Buyers Guide to Baby Carriers
Becoming a new parent presents a multitude of challenges. Between waking up in the middle of the night to tend to your little human, to babyproofing the home to needing to purchase endless baby materials and products. One of the most important products every new parent needs is a baby carrier. Baby carriers are an absolute essential to parenthood to ensure you have a seamless way to carry your baby around without it always being in your arms.
There are countless brands and models of baby carriers available on the market, and this can make the shopping process for one especially overwhelming. This buyers guide aims to provide a base level of education and preparation so that you can enter the market with a fundamental understanding of what exactly you are looking for!
Why do you need a baby carrier?
This may sounds like a silly question, however, it is quite helpful to ask yourself this before heading out into the market blindly. Obviously, you need a baby carrier to hold your baby, but, there are various models and designs that appeal to different circumstances. For instance if you need a baby carrier to have your baby held in it for hours at a time, comfort and durability would be the most important features to consider. Once you understand your purpose for purchasing one you can proceed to look at the different variations of baby carriers on the market.
Variations of baby carriers
There are many different types of baby carriers designed for a variety of purposes. Some are designed more for shorter time use without a focus on the comfort of the parent. While others are designed strong and comfortable intended for longer term use. Some of the most known variations of baby carriers are: Sling Baby Carriers, Mei Tais, Hybrids, Softer Structure Baby Carriers and finally, wraps.
Variations of features
Not every baby carrier is built the same. Different brands and models can present a variety of features. Educating yourself on the different possible features will allow you to match your current needs with the perfect product. Some of the well known features that many modern baby carrier include that you should consider are: Safety features such as locks/straps, comfort features such as foam protection for the parents shoulders, breathable materials, limits in weight and finally, ergonomic design with adjustability.
Consider safety
While it is important to consider the comfort and utility of a baby carrier, the absolute most important feature is safety. The only reliable way to ensure a baby carriers safety is to buy a reputable, well reviewed brand name. Well-known brand names tend to have significantly more reviews and safety protocols that are followed in the creation of the design. We discuss more about brands below, but be sure that for these types of products it is significantly safer to spend a little extra money to ensure the safety of your baby.
Brand
When shopping for your brand new baby carrier it is critical to consider the brand you are purchasing. Reputable brand names provide an extra layer of assurance that the product you are buying is safe. Opting for cheaper options is fine for the most part but does present some risks. Lesser known brands typically have significantly less customer reviews making it difficult to gauge its quality.
Some of the most reliable brands of Baby Carriers are: BabyBjörn, LÍLLÉbaby, Ergobaby Omni 360 and Boba Wrap.
Budget
Our last factor to focus you head out shopping is budget. Setting a budget for yourself beforehand can be a massive help! It will immediately reduce your overall amount of choices making it easier to make a selection.
Baby carriers can vary widely in price, so if you do not set a limit for yourself ahead of time, you may find yourself with too many options to the making the whole experience overwhelming.
Final thoughts
We understand that searching for a brand new baby carrier can be a tedious task. There are endless brands, models and features making it difficult to decide which one is perfect for you.
We hope you ask yourself why you need a baby carrier in the first place and take into account the brand, comfort and quality while assessing the various kinds of baby carriers on the market today.
Do not forget to also set a budget for yourself ahead of time! Following our buyers guide will direct you with just the right amount of education and preparation to find the perfect baby carrier!
We have also went out of our way to create a comprehensive list of Our Safest and Best Rated Baby Carriers.
We took into consideration all the factors we mentioned in our buyers guide so that our readers can get the best possible deal!
Happy Shopping!