Does anyone carry their 4+ year old?

[nappyaddict]

If so what do you use, how heavy are they and how long can you carry them for comfortably?

God no

No, he walks, if it's a long distance he scatters or we use a bus for part of the journey. I could not carry him, he weighs 3 1/2 stone

Scooters not scatters!

I was still carrying ds occasionally when he was 4 and 21kg. I could carry him for a hour - Dreamcarrier half buckle sling conversion in preschooler size

Piggyback, only when necessary! She can walk/scoot for miles. She would object to a sling, on the grounds they are too young for her.

Yes, occasionally. The vast majority of the time she walks or scoots, but if she's ill or overtired or something then I'll happily carry her. I either use a woven wrap or a preschool size Kinderpack or Bamberoo SSC. I find it way easier and comfier than a piggyback.

She's not that heavy though - about 14kg. My 2.5 year old is the same weight and I can carry him a fair way if needed. I hate taking the buggy out!

I did carry ds over some water so his feet did not get wet but I think my pelvic floor caved in with the effort.

I've carried my youngest brother when he was 5 in a wrap and he's quite heavy. I managed 2 and a half hours when it was late and on the way home n stuff but my legs were really sore with all the extra weight on them

Occasionallly carry my 3+ year old. She weighs about 24lb"s and is petite

I prefer sturdier wraps, linen blends or thick cotton, or toddler carriers. An toddler Ocah is ideal for her.

No way.

Dh carried our 4 year old last year for about 45 minutes to get off a hill and to the pub quicker - ds wanted to walk it all as he had done all the walking uphill but we managed to bribe him!
We are taking two backpacks away with us on holiday soon -5yo and 3 yo. I can happily carry the 15kg 3 year old for a few hours (with breaks). LittleLife rucksack. Dh will take his preferred rucksack as a back up for ds (20kg).
Pre kids we carried expedition rucksacks of up to 17kg for me and a bit more for dh, for a few days. D of E students are advised not to carry more than a quarter of their body weight. This ups to 1/3rd I think for fully grown adults, but I quite like the 1/4 rule.
No way would I use a sling! Comfy though it was when they were younger....

SachaF - it totally depends on the sling. There is no way I'd carry either of my two in a LittleLife backpack thing - it's nowhere near as comfy as a woven wrap or well-designed preschooler size SSC in my book. We used to own one before I discovered slings properly but then gave it away. I have done long distance walks with rucksacks pre kids but still find a good sling spreads the weight much better.

Not mine but I wrapped a 6yo for about half an hour on a hike recently. DH took DS (then 9mo) because he 'wasn't sure how to wrap a bigger child'. Thankfully I always take 2 wraps with me!

Sorry to hijack the thread nappy addict....

I had a ring sling for short stuff when they were young, but a Close baby sling for longer/ when they were a bit older. I have to admit to only trying the (then) toddler in it around the house but for me it wasn't right. What does SSC stand for? How does it's design differ to the Close sling? This is interesting to me as we are finding our walking distance cut down as ds(5) is walking and maybe if we could pop a sling in the bottom of my rucksack we could extend our distances without dh having to carry an empty child carrier rucksack.

Regards rucksacks, dh doesn't like the LittleLife and I don't like his! Personal fit is very important I find with rucksacks (slight scoliosis plus previously slipped disc from an accident). But I am starting to struggle a bit now with comfort. Dd loves it though..

A close carrieer is a stretchy carrier and no way is supportive for an older child.

A ssc is a soft structured carrier. They come in different styles but usually have a structured waist for better disturbution of childs weight, buckles for the shoulder straps and lots of padding.

You can also get toddler mei teis which are bigger than baby ones.

I prefer wrapping as means I have different ways of carrying a child and different sized children as well.

Where abouts r u sachaf, as there might be a sling meet near you for more ideas :)

SSC stands for 'soft structured carrier'. Basically it is not dissimilar in style to a rucksack (padded waistband, padded straps etc) but not nearly as heavy and structured as a Littlelife type backpack. So very much more practical for popping in the bottom of a bag for when they get tired. They hold the child much closer to you than the framed backpack type, which brings their centre of gravity much closer to yours and so makes their weight feel much more minimal.

My absolute favourite big-kid one is the Preschool Kinderpack kindercarry.bigcartel.com/carrier-info and www.kindercarry.bigcartel.com/ - they're not cheap and only made/sold in the US but they are amazing and will certainly fit a 5 year old. They hold their value well for resale too. The new 'strap adjuster' things are worth it to make it adjustable from 5'5 size 10 short-waisted me to my long-waisted bigger DH (otherwise I need 'petite' straps and he doesn't)

Other alternatives include

• the UK-made Rose and Rebellion preschool carrier www.roseandrebellion.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=12
• the Hungary-made Bamberoo (she makes to order, so if you want the biggest preschooler size that's what she'll make for you) www.bamberoo.hu/index.php?Itemid=30

The Close Carrier is stretchy fabric, so when the baby gets too heavy the stretch gets too stretchy. In my experience, whilst I love stretchy wraps and carriers for little babies, they start to hurt your back long before your child gets near the maximum weight limit.

Whereabouts are you? It is possible that a local sling library would have a preschool size carrier for you to try out, although they tend to focus more on smaller-size carriers just because that is where most of the demand is.

pootle and loopsy how old are your older ones that you still occasionally sling/wrap/mei tai?