Moby and head support

[AliceMay]

I have been using the moby wrap since my daughter was a week old, even though she was only 5lb, 6 oz. We love it but sometimes i worry about her head position. No matter what i do she tends to wind up so that her head is tilting back quite far. Maybe this is because she is still quite small (5 weeks now....not sure what she weighs but still small) ? Anybody else have this problem or a suggestion? I've found putting the wrap on by folding instead of bunching has helped a bit but the pocket for her head is still so big. Not sure how much I should worry about that position - it just looks like it would be uncomfortable, though she doesn't seem to mind. Sometimes I just push her head forward with my hand and then support it there, which is fine for walks, but not as easy when i'm trying to do other things. Thoughts?

[katelove]

Are you doing a chest-to-chest carry? Maybe you could pull the horizontal band up so it supported her head rather than using the shoulder pieces? 

We had trouble with head support when J was little too. Not because she was too small but because she just didn't like having her head tucked in. We spent a lot of time supporting it with our hands :-)

[GoGoGirl]

DD always hated having her head tucked in to the wrap, unless she was asleep.  The rest of the time, I did just have to support it with my hand if I bent over.  If tucking it into the side straps isn't working, I don't think there's anything you can really do with a stretchy wrap like a Moby.  If you were using a woven wrap, the wrap would be supportive enough that the top rail of the horizontal pass would support her head.  But of course, stretchy wraps stretch!  So I don't think you'd get much support just from the top rail.

[AliceMay]

Dd doesn't really spend much time in the wrap without being asleep. But if she is awake is it ok not to have her head tucked in, as long as I'm not bending down? I'm always nervous about head support. Of course she is growing and changing all the time, so maybe this won't be an issue for two much longer. I thought about tucking something beside the back of her head so it doesn't bend back (to be clear her ear is touching my chest but her head bends backwards toward my armpit). But maybe I'm worrying more about this than i need to.

We also have a ring sling that sometimes works well but I feel like it is still hit and miss (I need to get better at it) and so sometimes I avoid it because if it doesn't work dd gets unhappy and we often have to start all over with nursing.....But I'm sure I will get better if I practice, and it will get better when she is a little bigger too.

[GoGoGirl]

Hmmmm.  Can you try putting her a little higher on your chest?  So her head is resting above your boobs, kind of on your sternum?  You can also try just pulling up the horizontal pass more (like up to the bottom of her ears) and tightening it, that might give a little more support.  I'm not sure if this will work with a stretchy wrap, but with a woven wrap, you can roll a cloth into the top rail of the horizontal pass to make a little pillow for the baby's head.  Here's a video so you can see what I mean.  If you do that, it will probably work better to do a fwcc (front wrap cross carry, like she's doing in the video) instead of a pwcc (pocket wrap cross carry, which is more common with stretchy wraps--that's the carry where you tie it on first and then pop the baby in).

And I hear you with ring slings!  I thought my ring sling would be so easy to figure out, but it didn't really click for me until DD was closer to 4 months old.

[GoGoGirl]

Oh, wait, now that I reread the position you said your baby is in, that sounds like you're already putting her in the right position to me.  With a newborn, the safest position is upright, tummy to tummy, with her head turned to the side so her cheek is pressed against your chest.  Does this look like the position your baby is in?

[AliceMay]

Thanks, yes, that is the position she is in. It's just that her head tends to tip so that her face is looking up at me a bit more. But I think I may be worried about nothing because even on the moby website they show a baby with a head at that angle. I just didn't want her to get a crick in her neck! 

[KABB]

I wore my daughter from birth and never had an issue with her head not being supported. It sounds to me like however you're wrapping her you're just not providing her with the adequate support. Can you post pictures of her, in the Moby, head in the position you are trying to fix?

[AliceMay]

I think I may have solved it. Instead of tucking her head into the second pocket I tuck it into the first one (you know, the pocket that you put her in first. This one is always tighter, so it tends to keep her little head more in place. I'm also thinking a lot of people are wearing there babies the same way I am and just don't think that the head tilting back (to clarify, not tilting away from my body, but against the body so the baby is looking more upwards) and not thinking it is an issue at all. The breathing is fine and she never complains....

[LadybugMamma]

can you fold up a little illow for her out of burp clothes or receiving blankets? i dont remember having this issue with my dd when she was a week old but she was 7 12 when she was born and has always had a strong neck. gl