Using a Wrap for Belly Support in Pregnancy

Who knew all the cool things you could do with baby carriers! Things like, support your growing pregnant belly!

If you have a woven wrap or ring sling, you can easily use either one as a belly support to help your body “carry” your baby, prior to birth. If you’re anything like me, as the third trimester begins and the belly starts to grow at a very rapid pace- your hips, back and pelvis can really begin to get sore. If you’re up walking around a lot this can intensify. Using a wrap or ring sling wrapped around your belly to provide support can make this time much more comfortable.

It’s important to be using a woven wrap, rather than a stretchy one, or a ring sling. The reason for using something non-stretchy, is that it will provide more adequate support.

If you are using a wrap, you’ll want to find your middle marker and place the center of the wrap over your belly, leaving a fair amount that hangs past your belly and over your pelvis. So, about from the belly button down. Gather the fabric  up tightly, and spread it so that it’s spread from belly button, to lower pelvis. Pull both sides around your hips, being careful to keep it spread. Cross the fabric behind your back, keeping it spread as much as possible. Bring the fabric back around to your front, lower belly, and tie. If your wrap is longer, you can do one more front cross and tie in the back.

If you are using a ring sling, you’ll want to start with the rings toward the middle of your back. Pull the fabric around from your back, keeping it spread out, across your belly and back to the rings where you will thread it through. Tighten up the fabric just enough to provide support but not be uncomfortable.

There you have it! Another use for your carrier!  

Photo Credit: TheFeministBreeder 

It's World Milksharing Week!

Something really amazing is happening this week! The world is celebrating "World Milksharing Week". This week is dedicated to celebrating a really incredible act happening within our communities around the world.

If you've never heard of this, let me recap for you. Milksharing is the act of one lactating mother "sharing" her milk with someone else's child. Often times these mothers pump extra breastmilk to give to infants who have mothers that are struggling with supply, are unable to breastfeed due to Insufficient Glandular Tissue or Hypoplasia of the breasts, or to premature infants who have mothers working to build up a supply, but need breastmilk now. These children have often been fed bottles of pumped milk, and now even more options are presenting- the use of supplemental nursing systems, such as a LactAid. These systems allow a mother to use donated breastmilk in a small bag or container that uses a tiny tube attached to her nipple in order to allow her child to still nurse directly at the breast, and perhaps receive what milk she does have while also receiving the donated supplement.

Here at EnWraptured DFW, I wanted to take a minute to share my own story with shared milk. I was diagnosed, after having three children whom I was unable to nurse, with Insufficient Glandular Tissue and Hypoplasia of the breasts. I have used wrapping as my source of bonding. As many mothers cherish the time they spend quietly nursing their babies, I wanted the same experience. Unable to nurse, I found my middle ground. With my first, I'd wrap him up and feed him with a bottle while he was wrapped on me. With my second, I did the same. With my third, I was able to take it a step further. I would wrap him, skin to skin, and feed him expressed, donated breastmilk with a bottle. I was able to give my baby breastmilk (thanks to some amazing mothers who shared their breastmilk with my baby), experience special skin to skin bonding, all because of wrapping.

Wrapping gave me the bonding I was missing when I sat with a broken heart, unable to nurse my baby. I'm currently pregnant with my fourth child, and we'll be doing even more this time! We'll be using a lact-aid supplemental nursing system, along with donated breastmilk, and skin to skin wrapping.

What about you? Have you struggled with nursing and used wrapping as a way to increase your bond?

Newborn Wrapping

Ah! The newborn days! What a wonderful and special time in any parents life. Babywearing with your brand new little one can be an amazing way to bond, promote successful breastfeeding and soothe a fresh baby!

You may have heard someone say once before something about the “Fourth Trimester”, this time is the first three months of your baby’s life. During the newborn period, or fourth trimester, your baby is learning to adapt to life outside of the womb. He or she has just spent the last nine months tucked comfortably in your belly. Changing from being held close, to suddenly an independent being, can be tough on a new little one. Babywearing can make this transition so much easier. Your baby has a need to be held often during this time (and for a long time after as well!). Unfortunately, as parents, we don’t have the gift of having many arms! This means that holding baby and doing things like trying to eat a quick bite, send an email or just give those tired arms a break , can be tough. Wearing your newborn can accommodate you so that you still have lots and lots of special bonding time with your baby, and they are feeling confident and secure tucked up next to you- while you are still able to do the everyday little things.  Newborn wearing can promote a healthy breastfeeding relationship as well. Wearing your baby skin to skin helps to bring in and establish your milk supply. Frequent wearing also allows you to nurse hands free, which means that baby might have more opportunities to be at the breast, allowing you to maximize your supply.

We recommend that you wear your newborn in the following carriers: A woven wrap, a stretchy wrap or a Ring Sling. These carriers allow for optimal positioning of your newborn.

