Ultimate in comfort for baby on the move

The Ergo carrier is the third baby-wearing device I purchased (I own four) since my daughter, Lara, was born on April 1st of 2004. She came out weighing a hefty 9 lbs 7 oz and gained a steady ½ lb a week for the first four months. At every well baby checkup she was charted above the 100th percentile in weight and was referred to as the "Monster Baby" by our family doctor. In a little over 3 months, Lara had attained 16 lbs. I had been using the EuroRider front baby carrier to wear her while running errands and doing housework, but at this point carrying her started to get painful. I knew it would be easier to carry her on my back, so I started looking for a back carrier. After much research, I selected the Ergo carrier, based largely on positive review by other moms and the money back guarantee.

The Ergo baby carrier is designed to support a great part of your baby's weight on your hips. It can be used either as a front carrier or back carrier, depending on your desires and the age of the child. A wide sturdy band--much like the leather weight belts used by weightlifters to support their backs--fastens securely around your waist. This provides great lower back support and absolutely no slippage. A wide rectangular fabric section sits above the waist band for the baby to rest on. This allows the baby to sit on his rump, rather than being suspended by the crotch, as it is in many baby carriers. Wide padded shoulder straps rise off the central rectangle, joining it back at about the middle with nylon straps. Another nylon strap clips across your chest once you have baby in place to prevent the shoulder straps from slipping off. The carrier is rated to carry toddlers up to 60 lbs, though the two buckles (one at waist and one across the chest) on the carrier are rated up to 230 lbs each.

The Ergo carrier is made of a comfortable brushed cotton and comes in three colors; a light denim color (Pacific Blue), a pinkish red (Coral), and black. It's machine-washable and feels soft yet sturdy to the touch. All colors have tan accents, black nylon straps, and a neat little embroidered border on the bottom of the baby pouch. The stitching is very sturdy as well. A small Velcro-sealed carry pocket is sewn into the waist section, and a cloth "sleeping hood" is tucked into a large pocket at the back of your carrier. This is intended to support your baby's head when he falls asleep in the carrier, which will inevitably happen if you wear him long enough. The design of the thing is just so smart and pleasing to look at; attractive in a way that's friendly and soft and not pretentious in the least.

To use the carrier in the back-carry mode, the baby should be about five months old and have the back strength to be able to sit up a little on his own. He absolutely needs to be able to hold his head steadily. The front carry position can be started earlier, but the baby still needs to have decent head control. In front, you can monitor whether or not the baby is tiring. Incidentally, wearing a baby in any carrier is a method of providing "vestibular stimulation," according to a book I read called, "What's Going on in There?" about babies' brain development. The motion or "vestibular stimulation" helps to develop the baby's reflexes and motor skills, decreases crying and colic, and increases the periods of the "quiet alert state" when babies learn best. My baby loves to be carried. The ergo carrier also offers and optional "Infant Insert" for $26 for use before the baby can support his own head, but since my own baby was beyond that point I have not tried it.

Though I love it now, the ergo carrier wasn't the easiest baby carrier to start using. It arrived very promptly in the mail from Myfavoritebabycarrier.com. I eagerly opened the package and examined the device. I had to read the instructions multiple times in order to feel I had any kind of grasp of the kinds of baby manipulations I would have to do in order to get my child into the carrier on my back. I also wasn't too sure how snug to make the waist band, nor how tight to make the shoulders since I wasn't sure if any part of the baby needed to go through them. I tried looking at some of the photos, which though helpful, nothing is as good as real experience. After scratching my head at it for a couple days, the pain from using the other baby carrier drove me to attempt the Ergo in back-carry position. First attempt was a bust. I tried it next to the bed, so I could bail out baby in case it didn't work. She started fussing a lot at my inept attempts and I lost my nerve. Second time I tried it, things went a bit better, but she got fussy again, so I instead placed her in the front carry, which worked and she seemed to like. But I didn't want another front carrier. I wanted the greater mobility and comfort offered by a back carrier.

In frustration, I tossed the Ergo carrier aside and started searching for something that would allow me to put the baby hands-free on my hip, where I seemed to be carting her around most of the time anyhow. That search led me to the Hip Hammock (my fourth carrier). The Hip Hammock was a lot easier for me to work with, and the Ergo carrier was forgotten for a couple weeks. But though the Hip Hammock works very well for multiple quick errands, it becomes uncomfortable to wear for longer periods.

