Tots Bots Papoozle

The papoozle is great for baby from birth to about 9 months. Because of the way the straps go around you, the weight was distributed evenly and you don't really feel the weight of the baby.

Unfortunately for me, my baby likes to wriggle and keep on turning round to look left, right and centre. So the papoozle is not so suitable for me as it restricts my baby 'movement'. It was great when she was younger as she can just lie next to me and fall asleep listening to my heartbeat.

But now (she is a year old), she loves to sit up high (so she can see over my shoulder) so she refuses to sit 'facing me'. If she is facing away, she loves to wriggle so the wrap is usually sort of twisted.

And because she is in the front, it restricts my ability to do housework as her hands and feet are all over the place (can't do my dishes without her dipping into the basin!).

I would recommend this for a young baby but not for 10 months and over.

I had used a baby bjorn for my first child and it hurt my back, so I wanted to try something else. Having hired a Mei-Tei when my baby was in her first weeks, I found that too big for a newborn so tried this one. One of the best baby things I have bought, I've used it most days. It took a little bit of time to get used to getting the baby in a position where she didn't slip down (not a problem when the baby is bigger), but she loves it and I find it very comfortable. She loves being able to face out too. She is now 4 months and it's still going strong. My only criticism is that one of the strips of fabric has slightly stretched (possibly due to my fumbing when my daughter was much smaller), so it's slightly longer than the other 'strap'.

We bought one of these after reading the reviews on here, I wonder if the other reviews are of the same tots bots papoozle??? because the one we bought was a complete waist of money. first of all the it was difficult to work out which way you put the few pieces of fabric on! then once we worked out how to put Oscar in we had to keep adjusting the material away from his neck. Also after a 30min walk to the shop for a paper the fabric around my neck was really sore and red as this was where most of the weight was carried. I wouldnt recomend any carrier that is just fabric with no support.

This was a fantastic sling for me and DD. My DD is really heavy (98th centile) and while other slings pulled on my shoulders and gave me back ache I really liked the way this sling spread the weight so evenly across my back and onto my hips, I could wear her for hours without a problem.

The new instructions are really good and using them I was able to get her into the different positions and breast feed successfully while having her in the cradle hold. Brilliant!

A friend lent me this, so I could compare it with the Baby Bjorn which was the only other sling I had used. I found the Papoozle much more comfortable than the Baby Bjorn for long periods of time - I could quite happily carry my 7 month old son for a couple of hours and he seemed very happy in it too. The padded shoulders are a great idea and the design of the Papoozle means that the weight of the baby is spread very easily so I don't get sore shoulders like with the Baby Bjorn. I did however find it a bit tricky to put the Papoozle on and get my son in on my own, I found it much easier when I had an extra pair of hands to help. When I put him in on my own I found that he slipped down quite a lot, although maybe with practice I will get this sorted. Overall though, a good product.