Broke-Ass Mom Buys a Baby Carrier

Last week my son and I hitched a ride to NYC on the coat tails of my husband’s business trip. My husband and I debated for days over whether to bring a stroller and a baby carrier or just the carrier.  We opted for just the baby carrier. The last time we were there (almost two years ago now) we couldn’t figure out for the life of us how to get into the subway system with a stroller (does anyone know where they keep the elevators?).  In the end, although we may have sacrificed a potential nap or two that MAY have happened in a stroller (although I’m skeptical), I think we made the right decision.

The truth though, I’m embarrassed to say, we have gone through several baby carriers (thankfully they were all used except one of them).  Because we went through so many baby carriers, I would like to give you the benefit of my knowledge.  My hope for you is that the decision for which baby carrier will not be as painful for you. Unfortunately we made some poor choices and wasted some money in the process.

Review of Baby Carriers

1. Baby Bjorn – This was the carrier EVERYONE told us to get, and I got to tell you it’s incredibly uncomfortable once your baby gets beyond 7lbs 6oz.  Maybe my back is sensitive, but there is no real lumbar support.  You can wear the baby on the front facing out or facing in. (Bought used for $20)
2. Cybex 2.Go – My husband chose this baby carrier because he felt it was more masculine looking than all the other carriers.  With this carrier you can have your baby on the front facing in or out, or on your back.  We lasted a long time with this carrier, but eventually it’s back support wasn’t enough and it didn’t adjust enough to ever fit me correctly (I’m only 5’1. We bought this used for $30).
3. Moby – We really loved this baby carrier, and used it exclusively for the first six months (no stroller either).  Unfortunately once our son got big enough for other positions (side or back) it just didn’t offer enough support for him (meaning structure) to make us feel safe carrying him. (Bought used for $10)
4. Kelty Kids Pathfinder – This is still fairly new for us.  My husband has been dying for one in the hopes that we’ll go hiking and camping more often (ugg, we’ve only gone camping once and suffice to say I’ve blocked it out it was so bad).  But I did discover one rainy afternoon that it’s useless for me.  I put it on the floor in our garage, put my son in the seat, and buckled him in.  Thank god I buckled him in because I literally dropped the carrier on the floor and he was three inches from hitting his head on the cement ground.  I couldn’t lift him while inside the baby carrier.  So although my husband loves this thing, and so does my son, it has limited use. (Bought used for $25)
5. Ergo – This is my personal favorite.  It provides the most back support (minus the Kelty Kids); you can wear your child on the front or on the back.  It has a little cover you can use to help keep your child asleep or from getting wet (Word of warning though, this cover was only useful to us when our son was younger than fifteen months.  After that he hated it.) We opted for the Sport carrier, mostly due to style.  We’ve had this carrier for over a year now, and I still use it every time I go to the airport, run an errand where bringing a stroller would be cumbersome, or to New York City.  We bought this new for $102 from Amazon.

As I stated before, I’m completely mortified and feel incredibly non-Broke-Ass for buying this many carriers in a mere 2.5 years.  So do yourselves a favor if you have a friend who has a spare carrier lying around, try it for a few weeks.  Then find another friend with a different one, and keep going until you find the one that works for you.  Don’t buy all of them.  If I could do it all over again, I would buy simply the Ergo and the Moby and call it a day.

Photo by :my hubby