Sunday 16 February 2014

COTW 3#- Reinforced Rucksack Back Carry

by Aline Kelly

Reinforced Rucksack (RR) is similar to the basic ruck, but the leg passes are spread across baby's back and bum instead of bunched. This alteration adds extra support and reinforcement to the carry and is a nice way to switch up your rucksack as baby gets bigger. It can be tied with a mid-length woven wrap, usually a size 3, 4, or 5. Your wrap will generally need a little more length for an RR than for a regular ruck.

General Instructions:
- Get baby on your back and create a seat. Both tails come over your shoulders. 
- Secure one tail between your knees while you work with the opposite tail.
- Take your working tail under your arm and behind your back. Spread the fabric across baby's back and bum, and tuck it carefully under his opposite knee. 
- Repeat with the other tail. 
- Tie in front or tie tibetan. 

Tips:
The tricky part about RR is getting the fabric spread nicely over baby's back without it getting bunched, sliding down, or getting stuck under baby's bum. Some tips to get nice high passes:
- When you pass the wrap from one hand to the other behind your back, make sure there's a lot of extra fabric between your hands. This helps you maneuver the wrap without it getting stuck or snagged on anything. Holding the fabric in both hands, raise your hands up high behind you, then let the wrap fall high on baby's back.
- Another trick is to "pop" the fabric up and let it land high. Picture it like the giant parachutes you'd play with in gym class as a kid - everyone pops up the parachute at the same time to get air under it. The same kind of idea can be used here. 
- Once your wrap is draped, pull the fabric up towards your opposite shoulder to keep it high, then tighten strand by strand so you don't have any loose fabric stuck anywhere.  Make sure that the fabric continues to cover baby's bum. You can even tuck the bottom rails up under his bum to reinforce the seat. 
- With each pass, make sure there's no tiny feet stuck under the fabric. 
 - Take care when tucking under baby's knee, as passes can be lost or diminished here, too. Ease the wrap down strand by strand, keeping tension, then sneak the wrap under baby's knee. It also helps to straighten baby's knee so the wrap doesn't have to travel as far. 

Videos:
Babywearing Faith
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