About Babywearing » How to Choose a Carrier

We are frequently asked about how you should go about choosing your first carrier. There are so many choices! and so much advice! this person tells me to get one of these, but my friend tells me that this other one would be better. Here is a list of questions we suggest you ask yourself before buying something.

1. How old is the baby/child to be carried? some carriers are best suited to older babies, other are most useful with a new baby.

2. Will more than one child be carried in the carrier; is it only for use with a baby, or will you sometimes want to carry a toddler too? buckle carriers tend to need to be adjusted between wearees. and so do mei tais with an adjustable seat.  If you do not intend to use a pram you might want to have a few carriers available to you.  

3. Will more than one adult share the carrier? is it just for the mother, or will it be shared with a father, grandmother or other caregiver? Again, buckle carriers need to be adjusted between wearers. it might also be worth noting that if you are different sizes you may not find the same carrier comfortable.

4. How much of the day will you be using the carrier/sling? is it just for quick trips from the car to the kindy, shop or bank, or do you intend to use it while getting on with cooking/cleaning/other
activities? do you expect your child to sleep in the sling? for quick carries we reccomend ring slings and short wraps, if you ar looking for something that will be supportive for hours at a time we suggest looking at something two shouldered.

5. Are you buying a sling to use instead of a pram? If you do not intend to use a pram you might want to have a few carriers available to you.  

6. Is it important to you do be able to breastfeed in a sling? while it is technically possible to feed in all carriers, it is often easier to get a good cradle position in a ring sling, and a mei tai is easiest for most people to adjust for a good upright breast feed.

7. Do you want to be able to carry your child on your back? Ring slings are best as a front or hip carry. Buckle carriers can not be used on the back until a baby is sitting independently.

8. How much time are you willing to invest in learning to use your carrier? do you want something you can use straight out of the box, or are you happy to spend a little time learning how? Some carriers are easy to figure out. read the instruction book and you are good to go. Others do take some tweaking to get right. if you are willing to invest time into learning to use your carrier a wrap could be your best choice.

9. do you like the colours? If you don’t love the colours your carrier will not get the love it deserves, nor your baby the cuddles s/he needs.

once you have answered all these questions, have a look at our comparison table to see what might work best for you.