Mei tai - feels like LO falling out

[Brasso4]

Hi there

I have bought a Palm and Pond mei tai from ebay for my small 8 month old. She holds her head well. I am able to get her into a back carry but the straps always feel really loose and I struggle to do them up tighter. She fell asleep in the mei tai and nearly fell out sideways! Any ideas what I might be doing wrong? There just seems to be a huge gap between my the two sides of the mei tai.

Thanks

Are you tying it round your baby's back? For older children you tie under their legs, but when they are wee, tie over the top of the mei tai, just under their arms and that should fill in that gap and hold them a bit closer.

You probably can get the straps tighter by doing a bit of jiggling, but I have to admit I only started back carry when my boys were a bit older as they were so small and quite late to get much strength in carrying their head. So hopefully you'll get more experienced advice soon.

With baby at the back, pull the straps to the front, tie them crisscrossing your chest then, pull them back under your pits, down towards baby's midsection, lexi twist under the bum, then pull under the baby's legs, then to your the front, tie in a knot. I think that will solve the prob.

You Tube videos are helpful for different methods of tying.

I use a (right handed) santa sack throw to get her up on my back, then take the left strap over my head so I have one strap over each shoulder iyswim. I hold them between my knees and tie the waist. Then I use ruck straps so just take the straps straight under my arms (you can cross them over your chest - dh does this, I find it uncomfy). I cross them over dd's back (i.e. not under her bum) and pull them out to the side - I sort of stick my elbows in the strap fabric and push my elbows out to get it tight. Then I bring them under dd's legs (this is the difficult bit for keeping it tight and you can do a lexi twist rather than just crossing over her back which makes it more effort to tighten but less likely to slip at this point) and tie at the front.

You might want to look at other makes of mei tai too as I have a feeling some of them will have sturdier straps than the Palm & Pond ones, which are only available on eBay and the various babywearer forums don't seem to be into them (not that that means much necessarily).

Hmmm, think my bargain might have been less of a bargain. I don't think the straps are long enough to wrap as much as you suggest CateHertz, don't think I will bother with another make now, but might buy an Ergo if I get PG with baby 2.