Defining "apron-style"

by 2 March 28, 2012 1 Comment

This is a term that is often used by babywearers and it's a shorthand way to describe how to wear many mei tai carriers as well as our pikkolo. A lot of soft-structured, or semi-structured, carriers today have a thick, firmly padded foam waistband and they are worn a little differently than the pikkolo. However, I know that it is a little confusing, because if you add the babywearing support belt to the pikkolo, then you do wear it the same as other typical SSCs. When you wear the pikkolo without the support belt, it is intended to be worn apron-style. This means that when you put the pikkolo on, you will secure the waist buckle around your waist such that the front curved and piped panel will touch the tops of your thighs at first, and the printed safety warning label will be facing outward, away from your body, and the carrier itself is hanging down from your waist, in front of you, like---you guessed it----an apron. Then you pick up baby and place him or her against your chest with legs straddling your middle, bring the carrier up between his or her legs and fasten the attachments. So the carrier now is in a J-shape. Or you could think of your chest plus the carrier forming a U-shape, and in the middle is where your baby is sitting. With an SSC with a foam padded waist/hip belt, the J-shape stops short at the waist and goes downward (the foam padded waist/hip belt) instead of upward on your abdomen (the pikkolo's unstructured, soft fabric body). I've made some diagrams to try to illustrate this below. To the left of the shape is the wearer's body, in profile (from the side): [caption id="attachment_388" align="alignleft" width="208" caption="The pikkolo forms a J-shape when worn."]

[/caption] [caption id="attachment_389" align="alignleft" width="186" caption=""Traditional" SSC, with truncated J-shape with padded waist going downward."]

[/caption] I hope this helps to make this easier for some people to visualize! We are also working on some plans to get videos and more photo tutorials up on our blog for people.
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CatBird Baby Pikkolo Review- and a thank you! | Babywearing International of Chicagoland

March 10, 2016

[…] They are the neatest form of “hybrid” for a carrier that is SSC based, with some of the more traditional, asian style mei tai features blended in. How is that you ask?? Unlike other SSC’s, where there is a padded waist support, Pikkolo gives you the option to have a padded or unpadded waist. Without the waist support belt, it is worn in the traditional “Mei Tai” style, also called apron-style, or J style. Here is a great explanation on what that means: Defining apron-style. […]

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