Female: When you're on the move with your baby, it's important to find the most comfortable mode of transportation for both of you. That’s why the parents.com team went to work breaking down the best baby carriers. Parents TV camera’s peeked into their meeting for the scoop on slings, harnesses and even baby backpack.
Female: Essentially what we’re trying to do today is figure out with these great stuff that we just got in if we have the right stuff, if we have the right moms testing the stuff and if we like everything. It seems like there a few different types of these carriers and wraps. One is kind of the traditional carrier like this Chicco or like this Mc McLaren straps on your back, baby goes in front, babies neither go facing out o facing you but it's pretty straight forward. Baby sits in front of you, you should be able to kiss the baby’s head and that’s how you know that it's sitting correctly.
And then you got the sling carrier whether it's adjustable or just one piece of fabric. It goes over one shoulder like Sasha demonstrated. It's just great for newborns and small babies.
And you have a ring sling which is names that way because there is a ring involved. The ring sits on your shoulder and then it works the same way as the actually sling, easily adjustable. And then there is the crazy fondly called the crazy wrap although this one is labor intensive. It was my favorite one by far.
This is just essentially one big long piece of fabric that you can wrap any way that you want. So you can have baby sit up in front of you, you can have baby sit on your hip. You can have baby on your back, sky is the limit.
And then there is My Tie which is this square piece of fabric and four straps.
Female: Use the—in my tie.
Female: That’s essentially the concept. This baby goes right in there. And then you have the real rock sack and I actually took this one with me on a recent and went hiking with it and it was incredible. I have my almost two year old kid in here and the cool thing about it is you put this on your back. I won't do the squares now but you put this on your back. These are the straps that go over your shoulders. Baby goes in here. Baby has her own straps.
So, if you're like literally climbing up some something, baby is just kind of rocking back and forth up there. She’s not going to fall. Baby’s butt you know probably hits right about here. And then all the rest of the area below baby’s butt between you and baby’s butt is all storage.
Female: When the meeting is over, the team packs up the carriers and sends them off to its network of mommy testers.
Like Brooklyn mom Melanie Rosen who’s always on the go with her 11 month old Ben.
Melanie: Living in New York absolutely yeah, we walk everywhere. Even in the grocery store and going to the park, walking the dog, pretty much you know anything I use it for.
Female: Melanie talks about this ergo harness-style baby carrier and this ring sling by stork and wish. So which one did she prefer? Well, let’s find out. Whether she’s in the kitchen or on the street, Melanie loves the harness-style ergo baby carrier.
Melanie: The ergo has been really great since actually since he was probably about three or four months old. We've been using it regularly. It's easy to strap him in on the front and he would nap in there. I could nurse him in there. We would walk around the neighborhood for literally hours with him in it.
Female: the ergo has adjustable straps and pockets and can be worn on the front or on the back.
Melanie: We've had a very positive experience with the ergo as a front carrier, best part. And we’re starting to use it as a back carrier. It's a little bit harder to get into it but once he’s there, it's easier definitely around the house like when I'm trying to cook.
Female: Melanie and Ben also tested this stork and wish ring sling, a German product popular in Europe and in the United States.
Melanie: The ring sling, it means definitely easy to use in terms of simplicity of use but what I found is that despite spreading the fabric over my shoulder to help distribute the weight, for me it just doesn’t seem to be that comfortable. I find that I end up kind of you know shifting my weight to the other side to balance his weight out. So I end up feeling kind of left sided.
Female: For the full list of carriers and for more mommy feedback, just log on to parents.com.