My First Woven Wrap

 

After a few days of wrapping with my stretchy wrap, I was able to attend a local babywearing group meeting and learned about woven wraps.  As babies get bigger, woven wraps are a great option.  Wovens are more supportive than the stretchy wraps and can be used safely for back carries, unlike the stretchy wraps.  So shortly after the babywearing meeting, I found myself on the hunt for my first woven wrap.  There are so many choices out there!

The first question I had was what size wrap should I buy for my first woven wrap.  Woven wraps come in a variety of sizes, typically ranging from size 2 – size 7.  A size 2 is 2.7 meters, size 3 is 3.1 meters, size 4 is 3.6 meters, size 5 is 4.2 meters, size 6 is 4.6 meters and a size 7 is 5.2 meters.  I asked on my local babywearing group’s facebook page and in a very helpful, large facebook group called Babywearing 102.  The general consensus was that for my body build I should start with either a size 5 or 6, which would be my base size.  The majority recommended a 6, so that’s what I decided to search for.

So now I knew what size I was going to buy, the next big question was what brand.  There is no right or wrong answer to this question.  I was given several pieces of advice on this, but one that has really stuck with me and that I now share with beginners is find a wrap you love.  If it is beautiful to you and you absolutely love it, you will learn to use it.  I considered several brands such as Natibaby, Girasol, Kokadi, and Oscha.  I ended up going with a Kokadi Erna Im Wunderland.  It was beautiful turquoise and pink colors and had a whimsical pattern that I loved.

After deciding what I wanted to buy, the next step was to figure out how exactly to buy it.  There are several facebook groups called Babywearing Swaps, where you can buy, sell or trade wraps.  I perused some of these, but at the time this seemed really overwhelming (more on buy, sell and trading in the swaps in later posts).  So while lots of people recommended buying a used wrap for your first woven wrap, since it would already be broken in, I decided this wasn’t the right choice to for me.  Luckily, Erna was still in production by Kokadi and I could purchase it new from a vendor.  It took a bit of searching to find a vendor with a size 6 in stock, but I finally did.  Then I ordered it and anxiously awaited the arrival of my beautiful new woven wrap.

My first wrap job was a little sloppy.  See first picture, but I posted this picture to the babywearing facebook groups and was given helpful critiques to help me improve my wrap job.  The second picture was taken just hours after the first.  I improved dramatically between these two attempts, if I do say so myself!  I am so grateful for the kind women in the babywearing community who have answered the “How does this wrap job look?”  “Did I do this right?”  “What should I buy for my first wrap?”  and “What size should I get for my first wrap?” questions of us beginners dozens of times.

The carry in these pictures is called Front Wrap Cross Carry (abbreviated FWCC).  This is one of the easiest carries to learn and a great place for a beginner to start.  In fact, it was my go to carry for the first few months of my babywearing journey.

My rails are not properly tightened here in my first attempt and Zoey was too low.  She should be high enough that I can easily kiss the top of her head while she is wrapped.

In the next picture, my rails are much tighter and she is much more secure.  She could have still been a little higher, but overall this was a much better more comfortable carry.