Finding the Best Baby Sling

I spent my ninth month of pregnancy consumed by anxiety, tormented by endless gloom-and-doom scenarios: What if my baby screams around the clock? And what about me—even if the child to-be is completely angelic, would I still have a life? Like even vaguely?

So, as my due date all too quickly approached, I did what all stress shoppers do: I started buying stuff on the Internet. Soon enough, amid all the bouncy seats and BPA-free bottles, one particular item commanded all my attention: the baby carrier. Wearing my baby 24-7 seemed the perfect means of reconciling the demands of parenthood with everyday life. With the right sling, I could attach my contented papoose to my midsection and be a modern frontier wife, whipping up hearty stews and scrubbing the kitchen floor and planting an herb garden out back (activities I seldom to never performed in my pre-partum existence, incidentally).

But before I could live out this fantasy, I first had to sort through the glut of options out there. Gone were the days when a mother could just wrap a bedsheet around her chest and resume tilling the fields. There now seem to be as many varieties of baby carriers as of actual babies. There are carriers you wear on your chest, hip, or back; carriers that tie, snap, or buckle; pouch carriers, backpack carriers, wraparound carriers, and on and on. Too much! Clearly, I had to try more than one. In the end I settled for five, which I’ve rated for you below on the basis of comfort (10 possible points), ease of use (10 possible points), and versatility (10 possible points).

Hotslings Baby Carrier [2], $43.66

Don’t be fooled by the dizzying array of colors and patterns it comes in: The Hotsling is minimalist in the extreme, the loincloth of the sling world. The Hotsling is worn over one shoulder, draped diagonally across the parent’s chest for maximum back pain. Unlike the other pouch-style sling I tried, the Hotsling requires some minor training to put on, has limited padding (at the baby’s legs), and isn’t adjustable. The slings are sized like pantyhose, so unless both parents are of similar heights and weights, buying two is probably unavoidable.

And despite manufacturers’ claims that the Hotsling accommodates babies up to 35 pounds, my baby—who weighed almost 10 pounds at birth—never seemed to fit securely inside it. Even all scrunched up, my little Leo was always straining against the edge of the fabric, threatening to slide out. Keeping one hand on him helped, but didn’t that also defeat half the purpose of the carrier? After using the Hotsling (by far the most portable sling in my arsenal, by the way—a big plus in a crowded diaper bag) on a few trips to the grocery store, I now stash it near the couch, for when I want a free arm but don’t plan to move around much.

Comfort: 3
Ease of Use: 7
Versatility: 6
Total: 16

Balboa Baby Adjustable Sling by Dr. Sears-Black Signature [3], $59

The Balboa Baby, endorsed by Dr. William Sears [4], the attachment-parenting guru who coined the term “baby wearing” in 1985, is an adjustable pouch-style sling that you wear diagonally, like a messenger bag or beauty pageant ribbon, across your chest. This roomy sling is my husband’s favorite, probably because it requires exactly zero expertise to put on. Sliding into the carrier and plopping in the baby takes about 30 seconds start to finish.

But like the Hotsling and other sling-style carriers, the Balboa Baby presents a symmetry problem. Though nicely padded along the shoulders, it does not permit an even distribution of the baby’s weight on both sides of the body: The baby must either be positioned on a diagonal, or upright on one hip. While the strong-backed might scoff at this criticism, I would never set out for a walk of any length in this sling.

Comfort: 4
Ease of Use: 10
Versatility: 4
Total: 18

BabyBjörn Baby Carrier Synergy [5], $134.20

The structured Björn, wholly unlike the sling-style carriers, is an initially daunting network of buckles and latches and straps that you loop over your shoulders like a backpack. The mesh Synergy—the newest, sleekest member of the Björn family—is less bulky and more breathable than the Active [6], and more back-friendly than the Original [7]. The child is placed upright, facing either toward the parent or the world outside, depending on how well he can hold up his head.

After studying the instruction manual like a Talmudic scholar, I eventually figured out how to snap Leo securely into the Björn; after just a few days, taking him in and out was a cinch. And because he seemed absolutely safe inside this carrier (despite a little unsteadiness at the neck—the only drawback of the mesh), I could knock off many household chores without pausing to wonder if I was jostling my precious cargo. The Björn is my go-to carrier for running errands on foot, and I keep it in the car for prowls through the supermarket.