A woven wrap is one that has been woven and tested specifically for babywearing. I suggest to use the front wrap cross carry with your rails bunched. The reason for this, is that having your rails bunched will keep baby in a tighter hold. This is optimal during the early newborn period. After that a FWCC with passes spread will work just fine. Most stretchy wraps come with instructions for doing a “pocket cross carry”. This allows you to pre-tie your wrap and pop baby in the pocket. A ring sling is also a wonderful option for newborn wearing. A ring sling is easy to use, quick and comfortable. The suggested carry is a tummy-to-tummy carry.

Remember to be sure your baby is upright, and his chin isn’t pressed to his chest so that his airway is fully open. You should be able to kiss the top of your baby’s head while she’s on you. Baby needs to be in a seated squat position, with knees higher than bum, and should have his feet “out” so that he’s not sitting on them.

If you are wearing a preemie, it is suggested to not start wrapping until baby is weighing over 4.5lbs. Baby should be worn in a stretchy wrap, or woven wrap in a front-wrap-cross-carry with rails bunched to provide stability. Walking around a lot while wearing a preemie is not suggested until baby puts on more weight and is more stable. 

*This blog post was also contributed to the Fort Worth Babywearing Blog

Wrapping Intensives

We would like to take a minute and update you about wrapping intensives. For those of you who have loved this program, don't worry! It's still here. We are continuing wrapping intensives, and for now they will remain a "beginner" themed class. Very soon though, we'll be offering intensives that feature different levels of wrapping- beginner, intermediate and advance, along with lots of other awesome educational opportunities! Keep following our blog and Facebook to keep up with what's going on here at EnWraptured DFW! 

For now, here is a short summary of what we're doing NOW! 

Wrapping Intensives for Beginners: A 2 hour in depth class that helps a caregiver learn how to use their woven wrap (we can also help you learn to use a stretchy wrap if you are wrapping a small baby). This class will help you to learn how to get a baby on your back, we'll teach you the double hammock carry, how to get baby down, and we'll offer up front carry instruction for anyone who would like to learn, as well as offer up a short demo on doing a rucksack. After taking part in the intensive, you will have the option of meeting Kristen and I individually if you need some additional help, we'll also be available to you through email, Facebook or over the phone for extra help. 

If you'd like to sign up, you can head over to EventBrite and purchase a ticket, it's that easy! 

What:  2 hour in-depth wrapping instruction for a limited number of people.

Why: The learning curve for wrapping can be high. By limiting the number of people at a specific Intensive, we can ensure everyone will get lots of one-on-one time with a leader.

Content: The only topic we focus on is wrapping. We begin each Intensive with basics about wrapping, safety, getting baby into the wrap or on your back, and a couple core carries. We also cover what to look for in a wrap and where to buy.

What To Bring: Please bring only one child, who will be wrapped, per parent.  Feel free to bring any wraps that you currently have. We will not be reviewing any other type of carrier, so feel free to leave those at home.

Price: The cost is $15 per parent/child pair and $8 per parent/child pair for members of Fort Worth Babywearers. The fee helps pay for the cost of our space.

Refunds, Rescheduling, and Cancelations:  Payments become non-refundable if it is 72 hours or less before an Intensive that you are reserved for. 

If you already have a ticket purchased and need to reschedule for any reason, you may do so by contacting us via email. Your payment may be transferred to your rescheduled Intensive if is it more than 72 hours before your originally scheduled Intensive. If it is within 72 hours, your payment is non-refundable and you must purchase a ticket for a new intensive.

If you would like to completely cancel and not be rescheduled, you may do so and receive a refund of your payment if it is more than 72 hours before your scheduled Intensive. If it is within 72 hours before your Intensive, the payment is non-refundable.

Refunds are issued within 14 business days.

Contact: Kristen Eilerts, or Tiffany Eldredge @ EnWrapturedDFW@gmail.com

Welcome!

We want to take a minute and welcome you to EnWraptured DFW! We're so excited that you are here! EnWraptured DFW is a new organization that will be dedicated to teaching caregivers how to wear their babies comfortably, and safely in wraps. There are many different types of wraps out there, so you might be wondering what we're talking about. We'll be focused on using stretchy and woven wraps. We want to clear up a few facts about our organization. Our organization will have a sole focus of wrapping, should you be interested in other types of babywearing we are happy to refer you to local babywearing groups. We are an organization dedicated to education, wrapping and community outreach. We'll be offering opportunities for "intensives", dedicated classes to help you learn to wrap your baby, eventually these will expand to encompass not only novice wrappers, but intermediate and advanced wrappers as well. We'll provide opportunities to learn to wrap your newborn, as well as your older child. As we grow and work we have many other big plans that will involve lots of community outreach. We hope that you will embark on this journey with us, and we invite you to visit our facebook page, as well as our Pinterest page. Please follow along here as well, where we will be announcing upcoming events, and more information.

If you have other questions or would like to contact us about events, please email us!

Thanks,

Kristen Eilerts and Tiffany Eldredge

Mission Statement

EnWraptured DFW is an organization dedicated to helping more families learn how to safely and comfortably wrap their babies. We believe that keeping your baby close to you can improve bonding, help baby feel secure, enable you to accomplish your goals, and improve your parent child relationship. We’ll be offering many avenues to help parents learn this ancient art of babywearing.