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Infant carriers are pretty essential for grocery shopping until baby is able to sit up in the shopping cart. Otherwise you'll have to go shopping with the stroller or put the car seat in the shopping cart and won't be able to fit much in your basket or shopping cart much. After my first baby was able to sit, I did not use the infant carriers as much as I thought I would.
Ergobaby Carrier
Pros: Now this one is very comfortable, even distribution of the weight. Some of the support is on your hips. The Ergobaby, like the name suggests is ergonomic. I found that once the baby is big enough to have his/her legs out the sides (about 6 months), you can even nurse the baby in it! (I thought maybe from newborn age they could feed in it, but my baby's head was up too high for that to work). You can wear it front and back and on the hip! They don't outgrow it as early as they do the other mentioned carriers. In fact I carried my bigger than average 2.5-year-old in it (albeit once, when she was cranky, at Disney and my not-yet-recovered from pregnancy hips DID hurt afterwards). So far I use it a couple times a week with baby #2 and it works like a charm!
Most importantly, I should add that it's an invaluable asset for Halloween costumes, such as my "zombie with parasite popping out of its stomach" creation below.
Cons: it IS pretty expensive, so I didn't initially get it with my first baby until she was probably closer to a year old. And I only got it because I ended up finding it at a really good price at TJ Maxx and couldn't pass it up. Even though I only ended up using it a few times with her, I use it all the time with baby #2 (I have less time to sit and console him since I have a 2-year-old to cook for and clean up after. He is easily consoled while in the carrier and I can carry on multitasking. Truly worth it! Hey, how did the "cons" section end up on a positive note?
Chicco Carrier
Pros: None. We didn't like it.
Cons: I call this the Babybjörn knock-off. We didn't like it for a few reasons:
1) She slumped over to the side when she was newborn, not good neck support. I've heard from several sources that it forces their legs into an unnatural position, causing hip dysplasia.
2) By 6 months she didn't fit in it anymore, so she outgrew it before I could get our money's worth.
3) Our shoulders hurt when carrying her in it for any length of time.
BabyBjörn Original Baby Carrier
Pros: I'm a bad Swede, I don't have one of these.
Cons: The BabyBjörn, I hate to say it, supposedly isn't as ergonomic as you'd think. Plus it's kind of expensive for only being able to use up to 25 lbs., EYE think. Post in the comments below if you disagree!
There is an even more expensive version that is good up to 33 lbs, if you insist on supporting awesome Swedish design.
Lite-On-Shoulder Ring Sling
Infant carriers are pretty essential for grocery shopping until baby is able to sit up in the shopping cart. Otherwise you'll have to go shopping with the stroller or put the car seat in the shopping cart and won't be able to fit much in your basket or shopping cart much. After my first baby was able to sit, I did not use the infant carriers as much as I thought I would.
Ergobaby Carrier
Pros: Now this one is very comfortable, even distribution of the weight. Some of the support is on your hips. The Ergobaby, like the name suggests is ergonomic. I found that once the baby is big enough to have his/her legs out the sides (about 6 months), you can even nurse the baby in it! (I thought maybe from newborn age they could feed in it, but my baby's head was up too high for that to work). You can wear it front and back and on the hip! They don't outgrow it as early as they do the other mentioned carriers. In fact I carried my bigger than average 2.5-year-old in it (albeit once, when she was cranky, at Disney and my not-yet-recovered from pregnancy hips DID hurt afterwards). So far I use it a couple times a week with baby #2 and it works like a charm!
Most importantly, I should add that it's an invaluable asset for Halloween costumes, such as my "zombie with parasite popping out of its stomach" creation below.
Cons: it IS pretty expensive, so I didn't initially get it with my first baby until she was probably closer to a year old. And I only got it because I ended up finding it at a really good price at TJ Maxx and couldn't pass it up. Even though I only ended up using it a few times with her, I use it all the time with baby #2 (I have less time to sit and console him since I have a 2-year-old to cook for and clean up after. He is easily consoled while in the carrier and I can carry on multitasking. Truly worth it! Hey, how did the "cons" section end up on a positive note?
Chicco Carrier
Pros: None. We didn't like it.
Cons: I call this the Babybjörn knock-off. We didn't like it for a few reasons:
1) She slumped over to the side when she was newborn, not good neck support. I've heard from several sources that it forces their legs into an unnatural position, causing hip dysplasia.
2) By 6 months she didn't fit in it anymore, so she outgrew it before I could get our money's worth.
3) Our shoulders hurt when carrying her in it for any length of time.
BabyBjörn Original Baby Carrier
Pros: I'm a bad Swede, I don't have one of these.
Cons: The BabyBjörn, I hate to say it, supposedly isn't as ergonomic as you'd think. Plus it's kind of expensive for only being able to use up to 25 lbs., EYE think. Post in the comments below if you disagree!
There is an even more expensive version that is good up to 33 lbs, if you insist on supporting awesome Swedish design.
Lite-On-Shoulder Ring Sling
Pros: Affordable! I liked the ring sling because it is compact enough to fit in the diaper bag and easy and pretty fast to put baby into if you're just popping in someplace and don't want to hassle with the snaps, buckles and pulleys.
They have quite a few different pretty patterns to chose from.
Someone pointed out to me that if you have a tendency to get muffin top, the sling is more flattering than the other types of carriers. In short, this is for the fashion conscious mom! ;-)
Cons: Not ideal for walking around hours in end, make sure to put it on the shoulder you tend NOT to carry the baby on, to even out the tension in your both sides.
I did have a hard time figuring out how to comfortably get baby in there. I'm not sure if I actually did it right in the end. I didn't use this as much as I did the Ergobaby.
Side note from a graphic artist: the instruction brochure that came with this particular brand was really crappy and pixelated.
They have quite a few different pretty patterns to chose from.
Someone pointed out to me that if you have a tendency to get muffin top, the sling is more flattering than the other types of carriers. In short, this is for the fashion conscious mom! ;-)
Cons: Not ideal for walking around hours in end, make sure to put it on the shoulder you tend NOT to carry the baby on, to even out the tension in your both sides.
I did have a hard time figuring out how to comfortably get baby in there. I'm not sure if I actually did it right in the end. I didn't use this as much as I did the Ergobaby.
Side note from a graphic artist: the instruction brochure that came with this particular brand was really crappy and pixelated.
CONCLUSION:
The brand that actually is comfortable is Ergobaby carrier (I haven't tried their wrap). And the baby can fit in it much longer than in the Babybjörn or Chicco, probably the ring sling as well (how long can they be in those anyway?). However, the Ergobabies are more expensive. But with the Chicco and the sling, my shoulders hurt after about 10 minutes. Not with the Ergobaby!
The brand that actually is comfortable is Ergobaby carrier (I haven't tried their wrap). And the baby can fit in it much longer than in the Babybjörn or Chicco, probably the ring sling as well (how long can they be in those anyway?). However, the Ergobabies are more expensive. But with the Chicco and the sling, my shoulders hurt after about 10 minutes. Not with the Ergobaby!
we only had a baby björn, it never occurred to us to try a different brand. Though we did have one of those cloth-wrap-carries, it was a bit tricky to figure out how to tie it, but it was also good, comfortable, and variable for different ages. And washable!
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