Our lad is now 16 weeks, holding his head up and as strong as an ox so we’re looking to get out on some decent walks with him as opposed to being restricted to on-road stuff with the pram.

Don’t know the first thing about these baby carriers so by all means point me in the direction of some good ones or away from some bad ones. It’s probably going to be a mail order job as we live in the IOM. Don’t mind paying decent money for it as it’s going to get a lot of use and has to be comfortable to wear for long periods.

The main man:

Advice greatly appreciated

Good grief – he’s as big as my 10 month old daughter..!

We have a front carrier – BabyBjorn Active, thoughy that’s about to be relegated in favour of a backpack carrier. Might be worth considering, though not as comfy for you (yes, you will be carrying) as a backpack carrier.

We got a Little Life Freedom, purely because the Little Life sacks felt most comfortable on our backs.

Jnr FD used it from about 4 1/2 months old and would quite often just fall asleep on to the pad at the front.

We find having the big open pocket on the back very useful rather than having to undo zips etc to store things away.

One thing I gues to check is overall size of the pack when stored away. Ours feels bulky in the car, but dont know how this compares to other brands.

Just go and try as many brands on as you can.

Beautiful little lad, I went through the same research about 6 months ago. There are a couple of real good options depending on your budget and personal prefernce.

Good options are Deuter, Littlelife & Bushbaby.

In the end I went for the MacPac Vamoose, was one of the most expensive but managed to pick up a deal so it wasn’t so bad in the end.

Very happy with the pack, even take it on the plane as hand lugage and fitted in the overhead ok. Has some really nice techy feaures. Can’t really comment on the other brands as not used them but have a read around and you’ll get a feel for the basic pros/cons etc.

My little lad loves it, just make sure you have full sun block on as they’re quite exposed sitting up there, even with the sun shield.

Any excuse for a pic of my lad 😉

DP doh!

Macpac ftw. I’d still advise the neck brace though as holding up your head when sat at home for 10 mins is one thing, doing it for two hours whilst being joggled about on a walk is entirely different. It also makes a nice comfy cushion for them to sleep on.

The Macpac one comes in different versions – it’s cheaper without the detachable day pack, and we didn’t think we needed this at all so we went without. Plus it has an adjustable back system which is great if your Mrs wants to carry it at some point.

We used a front carrier (this one Connecta) until she was one. Done some decent long walks with it. I think the backpack ones are mostly only from 6 months, personally I think until they weigh a lot, something like the connecta is much nicer than a rucksack.

I know some people who still use that kind of thing with quite heavy kids, as you can use them on your back too, although I think I prefer a rucksack thing now she is heavier.

We currently have a borrowed Vaude rucksack style carrier, which feels okay, but I haven’t tried any others to compare it to. The only annoying thing about it is that if you put the head support for the baby to sleep on in front of her, she can pull it out, so there is a bit of a cat and mouse game of waiting till she is asleep enough that she won’t remove the head support that she is about to flollop down onto, but not waiting until she is fully asleep as fitting the head support would wake her up. Particularly a pain if you’re on your own, as you have to turn the racksack round and rest it on something to fit the head support yourself. Friends have the little life ones and think they are good.

Joe

Actually, ditto what ourman said above, we also used a BabyBjorn Active for the first 8 months, holding your head up is one thing but being bounched about is another. I’d use a BB for <6 months or so. Plus the BB is very light and easy to use, the Macpac is 3.4kgs empty! Then add baby & accessories and it adds up but you do get use to it.

My lad is 10.5kgs now, so with the pack full it must be nearing 16kgs, which you feel after a few hours of walking. But the Macpac is really adjustable and padded so it doesn’t dig in or feel awkard.

We have been using this:Deuter kid comfort II for hikes in in the Vanoise and Pyrenees and has proven it’s comfort and worth for dad and daughter over the last two years. blah, blah, blah loads of storage under the child, pockets galore, hydration pack pocket,etc.
We shopped around and got it well under the rrp with the sunshade and rain cover included. I would give the link to the shop, but they sadly don’t appear to exist anymore…:(

We went walking in the Rockies (only what, 4 miles or so of fairly flat path) and I had a 13kg or so toddler and a load of water and food in the pack. It was frigging heavy! I bought two cheap walking poles cos I thought it would help a bit with stability. It just helped me walk faster in the end 🙂 I did worry that my knees were going to explode with the pressure, but they didn’t 🙂

However the pack handled what must’ve been 50-60lbs very well – no sore back or anything.

