Dear Sling Lady,
I really want to love my new Kozy carrier, but something isn’t working for me. It seems like the carrier doesn’t come far enough up my daughter’s back! Can you help?
– Janice
Dear Janice,
My guess is that you need to get a better “seat” in your Kozy Carrier. I recently saw a post on the Beltway Babywearer’s blog that nicely illustrates how to do this! With their permission, I’m reprinting it here! These instructions work for both mei tai carriers like the Kozy and Ball Baby Mei Tais, and also for buckle carriers like the Tula and Pikkolo Carriers.
Warmly,
The Sling Lady
Recently I’ve helped several mamas at meeting with carriers they are not finding comfortable, and I make one minor adjustment and suddenly they say, “WOW, that fixed it!” So, I’m going to show you how to make that adjustment yourself.
Your initial carry might be safe in that baby isn’t falling out. It might look something like this:
Notice the carrier is low on the baby’s back, there is fabric bunched under baby’s bottom. This will eventually pull on your shoulders and make you uncomfortable.
There are a few things you can do to fix this.
1. Instead of pulling the carrier over baby from the top, instead smooth the carrier up over baby’s bottom before pulling the straps over your shoulders, like so:
2. Bounce the baby down while holding the straps STRAIGHT up. This is harder to accomplish in an SSC/buckle carrier, but notice I’m reaching over my shoulder and pulling up from there. When I say bounce, I do mean bounce. We aren’t talking feet off the ground jump, but bounce like you mean it.
See the huge difference in how high the carrier comes on her back? And how she is settled into the seat? Those will make all of you more comfortable with your positioning. Happy babywearing!
