As a doula in Utah and a mother of two, I try to know about the what’s and why’s of parenting trends. Baby wearing is growing in popularity and with good reason. It has many benefits such as:
- Baby’s head shape stays normal
- Babies cry less
- Closeness is good for babies mental and emotional development
- Doesn’t require you to haul around a stroller
- Provides physical health for the wearer
- More ergonomically healthy for baby than staying in an infant seat
This is just some of the benefits.
But what if you don’t have a baby carrier? Let me solve that for you! This is my tutorial on making a baby wrap. My disclaimer is that I used shirts that were too small so my end product turns out smaller than yours should. Also if you use shirts of the same color it will look better but I thought the different colors made it easier to understand for tutorials purposes.
You will need
- 3 t-shirts that are 1 size bigger than you would normally wear
- A pair of scissors
- A piece of yarn or other string
Cut all three shirts from armpit to armpit as pictured here:
Next, run your string through two of the cut off shirts like this:
Then wrap the string around a few times and tie it in a good knot. (My string was too long) The two tied together circles should look something like this:
This next part is purely cosmetic and therefore optional.
Cut a sleeve off one of your discarded shirt tops. Then cut along the seem of the sleeve so you have a little square piece of fabric like this:
Now wrap this around your tied off string section like this:
Take the third and final shirt and cut through ONE layer of it diagonally like this:
After you cut through the top layer you will have a long piece that looks like this:
Now, how to wear it!
Put the tied together circles over you with the knot in the back. You should look something like this:
Next insert your baby.(Note: baby can face forward or backward in this.) Legs and arms come out the sides of the x like this:
Now take your third shirt and wrap it around you and baby and tie in the back. This provides extra support.
Ta Da!