Let's Talk about Mei Tais for a Minute

So most of my posts so far have been regarding woven wraps. I know that not everyone has a woven wrap, so let's jump into a different type of carrier. Mei Tais are Chinese in origin. A basic translation: mei=to wear on the shoulder, tai=band or strap. A mei tai then is basically a squarish-shaped panel with straps that go over your shoulder and a second set of straps that go round your waist. There are padded straps, unpadded straps, and wrap style straps out there. The panel itself can be a solid color, or have a decorative panel on it. A lot of mamas like mei tais that have been converted from woven wraps. They can also be made of any good bottom weight material such as duckcloth or denim. I prefer the wrap conversions personally because they seem to breathe better. I do like my Infantino though, and use it as the "keep it in the car for major meltdown, mommy forgot the wrap" or "oh crap, it's an unexpected rainshower" moments. Mei tais are great for babies of a lot of different ages and sizes. I started using one with my youngest when he was about 4 weeks old. I can use it with my 32 lb 3 year old as well.

A mei tai can be used for a front, hip or back carry. There are different ways to tie your straps off, but the most common is to tie the waist straps around your waist. Put baby in the carrier, and pull the panel up between his legs and over his back. Wrap the shoulder straps over your shoulders to your back, and cross them in an "x" pattern. Bring the shoulder straps back around just above your hips and around baby's back. You can simply cross them behind baby and bring them back around under his legs to your back and knot them. That's for a front carry. You do basically the same thing for either a hip or a back carry. With back carries however, you can tie off with a ring, tie Tibetan, or tie with ruckstraps similar to a woven wrap. Hopefully the pictures below will help explain what I mean.

This was my first Mei Tai...one I made myself. Not the greatest,

as I made the panel too big for baby L, but it worked.

Here I've got my then 25lb toddler in the back with my baby in the front in a Moby wrap.

And hubby, modeling the toddler carry again. Here you can see the way the straps go round C's back in what is called a Lexi twist. Basically, they wrap around a couple times before going under his legs.

And this is what's called a wrap conversion Mei Tai. It's made from a woven wrap, in this case a Didymos Iris...this one was actually made by Didymos. They call it their DidyTai. I liked it as far as construction, but it was too small in my opinion for bigger babies or toddlers. 

My second attempt at a mei tai, this time with wrap straps.

Good example of a different tie off. Since I hate ruck straps, I was experimenting with using a sling ring.

Another wrap conversion mei tai, this time a Natibaby Milky Way. This one was also made by Natibaby. You can see that they put a bit of padding at the top, near the legs, and also in the straps and waistband.

Hubby babywearing. He's so hot!

You can see how this panel is almost too tall for L. You can fix that

by simply rolling the waistband under to adjust the height. 

The next two pictures are of mei tais laid out. You'll notice that both sets of shoulder straps are attached at an angle to the body panel. This makes it a little easier to get the correct positioning. The one on top has a sleep hood attached, the one on the bottom does not.

This is an older style Infantino mei tai with a taller body panel. This is a great example of a mei tai that is relatively inexpensive, but will last you through toddlerhood. I think this one is in the neighborhood of $30.

Oh, another wrap conversion. This one was done by a WAHM from Natibaby Rivea.

I believe it was done by Chrysalis Designs. It has wrap straps and a sleep hood as well.

 And now, a couple good examples of a back, hip, and front carries in a mei tai that show how versatile a mei tai is. I actually took all three of these within 5 minutes. I did not actually take L down to change the carry. I just untied the shoulder straps and shifted him around in the carrier. Quite convenient if you've been wearing for awhile, and need to change it up for comfort. I also like the mei tai because it's great for quick in and out carries because you don't have a lot of excess wrap to contend with in a parking lot.

Back Carry: don't mind L's face; he's quite happy...almost asleep.

Hip Carry: photo credit goes to my toddler.

And finally, a Front Carry: I can also nurse in this position,

although it's getting a little tougher because L is getting taller.