Kangaroo Carry

This carry has always been a bit of a nemesis for me, because I started wrapping with a size 4 and just couldn't get it right. So I learned semi-FWCC and used that for front carries instead. The challenge is learning to tighten the wrap properly, while holding the baby up so he doesn't fall. There's definitely a learning curve, but I believe the people who commented on the COTW thread when they say that this is a quick carry once you get a feel for it. It was much easier today than it was when I first started wrapping. That said, you can see that there's still slack in the pocket in these pics. It was pretty comfortable, though. I used my 3.6m BBSlen, as this carry is truly made for a size 4 wrap.

And finally, a reinforced kangaroo carry, where the passes are spread, go under the legs, and tie in back. My size 4 was just long enough when tied iin the tails.

Front Cross Carry and Short Front Cross Carry

Today's carry is FCC and its shorter-wrap variation, SFCC. I can eke out a FCC with a 4m wrap, and easily do SFCC with a 3.7m.

FCC probably isn't good for us right now because Max is a leaner and wants his arms out. It is poppable, which is nice, but I definitely prefer the PWCC we tried the other day. I chose to use our 4m DIY osnaburg because it's really grippy. Max could still lean right out, though. The Vatanai is wider and worked better in the SFCC, so maybe I just needed a wider wrap.

For some reason, this pic reminds me of a mug shot. LOL!

I had done SFCC before and found the lumpy overlapping rails quite uncomfortable, so I tried an interesting variation using sling rings. I used my 4.5m Vatanai for this one because it's thin and it worked great in the sling rings. It was pretty long, though! My conclusions on the sling-ring variation of SFCC:
* Fun if you use this carry a lot, but finicky to get used to.
* I was able to nurse but had to use mirror to adjust.
* Fairly supportive with thin wrap, but not enough shoulder cush. But I bet a thicker wrap would clog the sling rings.
* I don't like that fabric pulls tight from underneath, so I kept crushing my waist when tightening and having to move Max all over the place to redistribute. I ended up having to feed fabric under each of Max's legs to tighten.
* It's hard to figure out where to tug to adjust middle of passes when using the sling rings.
* Looks neat, though!

Front Wrap Cross Carry (FWCC) and Variations

This is another carry I had done quite a bit before, although today I realized I had actually been doing the Pocket Wrap Cross Carry variation. I loved this when Max was little but hadn't tried PWCC since then. I've tried FWCC a handful of times since then. I have difficulty getting it really tight with a woven wrap, as you can see in the photo. I walked around for awhile with him in FWCC and it was comfy, but my lower back would have tired after awhile because of how far away from me he was leaning. FWCC requires a long wrap. Mine is a long size 5 Vatanai Tibet, about 4.4m.

Then I tried PWCC with a woven for the first time. I almost skipped it because it seemed so similar, but I'm so glad I didn't. It was great! SO much tighter and more poppable than FWCC.Max seemed to like it reasonably well, even though it was so snug. It would be great for napping.

These days, I tend to prefer shorter wrap variations of FWCC. One is the FWCC tied under bum, or short FWCC.

Another good one (also a pretty carry) is the Semi-FWCC. I like to tie with a slipknot to make it easy to lower for nursing. Unfortunately, Max got bored while trying this one, so he's kinda low and cockeyed in the pic. This is a good carry; just not doing it justice in the pic.

Finally, the Half-FWCC is nice and supportive with the crossover in the back, so I like it better than a ring sling, even though baby's position is similar. I like to slip-knot this one as well. It would be pretty, if I hadn't decided to use my 4m DIY osnaburg. Not pretty :).

Incidentally, I did the carry below accidentally. Apparently it is possible to do a FWCC tied at the shoulder. Might be nice if you're using a really long wrap, so you don't step on the tails.

I think FWCC is one carry where I prefer every single variation to the actual base carry! 

Torso Carries: Back and Front

The next COTW is torso carries, but I decided that there are so many variations that it needs to be split into two "days." First, we tried back torso carries...because they seemed scarier and I wanted them out of the way! I should mention that of all the carries we have and will try, these seem the most hardcore. It's like performing with no safety net. Most of these carries lack support over the shoulders and/or between the baby's legs. For a test-tube-shaped mama like myself, and an inveterate leaner/leg straightener like Max, I knew we'd be defeated before we began. My main goal for these carries was to get them secure enough to take photos. That meant I'd done the carry correctly, although--as I discovered--it didn't necessarily mean that my technique was any good! I used our 3.6m Turkish Delight for these, which is grippy but thin. Well, except for the Kanga, which required a beach towel!

