Here are some tips for tightening your Combination (hybrid) or ​wrap style straps and keeping the straps from creeping towards your neck, as well as for removing any slack in your straps. Here is a photo tutorial and I've added a video too.

This demonstration is of a front carry in a baby size half buckle using a demo doll.  I am using a baby size adjustable half buckle with Combination straps. With a baby of this size make sure to remember to use the drawstring at the top of the body to adjust the height down so baby isn't lost down in the carrier and baby's face is visible. There are some more tips about how to use a carrier with a small baby here.

Video version - thanks to my 13 year old for helping me film my first video!

Before the internet babywearing information would only have been available (rarely) in magazines, and through parenting groups like Le Leche Leauge (US) or The Nursing Mothers Association (Australia) or if you were lucky enough to have a friend or relative who knew how to use one and was willing to show you.  In the early 2000's the growing popularity of the internet allowed information to be shared much more quickly and easily. This  is a large part of the reason that meh dai's (and babywearing in general)  become much more popular. The Babywearer the first popular internet forum devoted to babywearing launched in October 2003 and many other parenting forums had a section devoted to babywearing too.  From the few meh dai's available to parents (almost unchanged from the tradional design) there was soon an explosion of online shops that were designing, sewing and selling meh dais with each vendor adding on their own twist. 

These modern carriers had a wide variety of new features such as head supports, sleeping hoods, pockets, long padded or wrap style straps, mesh panels for hot weather, and cinchable bodies for easier use with different aged babies.  Of course many of these features were really reinventions as elements of these are also found on some traditional asian style baby carriers.  For more information about traditional meh dai's see this article.

​Early small scale brands stayed fairly close to the traditional design with a few small differences. The Baby Back Tie and Packababy were both  basic designs.  Neither had any padding (though Packababy eventually made shoulder pads that would slide on)

The website for the Baby Back-Tie was launced in December 2002 and the Packababy's in July 2003. The Kozy carrier arrived later in 2003. The Packababy had a large body and the Baby Back Tie (BBT) a smaller one. The Packababy and Baby Back Tie were made with heavier fabrics and longer straps (a departure from the lightweight fabrics and short straps traditional mei tai’s tended to have) but they still had narrow straps.

Packababy (pictured to the right) had a  unusal construction with wide cotton webbing straps crossed through the body and sewn to the outside. These carriers were made from sateen canvas with a layer of cotton on the main side. There's an interesting description of how the packababy was sewn here - https://web.archive.org/web/20040806201034/http://www.packababy.com/makingof.html

The Baby Back-Tie had four long straps meant to be tied traditionaly (straps tied to form one single knot in the front) but it was also pictured on the Baby Back-Tie website as tied in the newer style with back pack style tied shoulder straps and the waist strap tied around the waist

Baby Back Tie (Packababy pictured above)

In the US the first really popular meh dai was the Kozy, designed by Kelley Mason in late 2002, after a picture she saw on the Internet and she also took some inspiration from the Packababy and Baby Back Tie. 

"The Kozy is a modern version of the Asian Mei Tai, and it was inspired by the carriers that proceeded it. I have added things to it to add in stabiIity and comfort but have been very cautious to keep the design true to the style...simple, compact, and comfy...I don't claim to have "invented" this carrier (hey, I am creative, not brilliant ;-)  These types of Asian style carriers have been around for a long time.  I simply added my own ideas to the more modern versions out there today with the hopes that perhaps I could offer you something a bit "different"  that might not be offered in other "asian style" carriers.
https://web.archive.org/web/20041123180331/http://www.geocities.com:80/kozycarrier/mystory.html​
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The body of the Kozy was larger and taller than it's traditional counterparts, and the shoulder straps wider, longer, and padded (and with a pocket on the end). The waist straps were unpadded and angled. There was a curved top useful as a headrest, but no hood. The shoulder straps (like many early US mei tai’s) were not quite as long as those found on many meh dai’s today and were were designed to tied off under baby’s bum or across the back.  For many years many of the mei tai’s made in the US after the Kozy came out were influenced by this design. ​

The Kozy was the first really sought after meh dai with a long waiting list at first and reselling quickly when listed on FSOT (For Sale or Trade) boards in the forums.  Unlike the other more basic mei tai's which came before it was available with designer prints and luxurious optional extras (Bling Kozies) with silk panels, panels with beads and embroidery, and velveteen straps. There is at least one instance of a panel Kozy selling for $400 USD, way above the original retail price of $125 USD. 

Mei Tai Baby