Carry Your Baby Around, Without Carrying Him

I have to admit I've bought a lot of baby things that I didn't need, and that I haven't used a lot since my son showed up 9 and half months ago.

The Evenflo Snugli Comfort Vent Baby Carrier is one of those items that I haven't used often, but wow I'm glad i have it now. Summers on its was and were getting a few brief days of very nice weather. I'm ready to get out and go, but I have to take my son too. This baby carrier is helping me do that.

Saturday we took out son to the zoo for the first time. I decided to pull out my carrier that’s been put up for months. The last time I used it to clean the house while my son was strapped to me during the summer months. So I was going to get some good out of it one way or the other. I am so glad i took it with us.

When we got to the zoo I fumbled with the straps realizing that I had forgotten how to strap everything together to make it a carrier. I had every snap, etc. undone. After about five minutes I got it figured out and strapped my son to me. We had a great time. Because he was higher up in the air than he would have been in his stroller he got to see a lot more animals... It worked out great. I walked around for about half the day with him tied to me, I do have to admit that my back did ache some, but I haven't been very active over the winter and it would have hurt worse if I had been carrying him around in my arms.

The Snugli Carrier is made of Denim/Twill like material. The carrier fits on like a back pack but backwards. The straps that extend over the shoulders are nicely padded. They extend from the sides of the carrier in the front, over the back where they cross in the back. The straps are then buckled to the bottom portion of the carrier near the leg openings.

Using the carrier in a Chest to Chest setting, which is for babies who cannot hold their head about, offers great support for baby. The carrier offers two leg openings, the seat panel extends around the body and two buckle clips secure on each side of baby. Above the clips there are open spaces on each side of the carrier for arm openings. The panel extends from there to create a head support. Two more buckles attach to each side to offer 360 degrees of protection for babies head. The head support is adjustable by pulling or loosening a strap in the center, outside of the panel. The front of the carrier offers two mesh vents to help with airflow to baby and little circulation for the person carrying the baby also. The front of the carrier also has a small storage pocket with enough room for a pacifier, but not much else.

I used this setting a few times when I first purchased the carrier mostly to attempt to clean the house. The carrier was fairly comfortable and the straps offered a lot of support. Baby was comfortable in the carrier and even fell asleep in it a few times. However trying to clean with baby strapped to me provided a bit difficult and I quickly dropped the routine. While wearing the carrier you must bend at the knees, bending at waist can make baby shift and the warnings say baby could fall out, which they could. Bending at the knees with even a small baby is difficult though and it was much harder to straighten up once down than it was for me to bend at the knees to get down.

Using the carrier is a Back To Chest is recommended for babies 4 or 5 months or older, with the ability to hold their head upright. In this mode baby is placed in the carrier facing forward. The legs go through the same openings as do the arms. The headrest, however, folds down to allow baby to see out of the carrier. The buckles snap into all of the same parts and it is basically the same, except baby faces forward and the headrest is folded down.

My son has always averaged around the 75th percentile for his height so he’s tall compared to most other infants. In the Back To Chest setting on this carrier the panels that come up and over the shoulders and arms of the carrier have the tendency to push his arms down, so he couldn’t move the upper part of his arm. This as you can imagine didn’t make baby very happy. I did end up putting his arms over the top of the carrier, which made it somewhat difficult for him to put his arms all of the way down, but he was inevitable more comfortable. So all in all my son no longer fits into this carrier. While putting his arms over the top panels fixed his discomfort it made it unsafe at the same time. The manufacture recommends using this carrier for weights between 7 and 26 pounds, but really mentions nothing about height. With that my son is just short of 30 inches and I’d say he’s pretty much out-grown the carrier.

The manual that comes with the carrier offers instructions on how to strap baby into the carrier, but they actually make it harder. Their version is to undo the two side buckles and two top head support buckles, which basically means it is completely undone. Then while sitting you place baby on your lap and begin to latch the buckles together. I found this nearly impossible especially with the side buckles which must be twisted a certain direction and then slid down into the locking unit. I have adopted the method of having the side buckles located into place then placing baby into the carrier while sitting. Then all you have to do is latch the two top buckles into place. The only thing that is difficult about this is getting the legs in the leg holes, which is much easier than trying to lock the side buckles with a squirmy baby on your lap.

Overall we haven’t used this carrier very much, but it was a nice addition to the collection of baby paraphernalia we have, especially when we needed to use it. This carrier is made to wear baby on the chest, which can relieve the weight from the arms and sides when carrying around baby without assistance. While wearing the carrier the last time I noticed how I was walking and it greatly reminded me of how I walked the last few months I was pregnant. After a few hours I began to grab at my back and kind of waddle. The carrier does cause some back pain after long periods of use, but I think any kind of carrier would after lugging around a 15 or 20 pound baby all day.