Still, despite the symmetrical distribution of the baby’s weight inside it, the Björn can place an undue burden on the back and shoulders. My husband can wear the Björn all day without complaint, but I get noticeably tight shoulders and lower-back twinges after only an hour. I can’t imagine having the back strength to carry Leo in it when he hits 20 pounds, though I do in theory look forward to the day when he can gaze out at the world on trips to the drugstore.

Comfort: 5
Ease of Use: 6
Versatility: 8
Total: 19

Moby Wrap Original 100% Cotton Solid Baby Carrier [8], $39.95 (Recommended)

The Moby Wrap, a long, formless banner of cloth that wraps around the belly and back, is at first blush even more intimidating than the Björn. Putting it on can resemble a complicated arts-and-crafts project: You must fold the fabric in two lengthwise, then twine it around your waist, crisscross it over your shoulders, wrap it back around your waist, finishing it off with a double-knot at your bellybutton.

My husband disliked both the hippie-dippy appearance of the Moby (“Why not just wear a dashiki?”) and the responsibility of tying off the ends himself. “What am I, a sailor?” he asked, refusing even to try it on. “What if my knot comes loose and the baby falls out, then what?”

It’s true that the Moby can seem gratuitously difficult to put on, especially with an impatient newborn shrieking in the background. But once you get the hang of it (in my case, after many, many misfires, and only with video guidance [9]), the Moby Wrap can be plenty liberating. It’s extremely comfortable, and the most versatile of all my carriers, designed to hold babies of varying sizes (or even twins!) in a multitude of positions: facing in, facing out, cradled, on the hip or even back. The Moby also placed most of Leo’s weight on my hips, allowing me to schlep him around for hours without pain.

But given all the effort involved, the Moby is less useful for when you’re out and about and might need to remove the baby frequently. It’s better suited to those occasions (chores, computer work) when you can keep it on for a long stretch. All those strips of sturdy cotton can get hot in the swelter of summer, too; I prefer to wear it in the air-conditioned indoors. Aside from that, though, the Moby is close to perfect, and the little one loves it.

Comfort: 10
Ease of Use: 2
Versatility: 10
Total: 22

ERGO Baby Carrier - Black w/ Green [10], $105 (Recommended)

The other winner in the back-pain-relief category, the structured Ergo concentrates the bulk of the baby’s weight in the hips. To wear the Ergo, you buckle a strap around your waist and another behind your shoulders, then place the baby against your chest and tighten the straps. (You can also reverse the Ergo and wear the baby on your back, but I can’t imagine being brave enough to try that for a while.)

At 6.5 weeks and almost 14 pounds, Leo doesn’t yet have the heft or head control to enjoy the Ergo as intended. It’s really for larger babies who can already sit up. If you want to use the Ergo on a newborn, you can buy an infant insert, or you can save $25 and just wrap a blanket around your baby. I tried the blanket trick on Leo with great success; even inserting him at a diagonal, so both legs came out on the same side, didn’t bother my back. I admit to having high hopes for this carrier: An Alexander Technique [11]-devoted friend, who has a 22-month-old, tells me the Ergo is the only carrier she can still use without collapsing. Still, in the summer, that extra layer of padding can get sweaty fast, so I probably won’t start relying on the Ergo in earnest until Leo is a little bigger (or the temperature a little lower).

Other nice features: The Ergo has a storage pocket big enough for several diapers and a cute little hood to pull over baby’s head on sunny days. It’s not the sexiest contraption, and it doesn’t have a front-facing option like the Bjorn and the Moby, but the Ergo lives up to its name: Its manufacturers actually thought about weight distribution and pain relief when designing their carrier.

Comfort: 9
Ease of Use: 8
Versatility: 5
Total: 22

The Verdict

If you want to ditch your stroller and calm your baby with minimal effort, you should run-don’t-walk to the carrier aisle of your local overpriced baby-goods store. I’d suggest investing in two: a soft carrier for home, and a structured one for errands outside the house. You’ll soon wonder how you survived an hour of parenthood without one. No, I haven’t yet potted the mint and oregano Leo and I (with the help of the Bjorn) picked up at the farmers’ market last weekend. But I have managed to empty the dishwasher—and even to write this article—with a happily snoozing infant on my chest.

Photograph of Moby Wrap © 2008 Moby Wrap Inc.