Quite understandably, how to support baby's head is one of the most frequent worries parents express when they get in touch with me. Particularly parents who have a carrier already, and have tried using it but are just not sure if it is providing enough head support, how to adjust it to ensure baby is supported, comfortable and most importantly safe.
Here I talk through what you need to know in terms of how to position baby and where to offer them support and where not to...
The important key points are;
- Support the neck, NOT the back of the head.
- Check how baby is sat - check they are sat on their bottom in a deep squat. You can see how to perform a pelvic tilt to check here.
- Check where they are sat in the carrier - adjust where in the panel they sit to bring the height of the carrier up or down so the padded top section rests nicely in the back of the neck.
As baby does grow you may well find you do need to use the flap to extend the panel. This is it's true purpose - rather than being a head support for a young baby, it is designed to extend the panel as baby grows to support and older baby or toddler as needed.
The carrier shown in the video is the Beco 8 (which you can purchase here), however, everything I discuss also applies to pretty much all buckle carriers and in particular the Ergobaby Omni 360, Tula Explore, Lillebaby All Seasons, Beco Gemini, Baby Bjorn Mini, Bjorn One and a great many others.
-Madeleine