Which sling should I buy? thread no.57567

[you]

DD is 4 months and I'm looking for a new sling that'll last me till she's at least a year. So far we have tried;

Tricotti- hated it, but was too big so that's probably why.

Baba Sling- she loves loves loves this sling in the cradle position and will ONLY nap there. Which is getting a bit ridiculous as her feet are now poking out the end.

Freehand mei tai- have mixed feelings. I suspect she'll be better in it in a month or so as I think she's still a bit tiny to have both legs out, but hates being bunched up inside. She also wants to see what's going on and I feeel like her view is very too restricted in it.

So, what's next?! I'm easily confuzzled so wraps that you have tie over and over till you're a giant sausage of material are out. And I'm not massively keen on the look of ring slings but could be persuaded I guess. Any ideas?

TIA

I think you should give a stretchy wrap another go - I got one for DS2 at about a month and he faced inwards'til about 4-5 months, then outwards on my front and aboslutely loved it! And I couldn't believe how comfy it was. I'm not the most dextrous of people, but after a couplde of days practice, I could put it on and off in secs (gives slightly smug smile).

swap the tricotti on a sling forum, there will always be someone who got the too-small one. and keep trying with the stretchy sling, they're the best.

My small 6 month old loves our Mei Tai now, but was too small for legs out at 4 months and to wriggly to go inside in frogs legs position. But if you could wait a month or two I would really recommend.

Right, stretchy wraps are the kari-me, moby ilk right?

Thanks Summer, I suspected that would be the case I'm just so darn impatient! Will her 'view' get better as she gets older also?

Aitch- keep meaning to sell/swap the tricotti but am such a hoarder! Is it worth trying in a smaller size do you think?

i have a tricotti and i have a kari-me as well. i do like them both, but i also thought that the tricotti (in a medium) was a bit big until dd got larger. on balance, though, i prefer the kari-me.

there's a ten per cent offer on some website at the moment on moby's, i just bought one for my pal and she's loving it. you type in SMILE i think. have a look on here, it was mentioned on a thread where someone was asking about slings and got told to buy the moby by fifteen people in a row.

Have found the thread, thanks Aitch.

Do you think it'll last me a while though, most people on the thread are saying their LOs were in it the first 6 months? DD is small, but hoping for something that'll last me a long ish time.

i'm still using the kari-me at nearly a year, dd2's about 20lbs. i don't use it all the time, but it's handy to keep in the buggy or the car. i still find that if she needs to sleep but won't for some reason, she drops off quickly after a short walk in the sling.

Re. the MT - have you tried using something to narrow the base a little (tie it with something) so your DD can bend her knees? Don't go over board - you still want lots of support - but that might make it more comfy for her. You could also roll the waist strap to shorten the back so she has a better view

I used a stretchy wrap with DD till she was about 7 months, but she was always a chunky monkey. They're far eaiser to get used to than woven wraps, though, so if your LO is petite it would be well worth trying again.

Woven wraps are far more comfy and suportive though, I can carry my 5yo in mine.

And for anyone who is interested, it is now recommended that you don't use any kind of forward facing carry with any sling (with the baby on the front), it's bad for their spine.

oh isn't that interesting? you can kind of just tell that it's not good, can't you?

you, yes he quite likes being in the Mei Tai even on the front even if he's awake and not sleepy. Unless he's in a really really lively mood, then he can get a bit annoyed.
Facing outwards on the Close carrier we used before was probably better re him being awake but like wtwtw says I don't think those sort of carries are recommended.
Like tangle says you can shorten at the waistband so they can see more. Didn't try the tying trick but I was also advised to do that by people round here as well (just never got round to it and used the close instead til he was big enough)

I second WTWTW in the love of woven wraps. Carry my enormous 2 yr old in hers all the time, don't bother to take the pushchair away with us as sling is so much easier. At 6 months or so you can pop them on your back (with a bit of practice) which is just fab!