To sum up, we tried:
* Kanga - the first one we tried. It's really neat! I love that you can do it with a beach towel (in fact, it's recommended--a wrap is too long and slippery.) It felt reasonably secure and I'd love to get comfy enough to walk to the pool like this!

Now this time, his legs are supposed to be like this--no karate kick here. He felt much more supported than in SBCC.

* Back torso carry - REALLY hard. It's the hardest part of double hammock, TWICE. And that's the whole carry. Not so good for a baby who likes his arms out, either.

 
* Reinforced back torso carry - Only slightly less awful, because it goes between baby's legs, so while Max could still flip out the back, he couldn't pop his butt out and fall out the bottom.

Ummm...yikes.

It looks less scary from the side.

 * Double Hammock Rebozo/Back Reinforced Torso Rebozo - Also pretty neat--I love being able to DH in a size 3 or 4 wrap! I wore Max to the mailbox in this one. It felt OK until he started trying to stand up; then I realized I hadn't made a good enough pocket. Also, I'd overcompensated on this carry, pulling the second hammock *really* tight, and practically applying a tourniquet to Max's legs. Need to focus on tightening the TOP rail next time. I will use this one again, though.

This one seems like a pretty carry.

The problem with all of the carries was definitely my inability to get the wrap tight enough, which has been a common theme in all my wrapping. It eventually leads to a sinking baby and sore shoulders. Or, in this case, a sore lower back and walking kinda hunched forward. But I think I may return to some of these on a regular basis (if Max lets me!), not so much to actually use them, but to remind myself how tight I should always be wrapping, even when using ruck straps allows me to be lazy about it.

On Day Two, we tried front torso carries...Unfortunately, it turned out I could only find a tutorial for the Front Reinforced Torso carry. There is also a front torso carry that is simply wrapping directly around you and tying off, but I couldn't imagine it would work any better than the back torso carry above, so I skipped it.

This Front Reinforced Torso carry was surprisingly comfy, but would certainly have sagged in very little time. I don't think I could have made it much tighter. I wonder if carries like this were intended for smaller babies, or for needing to restrain a baby while sitting down. This is my 4.0m DIY osnaburg wrap.

Double Rebozo (DR) and Short Back Cross Carry (SBCC)

More carries today!

Also, more carries I was dreading, and for good reason this time. I do not consider these safe carries for Max right now. With double rebozo, you basically have the equivalent of a back carry with two ring slings, kinda like the rebozo back carry from the other day, only with a pass in each direction. There's still nothing between the baby's legs, so all he has to do is bounce and arch really well, and he'll slide out the bottom. With SBCC, there's cross passes between the legs, but in doing so, the passes tend to separate into a downward V-shape on the baby's back. Have I mentioned that Max also likes to lean back when wrapped? Yeah, he could eventually manage to flip out backward.

So why does anyone use these carries? Well, based on the feedback on COTW, not many people do! These seemed really challenging and unpopular. I think the benefit is that they can be done with a shorty (2.6m or so). Again, I don't have a shorty, so I went with my extra-wide BBSlen so I'd have all the security I could muster. I didn't wear Max in these carries for long, but I can report that the knotted shoulder felt diggy and the straps hurt more than with RRRR from yesterday, I believe because I really struggled with the shoulder flip part of these carries and lost most of the tension each time.

 I actually pulled off an OK DR. It was pretty textbook other than a bunched top rail (see pic below), complete with the same great pocket as yesterday, thanks to my new double-handed tucking technique. My SBCC sucked. I've worked on this one before, and it sucked then, and has not improved with time. It was safe, I think, but the pocket was waaay too deep. I'm bad at keeping tension through the middle of the wrap when wrapping, and this carry really exposes that weakness because there's nothing else supporting the baby. So poor Max looked pretty uncomfortable and I didn't leave him in there for long. This carry also really killed my shoulders because, as you can see, he's hanging from them rather than being pressed up against my back.

SBCC:

Looks pretty good from here...

...but, um, YIKES! Hi-YAH! Karate foot.

Almost as bad over here!

DR:

Here you can see that the top rail is a little bunched.

Ruck Carries Part II: Ruck Tied under Bum (RUB) and Reinforced Rear Rebozo Ruck (RRRR)

I admit that I kind of dreaded this sequence: I had tried shorty back carries before and it hadn't gone well. BUT I had made the mistake of trying to learn how to back wrap with a shorty. I do not recommend this. It's way too hard to get a good tight wrap job with so little wrap, and both of these carries can be unsafe unless wrapped well. There's no fabric between the baby's legs, anchoring him in the wrap. Instead, you really have to get his knees high and securely positioned above his bum to hold him in the pocket. Max, as I have mentioned several times, is wiggly and tries to stand in the wrap. It isn't that he's trying to escape; he just wants to see! everything! So, I wasn't expecting much of these carries. Also, I should note that I sold the Bara Barn shorty I'd started wrapping with. All I have now are 4's and 5's, waaaay too long for these carries.

