Babywearing at the Beach Using A Beach Towel

Babywearing happens anytime, anywhere — including at the beach! Sometimes this needs to happen in a pinch, so what do you do if you forget to pack your baby carrier? Well, if you have a beach towel you’re in luck! Take a look at this video tutorial demonstrating how I used a beach towel to wear my toddler!

Now that you’ve watched this babywearing at the beach video, let’s take a closer look at how it is done. The technique that I used is commonly referred to as “torso back carry”. It involves tying, twisting, and tucking. This technique is one that is commonly used in African babywearing with a simple piece of cloth, such as a kanga or chitenge. (To see African babywearing tutorials that I’ve done, go here and here.)

Here’s a review of how to do this carry based on the video tutorial.

Step 1: While holding the beach towel between your legs, place baby on your back. Alternatively, you can choose to keep the towel nearby or wrap it around your baby as you place baby on your back. There are many ways to put your baby on your back. 

Step 2: Place beach towel around the baby’s back making sure that the middle is on the baby’s back. You can figure this out by checking to see if the ends you are holding are of even lengths.

Step 3: Bring around both sides of the towel to the front of your chest. While holding the top side of both ends, tie a firm knot across your chest. (Alternatively, one at a time, you can bring each side of the towel across your chest and pin each end under one of your armpits. Then, roll the entire top edge away from you, tucking it under itself, once or twice until secured.)

Step 4: Holding the ends of the bottom edges in each hand, tightly cross them two or three times. Then tuck loose ends under the fabric.

A note about this tutorial: I want to point out that the towel did not fully cover me in the front after I secured it around my child and I. This is because I was wrapping an older toddler and I’m a curvy mama! (My beach towel might have also been too small.) You should not see this same gapping when wrapping a baby or smaller child, however.

Have you tried babywearing with a beach towel or another “simple piece of cloth”? Tell me more about it in the comments!

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