wrapped V, it distributed his weight across my shoulders and back and made carrying him around bearable.
After a few weeks, I decided to pull out my woven wrap to see how that compared to the Moby. It was trickier to get snug, but it felt so much more supportive. After getting some pointers at a Babywearing International of DC-MD-VA meeting, I discovered that I had less pain wearing V in a woven wrap than pushing him a stroller which required me to hold my arms in an uncomfortable position. I realized that a very snug pocket carry acted as a back brace, plus having baby so snugly next to me gave me an emotional boost, an important thing when dealing with chronic pain.
Because the Moby is stretchy, it has give in every direction and felt like it was pulling away from me. In contrast, a woven wrap only stretches slightly on the diagonal so it can get scrumptiously snug and conform to every inch of baby and me to provide unparalleled support. I wish I had started with a woven from the beginning!
The carries that are best for me have three things in common: they are symmetrical, have a pocket, and use a spread-out cross-pass. If that sounds like a foreign language to you, you are not alone. It sure did to me! Come to a meeting and ask for help, but in the meanwhile, take a look at my two favorite carries that do all three of those things, the front wrap cross carry and double hammock back carry with a cross-pass front.
My medical team members are in agreement that supportive, symmetrical carries in a wrap are not contraindicated. Most of them were not familiar with wrapping, but extended their approval as they learned more. It is still unclear if my body will ever heal completely, but I should “graduate” from physical therapy right after V turns nine months old! I am so glad that I found a way to care for V in a way that allows me to parent in the high-contact way that is important to our family while helping my body grow stronger.
Posted by Pamm
While I was interested in soft-structured carriers, namely the Beco Gemini, the idea of wrapping really enticed me. I loved that woven wraps were amazingly beautiful and versatile from infancy to toddlerhood. When Baby Boy V was born, I was armed with a stretchy Moby Wrap and a Neobulle woven wrap. I wrapped baby for the first time at about thirty hours old in a Moby.
To the surprise of all, instead of my pain getting better after V was born, it got worse and worse as the pain spread from my pelvis to my lower back, upper back, shoulders, and neck. Life became consumed with thrice weekly chiropractic visits, weekly physical therapy, and a battery of doctors who didn’t quite know what to do with me.
Holding baby in my arms would exacerbate the pain, but what else is a new mom to do? I quickly discovered that when I wrapped V, it distributed his weight across my shoulders and back and made carrying him around bearable.
After a few weeks, I decided to pull out my woven wrap to see how that compared to the Moby. It was trickier to get snug, but it felt so much more supportive. After getting some pointers at a Babywearing International of DC-MD-VA meeting, I discovered that I had less pain wearing V in a woven wrap than pushing him a stroller which required me to hold my arms in an uncomfortable position. I realized that a very snug pocket carry acted as a back brace, plus having baby so snugly next to me gave me an emotional boost, an important thing when dealing with chronic pain.
Because the Moby is stretchy, it has give in every direction and felt like it was pulling away from me. In contrast, a woven wrap only stretches slightly on the diagonal so it can get scrumptiously snug and conform to every inch of baby and me to provide unparalleled support. I wish I had started with a woven from the beginning!
The carries that are best for me have three things in common: they are symmetrical, have a pocket, and use a spread-out cross-pass. If that sounds like a foreign language to you, you are not alone. It sure did to me! Come to a meeting and ask for help, but in the meanwhile, take a look at my two favorite carries that do all three of those things, the front wrap cross carry and double hammock back carry with a cross-pass front.
My medical team members are in agreement that supportive, symmetrical carries in a wrap are not contraindicated. Most of them were not familiar with wrapping, but extended their approval as they learned more. It is still unclear if my body will ever heal completely, but I should “graduate” from physical therapy right after V turns nine months old! I am so glad that I found a way to care for V in a way that allows me to parent in the high-contact way that is important to our family while helping my body grow stronger.
Posted by Pamm
Monday, September 19, 2011
Mei Tai Tying Tips
I often hear, "My mei tai is awesome, but sometimes the straps feel like they are slipping off my shoulders."
So, I put together this photo tutorial with some alternatives to the traditional "backpack style" straps.
1. Cross in front:
This can be uncomfortable for moms with larger breasts and can cause problems with clogged ducts if you are prone to them. It is my husband's favorite way to tie though.
2. Chest Belt
This works just like a chest belt in a wrap if you are familiar with wrapping. After bringing the straps over your shoulders,tie a half knot before heading back around.
3. Tying Tibetan
Take shoulder straps over and around like regular backpack straps, then instead of tying in front, cross one over your chest and thread through the opposite shoulder strap. Repeat on other side. If your shoulder straps are not long enough, you can untie the waist and do this with the waist straps instead. That can be a great option for pregnant mamas to get the straps up away from your tummy.
Then tie (sorry, this pic it TOTALLY out of focus, but you get the idea).
4. Or you can twist
Twist down the center of your chest until you get to a spot you feel comfortable taking them back around to tie off.
No matter what tweaks you use, don't give up on your mei tai until you've exhausted all of the possibilities for comfort.
Posted by Ann Marie
So, I put together this photo tutorial with some alternatives to the traditional "backpack style" straps.
1. Cross in front:
2. Chest Belt
3. Tying Tibetan
Take shoulder straps over and around like regular backpack straps, then instead of tying in front, cross one over your chest and thread through the opposite shoulder strap. Repeat on other side. If your shoulder straps are not long enough, you can untie the waist and do this with the waist straps instead. That can be a great option for pregnant mamas to get the straps up away from your tummy.
No matter what tweaks you use, don't give up on your mei tai until you've exhausted all of the possibilities for comfort.
Posted by Ann Marie
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