Should I buy a mei tai?

[roslily]

A friend has bought a connecta carrier, and I was looking a mei tai's online.

I carried my son in a close baby carrier, until about 4-5 months, when it started to sag with him in. We have a rucksack carrier for the back, but I find it uncomfortable after a while, it hurts my shoulders.

I would really like to carry 8 month old ds, who is probably about 20lbs now (I don't get him weighed)

Are they any good? I have seen some on ebay

I have a homemade (not by me, by someone on ebay) mei tai and I found that it dug into my shoulders in a matter of minutes, even when DD was much smaller (probably around the age your DS is now). OTOH DH always liked it, so perhaps I am just being a wuss (I am usually made of much sterner stuff than DH). Is there anywhere you could try one? Or could you resell if you didn't get on with it?

I really like mine, Dh has done some lengthy walks with DD on his back in it, up to her being 2-2.5ish.
I think you're supposed to tie it so a lot of the weight is taken on the waist/hip tie, so not so hard on the shoulders? (theoretically,anyway)

On a related note, does anyone have a link to the tying instructions? I seem to have misplaced mine, and have another DC on the way...

I have two and love them both. I'll easily walk 4 miles in them and then home again. I particularly like my Babyhawk as it has really thick padding (and is very pretty!). Here's a link to some instructions: www.babyhawk.com/Instructions/

Apologies. I read this thread as:

Should I buy a Mai Tai?

I was going to say that I generally limit myself to moderate wine consumption while parenting.

As you were.