Mei tei as a back carrier?

[mhm]

Anyone use a mei tei as a back carrier? At what age did you start carrying your LO on your back? Were you able to get him/her on your back by yourself? I ordered a solarveil mei tei to use at WDW in Sept. (in addition to stroller) with my currently 16 lb 7 month old dd. I think it would be easier on my back to carry her on my back, but I don't know if she's old enough. She's quite the wiggle worm (she has been very active since the day she was conceived and is already cruising the furniture). Any tips?

 

[mommylicious]

I can wear my 8 month old DS on my back but I have to have someone help me get him in there. I haven't mastered the art of doing it myself without being terrified that I'm going to drop the little wiggle worm while trying to get him all set! That said, at 26 lbs it is still remarkably comfortable to wear him in the Mei Tei even in front and he doesn't seem to mind that he's not facing out. He only fusses if I stand still for too long.

 

[Ariel8676]

I started carrying Brynn on my back when she was about 6-7 months...I practiced and practiced at home. The hip scoot was the easiest at first (and still use it sometimes). Tie it on your waist like you normally would but have the fabric hanging at your hip, put the baby on yor hip(get them centered), pull up the fabric and hold the straps with one hand..scoot them to your back and take one strap in each hand and hold them staight up in the air..give a little bounce to create a nice deep seat and tie.
HTH!!!
The great thing about solarveil(aside from the extra sun protection) is you can put he baby on the front and wear her right in the pool..and it dries in seconds!!

 

[bumbershoot]

People have given you good info here! Yay!

Here I was in the apartment, playing around with a piece of fabric tied in a backcarry, when DS was...3 months old.

Weird, I can't find my back-carry-with-Korean-podegi picture, oh well!

Point is, in those traditional carriers there are many ways for a secure back-carry.

Now, I coudln't put him on my back for anything until he was old enough to stand behind me and climb up. Pregnancy just devastated my joints, and I couldn't move my arms in the right way to get him up there or even do the hip scoot move. So I always had to have someone there with me to put him up and hold him up while I tied it.

But as you can see in my avatar, I kept DS in a front, facing-me carry for a good long time! He's about 1 year 4 months at Disneyland in my avatar picture. He always enjoyed interacting with people behind me, and they liked it that I coudln't see the silly faces they were making.

If your joints aren't as bad as mine...mamatoto.org has good instructions for ties and getting baby up there, and I'm sure thebabywearer.com (or something like that?) has good info too!


Oh, while my mei tai wasn't solarveil, I'm sure the mesh idea is about the same...my mei tai isn't padded in the shoulders. And if your babe is on the heavier side, if your shoulder straps aren't padded either, watch out for the skin below your shoulders and in front of your armpits! Once I started backcarries with that mei tai, I got broken blood vessels there (AKA hickeys) from the upadded straps...for a future mei tai even if it's solarveil, I'd get lightly padded straps.

 

[mhm]

Thanks everyone. I think I might be able to try the hip scoot, but I will let dd get used to riding on my back first with someone helping me.

I ordered a Sachi Solarveil that does have light padding. I can't wait for it to arrive so I can try it out!