Lille Baby Carrier (EveryWear Style)

We bought this carrier when I realized that our Baby Björn Carrier (Original) would not meet my needs anymore (or more specifically, those of my shoulders and back). I thought about getting the Ergo, but our son really liked to be forward-facing at this point so I knew I needed something else. Don't get me wrong, I love the Ergo. It is well made, sturdy and it is ergonomically as perfect as you can possibly get with a baby carrier. But, I knew my little man would be happier if he saw the world in front of him, so the Ergo was out.

I came across Lille Baby at Giggle and figured it must be worth looking into since Giggle actually sold it. 

The Lille Baby carrier is like the Ergo in many ways. It's ergonomically designed so the weight rests on your hips, not on your shoulders and back. You can comfortably carry your baby in it for very long stretches at a time. The difference with the Lille Baby is that you can carry your baby in 6 different positions, even on your hip with one strap going across your body! The carrier looks great, and I'm sure many improvements have been made since we bought ours "ages" ago as far as baby gear goes (which is about 2.5 years ago). For one, I'm noticing that the newer versions have better head/neck support for the baby, and the carrier looks even better than it did when we bought ours.

I guess it's hard to find a product that has all the things you want, without having a few things you don't want as well. This carrier is close to perfect and does many things, but the shoulder straps bothered me a little bit. The padding on the shoulder straps button onto the straps and ours seemed to get twisted sometimes. That, or they just became uneven because you need to re-button the pads with small, not so sturdy buttons depending on who carries the baby. It's just an extra step that I wish I didn't have to deal with. But this is probably a necessary feature so that the carrier can be used in all those 6 different ways. It's also not the easiest carrier to put on (just like the Ergo). If you are by yourself you may need to grow monkey arms to close it properly in the back... (It's doable, though!).

Another thing worth mentioning is that when I carried our daughter in this carrier in the forward facing position I noticed red marks on her legs where the sides of the carrier had been pressing on her legs. I don't think this is harmful and I'm sure it's because the baby's legs are a bit more spread out in this carrier forward facing than they are for example in the Baby Björn Carriers. There are buttons on the Lille Baby that make it narrower when forward facing, but she still got red marks.

All in all it's a great carrier for longer term that was designed by moms, dads and doctors and supposedly also a rock climber! Would I buy it again? It depends. Unlike my son, my daughter always seemed happier to be facing me, so with her I could probably have gotten by with the Ergo. But since the Lille Baby does all the things the Ergo does and more, this might still be my first choice

So, in my humble opinion...

Pros:

- Ergonomic, yet stylish.

- Unisex (although my husband definitely preferred to be walking around town with the ultra-sleek Baby Björn).

- 6 different positions to carry baby (including forward-facing after a certain age).

- Great for longer-term usage, longer stretches at a time.

Cons:

- Shoulder straps/pads could be sturdier (like the Ergo) and easier to use.

- Requires some finagling to put on and close with baby in it (same as Ergo).

- Baby sits a little bit too wide-legged for what I'm entirely comfortable with, but this product has supposedly been tested and evaluated by pediatricians, chiropractors, etc, so I trust them. (By the way, babies sit equally wide-legged in the Ergo).

www.lillebaby.com