Is it possible to nurse in a back carry?

Is it possible to breastfeed while wearing the baby on your back? You might think this is impossible because of the location of our breasts, right?…

Wrong! Many women around the world have learnt to nurse while wearing their babies on their backs. I know of a couple of examples in Africa, and have a personal experience learning the Ecuadorian way.

It’s pretty understandable that women with busy schedules find that wearing their babies and toddlers on their backs can make life easier. But what if they want to nurse and the mother needs or wants to keep the baby in the back carry?

My experience

As a babywearing junkie and single busy mom I quickly learnt that it was possible to nurse a baby while wearing him in a back carry with a ring sling or pouch. It’s a matter of bringing the baby under the arm in football position and let him nurse with his body wrapping mother’s back.

But I’m a wrapper (I mean, I used to be a wrapper) and would wear my baby in one shoulder carriers only for short periods at home. This is why I soon made up a way to breastfeed my baby while in a back cross carry with a wrap sling. It worked almost the same way but the problem was that after nursing I needed to tie again and the nursing position was not completely hands free.

Then I came back to Ecuador

When my son was 15 months old we came back to Ecuador and my babywearing abilities were enriched by some traditional parenting practices, especially those taught by my neighbor, mother of 3, grandmother of 1 and a woman from native origins (her first language is Quichua).

She explained me how to carry my baby in a bed sheet and many other babywearing tips and tricks. Once I mastered the back carry with a bed sheet I came back to her to chat and get some feedback on my new babywearing ability. Of course I asked her how to bring the baby to the front when he wanted to nurse, just to see if there were a good way to bring the baby to the front without untying. I wanted to do something as what I used to do with my wrap: bring the baby to the front and nurse him without completely untying.

I was surprised when she told me there’s no need to bring the baby to the front since it’s possible to nurse from the back. Of course I wanted to learn the technique, and even more when she told me it’s an ability most young mamas don’t practice nowadays. So there was me listening to her explanations and trying to follow her directions.

As easy as it is when you have real life help, in a few minutes I was nursing my toddler in a back carry, with my hands free. Some more practice and I was ready to take pictures, as my toddler was enjoying the position and the extra milk he got to try-he was at that stage when they don’t miss any nursing opportunity.

There must be other traditional arrangements

I’m sure there’re many ways of nursing with the baby on your back, in different cultures and with different kinds of carriers. I’m pretty sure that if this occurred to Ecuadorian and Affrican moms, it occurred to many other mamas in the world. However, I can only speak from my experience with the bed sheet worn the Ecuadorian way.

Here’s what I did

1.      Wore my baby on my back, using a bed sheet as shown in this video

2.      Slide one of the shoulder straps as if taking off a backpack

3.      Turn baby horizontally so he’s in a football nursing position

4.      Bring baby to the front, latch and nurse hands free!

5.      When finished, just bring baby to the original vertical position and wear the shoulder strap again.

* My son was already a toddler when I learnt this technique, but I was told with babies it’s even easier to do. I haven’t tried with smaller kids, though.

Mothers around the world have similar needs and struggles, but if we look around – in my case just next door-, we will find some parenting traditions are already solving many of our concerns. How great would the world be if every mama would have natural parenting support and encouragement from their family, friends and neighbors!