HANA Baby Wrap review

HANA Baby Wrap Review by Jacqui

When I found out I was pregnant, I knew one thing: I wanted a baby carrier. I’d used a buckle style carrier when I was 15 and had a full time babysitting job that summer. Watching a 9 month old and a 2 year old was made significantly easier because the infant didn’t monopolise the hands so desperately needed for keeping a 2 year old alive.

The hands free benefits of wearing your baby are probably the most obvious. With a good carrier, you don’t have to fit that buggy in the boot when you go shopping; you can walk your toddler by the hand while your infant sleeps happily on your chest or takes in the scenery from your back; you can get the dishes done when your baby won’t let you put her down.

For a newborn, the best kind of carrier you can use is a stretchy wrap. It really doesn’t matter how small your baby is. By the time she is healthy enough to leave the hospital, she is more than ready to be carried snug, next to her mother or father’s body. Stretchy wraps can even be useful for “kangaroo care” in hospital with premature babies.

There are many different stretchy wraps available, but the nicest I have tried is the Hana Baby bamboo wrap. Stretchy and supportive, the fabric is breathable but warm. Crucially, it is easily laundered and even tumble dried (very useful if you only have one and it’s as used as ours is!), and after 4 months of use, this doesn’t seem to have degraded the wrap in the slightest.

The tying of the wrap sometimes puts people off. They think it looks complicated, and the last thing any new mom needs is something complicated to learn. I started carrying my daughter when she was 3 weeks old and I can say that I’d tied a useable tie on my first try and by the 3rd try, it was as solid a tie as I do now, four months on.

For us, the real benefit was not out shopping, or doing the washing up, or any of the things I envisioned being made simpler by a baby carrier. While it certainly worked for all those things, the fact that my colicky baby found comfort when I would put her in the wrap was, by far, the most amazing benefit. My mother thought it was magical.

I could tie the wrap in the morning and leave it on all day, popping my daughter in whenever she was struggling to nap (or even burp or have a bowel movement). She’d almost instantly fall asleep and sleep comfortably and secure, happy to be with her Momma and I was happy to have a quiet content baby while I was free to do other things.

As a new mom, having my baby so close to me helped me too. Carrying her made me less anxious and more confident. Cuddling is good for happiness hormones!

We have also noticed that carrying her in the Hana wrap has helped her develop strong head and neck control. We may have been less than vigilant in doing “tummy time” (because she hates it and we hate it when she screams), but her developmental check showed that she had exceptional head and neck control, and I suspect that’s from being nosey and looking about while she’s in the wrap!

If you’re expecting, or you have a small baby, a Hana wrap will make life that bit easier and cuddlier. And if you’re petite, there’s a “shorty” version that means you won’t be left with reams of fabric hanging off you when you’re done securing your baby. If you’re not petite, don’t let that stop you — I use the regular version with plenty of fabric to spare and am easily a size 18-20. Happy wrapping!

HUGE thanks to Jacqui for reviewing the HANA baby wrap.    HANA wraps can be purchased online at Babipur