Wear Your Baby Wednesday - No Highchair? No Problem!

Let me paint a little picture for you...

You're flying from California to Massachusetts with your infant by yourself.  You have a layover in Texas and you are so looking forward to not having your lovely child on your lap for a few minutes.  You had planned ahead and packed some food for your little one so you head to the food court so you can both sit down and enjoy a quick meal.  But when you get there, they don't have any highchairs.  Not just that there aren't any available...there just aren't any there.  You could eat with your kid on your lap, but that would suck because you've had them on your lap for the entirety of your first flight, and they will be on your lap for the entirety of your next flight.  Instead, you get resourceful and MacGyver a highchair out of one of your trusty-dusty baby carriers...

**Sorry for the super crappy cell phone picture, I'm not the best photographer when I'm in the middle of a cross-country journey with a baby by myself, haha

I know, I know...I'm a genius.  Just kidding - I'm not the first person to do this, and I sure as heck won't be the last!  But, it's an incredibly useful trick to have up your Mommy sleeve, so I figured I'd share the different ways I know how to make a "mock highchair" out of different baby carriers since you never know when you'll need to tie your kid to a chair...like at the movies! (We do this regularly; the movie theater on base is super kid friendly and it's free (it only shows a few movies on the weekends, but still, it's free, so I'm not going to complain!))

"Girl, you better not be going after my popcorn!!"

I guess I should get down to business and actually show you how...first, with a Mei Tai or (like I prefer) a Half Buckle (which has a buckle waist instead of a tie waist...I promise I'm going to do a baby carrier 101 post soon, it's just taking forever for me to put together):

1. Buckle or tie the waist around the bottom of the back of the chair.
2. Place baby in the chair with their legs spread apart.
3. Wrap the straps around the back of the chair and back to the front
4. And tie in front!

If you have a smaller baby that actually needs help sitting upright you could tie the straps higher up under their arm pits; since W is plenty stable enough, I just tie in front of his waist.

I even had a friend use a Soft Structured Carrier (an Ergo, to be exact) in a similar fashion and she gave me permission to share one of her photos of her adorable little man:

In case you can't tell she simply buckled the waist around the bottom of the back of the chair, placed baby in the chair, then looped the arm straps around the corners of the back of the chair.  Odds are you'll have to adjust the length of your straps to do this.

Last but not least, I actually whipped up a little how-to video for you for how to use a woven wrap!

**Please excuse my comfy clothes; I'm pregnant, I'll wear what I want!

So there you have it, yet another reason to add to the list of why everyone needs to wear their babies, or at the very least have a baby carrier at their disposal!  If you have any questions, as usual, feel free to ask!

What handy tricks do you have for when you're out and about with baby?

The following screen shot is only there so I can pin directly to this page.