Baby Carrier Class

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to attend a group/meeting about different baby carriers for 'wearing' your baby. I accepted the invite and the get-together was today.

In the mean time I've been getting the urge to buy a new carrier as I'm starting to realize my hotsling won't hold Jude Man forever. I had seen a few moms using the Ergo carrier once and liked the idea of it. It is definitely very baby bjorn in the way it looks (a backpack for baby), but it seemed really practical.

I looked it up online a little while ago and mentioned it to Ryan. Considering the price and that he hates any style carrier, he immediately looked at me like I was crazy. I put it off temporarily at that time and figured I'd wait until I had time to play with the different carriers before buying one. I'm soooooo glad I did!

I went to the class today and was immediately overwhelmed. I had seen all of these types of carriers online at one point or another, but to have them all presented to you at once was a little intimidating. On top of the different styles, you have different brands, price points and benefits for each.

Considering my main interest was in the Ergo Carrier I tried that first. Jude hated it. I'll admit that it was very warm on the third floor of the building we were in, so the added heat of being held up against me probably turned him off even more, but in general he just seemed so uninterested. I tried a couple of others and then tried a Beco Carrier. It's very similar to the Ergo, but not has high (in the photos, it looks to be the same, but on us, Jude's head had more exposure). I personally I liked the design of it much more!

I asked the mom who had brought it how much she paid for it and was THRILLED when she told me a price a little lower than the Ergo. I then found out that her style was only lower because it was either discontinued or gently used (as I looked online and NONE of them are 90 bucks). They run a little higher than the Ergo carrier, but in my mind, it's worth it - it seems like something I'll use much more).

In addition to finding a carrier I liked, I learned a few more fun (and scary) facts about low-grade carriers that were all good to know. for example:
- the pocketbook style carriers that allow you to cradle the baby are the devil.
- baby bjorn's and the like are bad because they don't support baby correctly
- I learned which ones are best to go from mom to dad (ones that don't need to be sized, etc).

the third really doesn't apply to us, because Ryan wouldn't be caught dead wearing any of them... but still - all of them were good to know!

I plan to do a little more research on it and find the particular pattern I love, but I'm pretty certain I found the carrier I want. YEA!