Anyway, they went really well! It might be because it's easier to wrap with a longer wrap. But I suspect it's also because I'm a much more practiced wrapper. There was no way he was getting out of the grippy, deep pocket created by my 3.6m Turkish Delight BBSlen. It's an extra-wide wrap (all BBSlens are), and therefore great for RUB. From the COTW thread, I gleaned that grippy yet thin/moldable wraps are best for these carries because accuracy is so crucial. The BBSlen is perfect for them. I don't think I've ever made such a nice ruck pocket. It occurred to me to actually REACH UNDER THE POCKET WITH BOTH HANDS  to shove a bunch of fabric practically up to Max's navel. That really did the trick. I'm normally too nervous to let go of the wrap with both hands, but once I have the rails clamped in my teeth, he really isn't going anywhere. The knot was surprisingly easy to tie, but again I'm wondering if the extra-long tails made it that way.

RUB. Note crazy long tails!

Well-placed slip knot on RRRR.

RRRR.

I also have to cop to cheating a little on the second carry, the RRRR. I had created such a great pocket that rather than starting over with one end of my wrap drastically short (the way it would have to be if I'd been using a real shorty), I just rewrapped the RUB as a RRRR. It shouldn't really have made a difference, but I didn't have to deal with anchoring an extremely short rail while wrapping. I liked the RRRR reasonably well. It didn't necessarily feel a lot more supportive than the RUB right off the bat. I did try hiking Max a little higher and pulling the slip knot tight. That worked pretty well--it was nice to have an adjustable back carry, especially since I've had sagging issues with my double hammocks that required starting over again.

I didn't wear Max very long, so I can't rate the comfort of these carries. I think the RUB was a little high, because Max's knees were digging into my sides a little. Not totally uncomfortable, but felt awkward. The knot on the RRRR felt a little diggy on my collarbone, even though I think I had the height pretty perfect. I suspect that I could eke out a chestbelt by tying the tails, even in a 2.7m shorty, which might make the knot more comfy.

Overall, I think I successfully tamed the shorty beast! I'm really jonesing after a BBSlen shorty now! :)

Ruck Carries, Part I : Ruck Tied in Front (RTIF), Ruck Tied Tibetan (RTT) and Reinforced Ruck (RR)

OK, more wrapping! I don't anticipate continuing trying carries at this rate, but we've done a lot of these early ones before, and it's a holiday weekend :). So why not??

We were able to knock out the first round of ruck variations pretty quickly. Reading the COTW thread, it seemed like the consensus was that it's important to get a ruck high and tight, but not TOO high, and to use a slightly thicker, cushier wrap than one might prefer for other, more layered carries. Also, the key is to get a good, deep pocket that isn't too tight.

I re-fell in love with my 4.1m Natibaby Pearl doing these. I bought it for rucking, then learned double hammock and wasn't using it because it's a little short. I have it listed for sale, but now I might keep it. Ruck is so much quicker than DH, and (for me) more reliably comfy. I have had problems with diggy shoulders using my other wraps, but the Natibaby is sooo snuggly soft. It's a little warm in the current 90+ degree heat, but fall is just around the corner. Today, I also found a variation on RTIF that I really like!

Picture time (again, excuse rough hair. It's the weekend!). I did do all of these with the same ruck, just moving the tails around. He was reasonably well-seated, but wiggled a bit between carries; I think I could have had a deeper pocket. And I would normally always tie off with a double-knot for these carries, but got a little lazy because I knew I was going to be adjusting the tails.

Standard RTIF. A little low, but I was focusing on NOT getting him too high, thereby avoiding making the muscles between my shoulders sore.

Ruck tied Tibetan (RTT). Quite comfy.

Reinforced ruck (RR). Sorry about the sun washout. Not bad, but I don't think I flipped the wrap over before doing the back passes. The reverse side of the wrap should show on those reinforcing passes. Apparently, you can also do the passes as rebozo passes, not running under the baby's legs. Didn't try that variation because I have quite the wiggler.

My new favorite variation: Ruck TIF with a lexi twist. I'm not entirely sure this is right, but it's safe and it works! The twist holds the baby right against you so there's less weight in the ruck straps. Love it!