Composition: 70 % cotton, 30 % linen
Weight: 271 g/m²
Size: long 4 (410 cm)
Front cross carry with a ring
The Natibaby wraps we had the opportunity to test before this one, the all-cotton Nellette and the 3Dimensional with linen, were both thick, high-weight, supper-supportive toddler pieces. These Hummingbirds are a completely different story – this wrap is thin, silky soft, cuddly like a newborn blanket at the first touch. It is actually so soft, that the only thing I can compare the tactile feeling to is a kind of extra-soft flannel. You can see the delicate hair the wrap has on the detail photos quite clearly yourselves.
The wrap cooperated quite well while tying; however, it is a bit too slippery for my taste – as you can see, I had to make an additional knot under Emilka’s bum (after breathing in a lot 😀 ) in the front cross carry with a ring, because the wrap did not hold very well even in an M-size ring and it had tendency to loosen in the carry. The tightening was relatively easy, even though this Nati is no springy chewing-gum. And in the carry, well – a very little elastic, slippery and somehow ‘flat’ wrap; exactly one of those I could never grow fond of. But I do not want to say, that this one is usable ‘only for little babies’ or that it is not supportive at all – there are many wearers who prefer such non-elastic wraps and carry even very heavy toddlers in them. Just have a look into the review album of this wrap in the Facebook group of Nosíme děti (i.e. We wear our babies) – to be honest, I was very surprised how heavy loads it is allegedly capable of sustaining comfortably.
However, from my point of view, comfort is something different. I took the wrap for a trip to the local zoo; understandably, our trips do not longer mean three hours of babywearing straight without a break, but Emilka likes to take her naps in a wrap – and she took her approximately 1 hour long afternoon nap in this wrap and I have to say I was not very happy about it even with a two-layer carry… Of course, the FCC with a ring is one of the less comfortable carries; I consider it more of an emergency carry for a tired toddler who does not want to walk anymore, but after about 30 minutes with the Hummingbirds carrying nearly 10 kilograms I had a quite strong feeling that the wrap was trying to cut me in half. From my experience, there are two types of pain I feel when babywearing – sore and tired back and shoulders depend on my own physical condition and tolerance, but if the wrap cuts into my shoulders, that is clearly a problem of the wrap. Well, and the Hummingbirds were the latter case, I am sorry…
Not to end up in such a negative manner, I have to praise the wrap for its looks – quite surprising, right? Oh yes, I still hate violet colour but I must admit that this pattern is really beautiful – even though it takes some effort to tie the wrap in a manner that at least one of the hummingbirds is actually visible and recognizable. But, I just love animal patterns, so be it. 😉 As far as the care of the wrap goes, if you want to own this piece, you just need to love ironing, too. It wrinkles so much that it is close to unbelievable! On the other hand, it looks pretty resistant and durable, as it was released in 2012 and circulates around the Czech and Slovak wearers for testing for quite some time – no visible folds that could not be ironed off, no pulls (or traces of past pulls) whatsoever.
I hereby want to thank the group Nosíme děti (i.e. We wear our babies) for the opportunity to test this wrap!