If you’ve purchased a wrap-style carrier like the Moby,
We may be parents, but we’re not too old to use mnemonic (memory) devices to ingrain techniques for using baby wrap carriers. This article will explain how the memory device works and the related article on typing techniques will make much more sense if you read this one first.
The Hug Wrap
Why I love it? Three layers of fabric secure baby in place. Great for newborns who need head support. Good for sleeping and caregivers who want to frequently check on their cargo.
How I learned it? This won’t make sense at first, but here’s the saying I made up to remember how to tie the wrap for the hug hold: ”Bellybutton, TAG, you’re it, X in the back, H in the front, X in the Back, Knot in the front.” As with memory devices I teach my students to help them study for the SAT or recall important grammar concepts, the saying gradually gets shortened over time because the details are ingrained: ”Bellybutton, Tag-Back-Front-Back-Front, X-H-X-Knot.”
Let Me Break it Down and Explain:
- With the Moby, you find the product’s tag and center it on your belly, higher up on your rib cage for smaller babies, lower toward your hips for larger babies or a looser hold. Hence, Bellybutton, TAG you’re it!
- With the lengths of the wrap headed toward your back, each is pulled upward over the opposite shoulder to form an X. That’s the second step, X in the back.
- With the two long tails of the wrap hanging down from your shoulders toward the ground, the wrap looks like the letter H. You need to do two things with your H. First, tuck the tails inside the wrap section that’s on your tummy. Second, cross those tails and send them around to the back.
- At the small of your back, cross the tails and bring them around to the front, where you tie them in a knot slightly below the original section of wrap that’s on your belly.
Depending on how your brain works, and I’ve learned that there are many ways to get to a ‘right’ answer, here’s a review of what I just explained, plus another way to remember this tie technique.
Original Mnemonic:
- Bellybutton, TAG you’re it.
- X high in the back
- Over the shoulder to H in front and under to
- X low in the back and around to
- Knot at the waist in front.
Here’s a version of the memory device that separates what you’re doing from where you’re doing it.
- Bellybutton, TAG, you’re it!
- Back, Front, Back, Front
- X-H-X-Knot
Looking at this, it reminds me of shorthand for dance steps or knitting.
How to Situate Baby in this Comfy Hold
Pick her up and hold your baby up a bit higher than your waist, with her chest against your left shoulder.
Get Baby in the “Saddle”: Pull the right side of the front X over her left leg and hip (the one closest to your right), then shift baby to your right side and pull the left side of your X over her right leg and thigh. Pull legs and feet through the saddle (baby’s legs are hugging the curves – or washboard abs – of your belly).
Pull up the “seat belt”: So-called on Moby’s own how-to video, the seat belt is the first part of the wrap that you put next to your body in the “Bellybutton, TAG you’re it!” step. This is as crucial a step as wearing a seat belt in a car because it’s what keeps baby secure next to your chest if you lean forward a bit. I recommend you just bend at the knees.
But the seat belt piece is important too, if your baby doesn’t have head control yet. You can tuck your baby’s head inside one of the X strips and provide more even more support by pulling the seat belt (the swath with the Moby tag) up even higher over the neck and back of the head.
Last Thing to Know
I know reading a whole page on how easy it is to tie this wrap seems paradoxical. But the mnemonic boils it down to 15, which is much easier to remember while sleep deprived. We’ve even shortened belly button to bee-bo, courtesy of Sandra Boynton’s Belly Button Book.
- Bee-bo, tag you’re it!
- Hi-Back X
- Front H and under
- Lo-Back X
- Front Knot
If you want to add to it for instructions for securely placing baby:
- X holds baby in the saddle
- Legs straddle
- Pull up the X
- Then seat belt, CHECK!
Recite these little sayings 3-4 times when practicing putting on your wrap at home, say them to yourself every time you put it on. I still find myself mouthing the words when using my Moby with Paige (14 months) and my son Nolan (3.5) must think they’re poems or songs. He recites them now too, adding dance moves and music!