I decided to devise my own method of saddling up my baby in the Ergo carrier. I set the Ergo carrier on my extra tall bed and propped the top of it up against a pillow. Then I set my baby on the ergo carrier, positioning her a couple inches back from the waist strap and propped in sitting position against the pillow as well. I backed up to the strap, made sure her legs were in position above the strap and against my sides, and clipped the waist strap securely around myself. I pulled each of the shoulder straps on, straightened just enough to put tension on the straps, then turned my head to peek at Lara. "Are you ready, are you ready?" I made sure she had her head supported, then gently eased upward to standing position. I snapped the center support in place, and walked to the bathroom to check our look in the mirror. She beamed her delight at the new experience. Everything looked and worked fine. Both baby and I were quite pleased, and we've used this technique ever since.

I can wear the Ergo carrier quite comfortably for two hours or more at a time. If I'm not careful of my posture and walk with a sway-back, the middle back starts to hurt. If I keep it gently rounded as my physical therapist suggests, then I can stay comfortable for much longer. It's just standard good posture, which requires you to remind yourself a lot in order to maintain it properly!

One word of caution about back carriers: you know how you naturally bend to duck under obstacles as you're walking? Well now you've got to learn your body dimensions all over again—kind of like learning to drive a much bigger car. I bashed Lara's head against the roof of the car twice and a tree branch once before I got the hang of it. No matter how much you try to drill this into your head in advance, you'll probably knock your baby's head a couple times before you become aware of your new limits to getting around obstacles. Just be careful.

As I mentioned earlier, I own several baby carriers. If you told me that I HAD to cut down to one, I'd kick and scream about giving up my Hip Hammock for the short errands, but would have to select the Ergo carrier. It's the best all around for long-wearing comfort and having two hands free, while still keeping your baby near. I've it to wear Lara to mow the lawn, conduct marathon grocery shopping, catch grasshoppers, move hoses and sprinklers (yes, we've both taken some face shots from live sprinklers), pull weeds, cook, clean house, chase chickens, haul water buckets, hang laundry, and numerous other household chores. It's tops for comfort. If you check my homepage for the October entries, you can even see my husband wearing Lara while he brews beer. Lara is quite content. She gets to participate in all the household activities and stay close to mommy and daddy.

In summary, I really enjoy this baby carrier. It lets me keep the baby close while still accomplishing the required daily activities of living. The baby loves going for rides, kicks her heels in excitement and leans way over to see anything that piques her interest. It's win-win for baby and parent.
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2006 Update

We're still using the same Ergo carrier now that Lara is up to 28 lbs and 2 1/2 years old. It shows no signs of wear after two years of use. It's now the only baby carrier we use, since Lara is now too big to wear comfortably any other way. Although she walks around by herself or rides in the shopping cart on many errands, the Ergo carrier is still useful for several circumstances:

1) Extended hikes, such as the zoo or botanical gardens. I was able to carry the baby around for two hours of trekking the Omaha zoo this fall without fatigue. For hikes like this it is important to ensure that the waist band is seated firmly on your hips such that the weight is *NOT* being carried by your shoulders.

2) Unfamiliar situations for the baby. When we're at a social gathering or other crowded situation with a lot of unfamiliar people, my baby feels far more comfortable when ATTACHED to mother. When the baby is happier, everyone is happier!

3) "Wearing the baby down." For a while, this was the only way my mother (the baby's grandmother) could get Lara to sleep if I wasn't in the house.

Lara still loves the baby carrier. We use the couch to load her up in the house, or the car or a convenient bench if we're around town. When she wants up she'll sometimes put the carrier on the couch by herself, sit on it, and issue the command, "Ready!" to let us know that she wants a ride.

I'm now at the phase of ordering additional Ergo carriers as gifts for friends and family as they have kids. The price is currently at $92 at Myfavoritebabycarrier.com, still with free shipping, and still an excellent price for a durable and superbly useful product. A couple new colors & patterns have come out for the more fashion-minded, but everyone will appreciate the back, arm, and sanity-saving engineering of this well-made baby carrier.