Do you like woven wraps?
Have you tried or used a woven wrap?
If you haven't, would you like to?
If you didn't like them, what was it that you didn't like?
Me, I love woven wraps. Fact. Did I always love woven wraps? Erm, well, not love, no. I had more of a determination to make them work. And as I learned how to use them and how they work, I grew to love them dearly.
Oh, the anticipation as you open the box, the feel in hand at that first touch, all freshly folded.
Then, like the smashing of champagne on a new cruise liner, the inaugural steam iron after the first wash.
Wrapping is such a sensory experience.
To the eye, it's a feast of colour, texture and design.
Touch - the soft feel of the fabric running though your hand. Your fingers, exploring the texture, finding the hemmed edges. Feeling your technique as you learn to adjust the fabric, learn how it moves and how it acts.
Sound - listening to your baby jibber jabber whilst you hmmpphh and harrumph your way through your wrap job. The eventual wrap silence that happens when you can FWCC in 60 seconds. 60 seconds after that, the silence is sweetly broken by the heart melting snuffles of your little sleeping darling.
Smell - the top of your baby's head. It's all good things. It is perfection.
As in life, wrapping is as much about the journey as the destination. There will always be techniques to hone, carries to try, new wraps to use. But the journey is fun! Oh yes, of course you'll drag your tails in a muddy puddle, more than once. You'll forget that wearing a tunic and tights is a bad idea (but only when you've actually finished wrapping and you realise your tunic is tucked into the wrap).
I remember DH telling me he didn't understand why I'd spend ages standing in the rain at the boot of the car, putting baby in a wrap. Why not just use a buckle carrier? It would be so much easier!
But all of a sudden, in a eureka moment, it finally clicked with him. He finally understood the meaning of wrapping. The process itself has meaning; putting in the effort to learn how to wrap, to learn how to master it, fundamentally makes carrying your baby, a very special act in itself, even more so.
So I urge you to give it a try. I know there is a learning curve, but climbing that curve is so very much worth it.
Much love and happy baby carrying!