We’ve had a MacPac Vamoose for several years and two children. Still going strong, although the mirror’s a bit scuffed up now. When we bought it it was the only one made by a rucksack manufacturer, and it shows – for a start, it was considerably lighter than the other options, and far more comfortable to carry. Looked at the cheaper MacPac one but it doesn’t come with useful things like the sun canopy and rain cover — once you add those on you’re knocking on the price of the posh one. Plus they go for a very high proportion of the purchase price s/h so the actual cost of ownership will be peanuts.

We also went through the same.

Best advice I can offer is to do what we did and get yourself to a decent outdoor shop with a range of different rucksacks to try on. Not sure where you’re based but Springfield Camping in Luddendenfoot between Hebden and Halifax was excellent. We tried various ones on – Deuter, LittleLife and a few others I think. The problem we found was that most of them were MASSIVE. At an age where the little ‘un is going to be needing to be in a rucksack, the last thing we wanted was a bag big enough for all day epics! We wanted something just big enough for a couple of hours walk and enough storage for changing things etc.

In the end, after 2 hours of trying various things we went for the smallest, most basic LittleLife one and its been excellent. Dead comfy for us both to use (important as my missus is only 5’4″ish), light and provides Noel enough support. Also can get extras like sun hood, rain hood, inflatable cushing for when the inevitable happens and he falls asleep.

Used mine whilst walking in the woods, doing a bit of trail scoping/clearing. He loves it!

weve got a Karrimor Papoose classic, and whilst its a Super basic carrier its really quite good!! effectively a V shape hardboard stylee frame with an internal adjustable hammock type seat, and side straps to get to fit in nicely,
bought it form ebay for the littlun who’s now coming up for 5, used it for a few walks but mainly on the bike! she loved it, lid on in the back,
now use it for our other littlun who’s 10 months old, she goes in the back with the little lid on, big daughter on the tag along and off we go!
only down side is that when you take it off littlun needs to come out as it wont support them at all, Some of the bigger seats have a frame that works as a seat stand when not on your back, but for what we need its great! cost us less than a tenner too, for the use itshad could have cost £50 and still been a great investment!

As it happens we have a Macpac Possum for sale for £120. Includes neck pillow, sun shade and rain cover… PM me on cavey(dot)graham(at)gmail(dot)com if you’re interested and I’ll send some pickies over.
It’s been great for us, fits both me and the wife really well – I’m 6’2″ and she’s 5’3″. Used it for both our boys and the only limitation for age is whatever you are willing to carry!

Macpac vote.

Its been ace and see is still able to use it at (a small size) age 4.

Wears very well too so a SH one would be a good idea.

Thanks for the advice boys and girls, some good recommendations for me to look in to there. GC: cheers for the offer but the missus’s parents are going to buy it for her birthday so we’ll more than likely go for a new one

Our daughter is comically too big for the macpac at age 2y3mo, unfortunately!

Bjorn Active for a front pack and Deuter kid comfort 2 rear pack. The Deuter is much nicer and sophisticated than the Macpac.

We found a great bargin on http://www.littleoutdoorshop.com/baby-back-and-front-carriers (hopefully i got that link right!)

We ordered the BushBaby lite last Monday – could stretch our budget to the one with suspension – which sounds really cool!

Recieved it on Thursday and I can tell ya we were over the moon with it. Loads of pockets and loads of room inside! Tried it out in our living room with our little Lad and he loved it!
Going for a mini trek next week up FowlMead near Dover so will let you know how it goes!

My step-sister has 4 kids, has built a business selling slings (dozens of different types/brands)and also teaches sling-ing classes. When we needed a sling, she recommended (and sold us) the catbirdbaby pikkolo without a second thought: http://catbirdbaby.com/index.php/pikkolo-info/

I’ve been using it for the last month, and although I have nothing to compare it to, it rocks.

Got 2 Little Life ones, a simple light one and a more big day out version – was a rep living locally who used to sell off the demo/promo stock he had at ridiculous prices (like £10 for the little one, still wrapped).

Can get a 3 year old in them just, but it’s a bit of a squeezez and they don’t seem to enjoy it so much as younger.

The neck braces are good for littler ones, as they get older I had 3 different reactions

1. Love it and fall asleep in it
2. Scream, tear it off and throw it as far as possible away
3. Scream, tear it off and beat me over the head with it.

Have a good look at slings as well as the rucsacks, plenty of designs and very very good for baby.

We startef out with a Karrime until 8 months, he’s now 11 months and were on a Didymos woven wrap and just bought a ‘soft structure carrier’ frum Tuli which is half way to a rucsack but still ‘baby wearing’