Question: Why am I finding it hard to pull/adjust the “tail” from the rings?
Answer 1: You do not support your baby’s weight. It is very hard to pull the fabric through the rings if you do not, simultaneously, lift the weight of your baby. Use the hand that is nearer to your baby and support its weight (it usually helps to put your hand under its bottom). Put the baby tightly on you every time you want to tighten or adjust your Ringsling. This does not only offer safety to your baby during adjustment, but it will also let the excess (loose) fabric to show between the baby and the rings, so as you will be able to “retract” the fabric. If you do not support the baby’s weight in this phase, it will be difficult to tighten your Ringsling and in addition, you make the life span of the Ringsling less. The excess fabric is easy to be pulled softly from the loose fabric through the rings, if you support the weight of your baby.
Answer 2: You pull the fabric towards the wrong direction. Imagine the Ringsling exactly like a belt. The belt will pass a second time from itself and “doubles”. Pull the fabric towards the side of the baby and not towards to the other side. If you pull straight head on the fabric towards the down part, the rings will grasp the fabric even tighter. Pull the “tail” gently in an up and down like a bow movement towards the baby or in front of you. In addition, make smaller corrections by pulling the upper part of the selvage, the middle part of the “tail” and the lower part of the selvage, with this order.
Answer 3: The fabric in between the rings is twisted and not well spread. What you have to do is to lift the fabric in between the rings, to find the selvage of the one side and to spread it from side to side like a “fan”. When you are finished, you pull the “tail” so as the fabric can leave from on top of the rings, hence securing the Ringsling.
Question: The rings instead of being situated in the shoulder “hole”, they go further down to my breast.
Answer: The main cause of this common problem is that you have left a lot of fabric before you put the baby or because you have more loose fabric in your back. Before you pull the “tail” of the Ringsling, bring all the excess fabric from your back so as it is gathered in front of the baby’s back and the rings. Following that, pull the “tail” and the rings will remain to the hole of your shoulder. Alternatively, you can start with the rings very high on your shoulder, so as to fall on the right place, when you tighten your Ringsling.
Question: I feel that my baby will slip off the carrier. What am I doing wrong?
Answer: You have to make sure that the baby’s bottom is lower than the height of its knees. In order to achieve that, you have to bend the knees of the baby and by tightening the lower selvage so as to hold the knees bended (also by pulling the consequent part of the “tail”).
(NOTE: The babies that are not used to be “worn” in a Ringsling, tend to keep their legs straight. You may have to repeat bending the knees of the baby again and again and tighten the selvage in order for your baby to be accustomed to this position.
Question: Why does my back / neck / shoulder ache?
Answer: You wear your baby either too loosely or too low or you leave a gap hence the baby can push away from you. In the positions of the newborn babies, the baby has to be somewhere around your bellybutton and the breast. The baby’s head has to be in kissing distance.
In the side position at the hip, the baby must not be able to move away from you. You have to barely be able to fit your hand, in between your body and your baby.
If you feel that your shoulder still supports the weight of your baby, then it is not tightened enough on you. You have to be able to have your hands free even if you wear a toddler with enough weight. Adjust your Ringsling according to the above.
Also, it is very possible to not have your fabric straightened up on your back or on your shoulder or even the fabric to be, by mistake, gathered towards your neck. Imagine that were the seams of the rings end, the fabric has to start to spread the most that it can be spread.
Question: Why can’t I place the legs of the baby inside the Ringsling?
Answer: It is possible that you have not put your baby high enough. Lift your baby high with your one hand (with your arm and not from the armpits). With your other hand, grasp the lower part of the “pouch” of the fabric of the Ringsling and pull it towards your belly, making the “pouch” bigger. Afterwards, with the same hand, guide the legs of the baby inside the “pouch”. Tighten as needed.
Question: I feel that there is not enough fabric under the baby’s butt and I feel insecure that the baby can slip away.
Answer: You have left a lot of fabric in the back of the baby. Take your baby out of the Ringsling and replace the missing fabric to the baby’s bottom, paying attention that the fabric reaches its knee joints. Alternatively, if you have already placed the baby in your Ringsling, support its weight and pull with your free hand the excess fabric from its back and bring it under its bottom, to its knee joints. Do not forget that the baby’s legs have to be bent, higher than the baby’s bottom and you have to be able to see an “M” in the mirror.