any tips on back carries in a mei tai?

[chel]

have recently taken ownership of a kozy and i love it. am very impressed with it. am ok with front carries in it but really want to master back carries as I think these will be the ones we use the most.

but i just can't figure out how to get him on my back (he's 1 and very strong and wriggly) and then get the straps up and over my shoulders around him. i need 4 pairs of hands

[RachJ]

It's hard to explain but I'll have a go since I also have a strong and wriggly 1yo! I tie the waist bit round me so that the body of the MT is on my side, pick up DS onto hip, lift back of MT up DS back, and then scoot him round onto my back with the MT in place, get the straps over my shoulders and tie. Apologies if that doesn't make sense! I'm sure there are probably instructions with diagrams somewhere on the www, possibly on TBW. I'm sure if someone has a link they'll be able to post it here for you!

Rach
xx

[RachJ]

Didn't realised til after I'd posted that your DS is a Kieran - mine's a Kieran too (though a little older than yours as mine is May 05!).

Rach
xx

[mamadillo]

After I tie the MT on, I sit K on my shoulders, like for a shoulder-ride, then pull the fabric and straps up her back and over her shoulders, drop her legs down one by one while holding the straps in one hand in front of me and bounce her into the body. It's the only way I could figure out how to get the body up over a cloth-nappied bum! I'm more used to santa-tossing with a wrap you see, the fabric's already there that way.

[chel]

thanks both

they both make sense so will give them both a try and see how we get on

will report back soon!

[Squirrel]

I use a slight variation on Rach's method. I tie the sling on hanging down my back then lift ds onto my hip and scoot him around on to my back and then leaning forward i suppost hiw with one hand on his back while I pull the body of the carrier up over him with the other. Then with one hand on his back on top of the carrier I grab one strap and then let go of his back to grab the other strap. It's the kind of the way I learnt to do the ergo when he was 7mths and has always worked well for us.

Sarah

[KNorman]

I use the put baby on carrier and swing the whole lot on to back method. Worked this out when I got my Onbuhimo - here is the page with the instructons (at the bottom). But am having a memory problem and can't remember how we coped at the wriggling about stage!

http://www.peppermint.com/onbuhimo-wearing.htm