Carry of the Week (CoTW) - Front Wrap Cross Carry

I love woven wraps. Love, love, LOVE them. I love how versatile they are and how I can do a front carry, hip carry, or back carry all with my same piece of cloth. I remember the immense excitement when I ordered my first wrap and the anticipation I felt as it traveled to my home. But I also remember the overwhelming panic that overcame me when I finally received it and realized that I had to somehow use this piece of cloth to attach my infant to my body! I watched video tutorials. I scoured picture instructions. I re-watched. I read. I prepared. And then, five minutes into my first wrap job, baby red-faced screaming, me drenched in sweat, tears streaming down my face, back aching, I almost threw it in the trash. Then I thought, why was I making this so hard? I didn’t have to learn the technical term for every pass, I didn’t need to know there were roughly 1,456,098 ways to do a front carry, I didn’t need every inch of the carry to be perfect - I needed to relax. I was doing this to make my baby happier and my day a little easier. So I picked one carry I would master, Front Wrap Cross Carry (FWCC), and decided for the time being to only focus on that one carry. And that’s what I did.

Now, much further down the road, I am comfortable doing loads of different carries but there are so many more out there I want to try before my babywearing days are done. I had often seen “Carry of the Week” on different boards and groups but always felt too overwhelmed to add my not quite perfect picture to the group. Again, I needed to relax.
 

As motivation for myself, and a road-map for others who may feel as I did, I thought it would be a great idea to start our own Carry of the Week! Each week we will pick a different carry and include tutorials, instructions, and pictures. There may be variations. There may not be. We will try and alternate between a more beginner carry and a more advanced so there will be something for everyone! If there is a carry you love or want to learn, please feel free to write your own blog post for a Carry of the Week as well.
 

We would also love everyone to contribute a picture of themselves doing the carry of the week, along with what wrap and size they are using on the Facebook page. Add in any tips you discovered doing that carry and any snags you ran into. This is a group effort and the more participation the more fun we will all have!

And so, without further ado: Carry of the Week - Front Wrap Cross Carry!

The FWCC is a perfect beginner carry. In fact, if you started with a moby wrap on your babywearing journey you are probably already familiar with how it works!

It is a great carry for younger babies because it offers a ton of head support and is super easy to breastfeed in.  It also works with heavier babies because of the multiple passes that distributes the weight for mom or dad. A size 5, 6, or 7 wrap is needed to do a FWCC.

The basic steps of a FWCC are:

1 - A torso pass (a torso pass goes over the baby and then under both arms of the wrapper);

2 - Cross in back, going back up over your shoulders;

3 - Two cross passes (a cross pass goes over the baby diagonally), either spread out over baby or gathered and bunched;

4 - Tied in back.

Video Tutorials: http://s391.photobucket.com/user/morse_family/media/babywearing%20instructional%20videos/M4H04513.mp4.html (Great pre-tie basic FWCC step by step)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRSTW8h5lcs&NR=1 (how to tie a FWCC holding your baby in your arms without a pre-tie)

Picture Tutorial:

http://www.wrapyourbaby.com/frontwrapcrosscarry.htm

Variations:

Nursing in the FWCC, Tied under Bum, and Semi-FWCC (can be done with size 3 and 4 wraps), Picture tutorial: http://bwiofpeoria.org/blog/tag/front-wrap-cross-carry/

Semi-FWCC (or “short”) tied under bum video tutorial if you have a size 3 or 4 wrap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9v6tSljTt8

And here is Solomon and I in a size 6 Mulu:

 

And here Sol passed out about 3 minutes after wrapping:

 

I hope you guys have fun with our carry this week. Please let us know how it works for you and post your pictures on the FB page! I would also love to hear about any carries you would like to see in the future or other suggestions you may have. So please feel free to make suggestions or write a blog post for Carry or the Week as well!

Tiffany Johnson is a breastfeeding, baby wearing, co-sleeping, attachment parenting mama to three beautiful children. She is currently taking a leave of absence from her busy career as an estate planning attorney to focus on her home and family. In her spare time she loves crafting, reading a good book, red wine, all things geeky, and loving on her babies.