Trying to choose between the three most popular and well known brands of Soft Structure Carriers (also known as Buckle Carriers) on the market? As I see it, the ERGOBaby, the Beco Butterfly II, and the Boba are the most compared and inquired about SSC’s on the market today.  Since I have used all three with both of my children I have decided to film videos comparing each carrier in different aspects of useage.  The videos will be a visual reference for my written comparisons.

This post will focus on the ERGObaby and Beco Butterfly II only because I am comparing their newborn babywearing capabilities.  The Boba is intended for babies 15 pounds or more.  You can find the other videos and posts on comparing all three carriers by following the ERGObaby/BBII/Boba Series.

ERGObaby

The ♥2♥ (Heart2Heart) is an accessory that is sold seperately from the ERGObaby.  It retails for $25.00 or $38.00 (Organic).  If you intend to wear your baby from birth in your Ergo you will have to have this insert to safely wear your them.  (There are ways to roll up blankets and place them under the baby but please be safe whichever method you choose.)

Pros:

Snug and Cozy. This insert is padded, soft, and a cocoon like shape that wraps your baby.

Adjustable. The Heart2Heart can simulate being swaddled for the baby; you can adjust it to completely wrap the baby.  Not shown in the video, you can also leave it open face if you prefer.

Research: The Heart2Heart has been carefully designed to support your baby’s spine in the best way possible.  As long as you are following their directions closely you will have a very safe and developmentally appropriate newborn carrier.

Cons:

Price. The added expense of 25-38 dollars on top of a high dollar carrier is hard to swallow.  You might be able to find a gently used one on a number of sites, or check your local Craigslist.

Warmth. The Heart2Heart is padded so it might make you, and your baby, a little warm.  Babywearing is already a sweaty practice.  In cold weather this is a bonus, but indoors and outdoors in warmer weather it might get toasty.  The most important thing to to make sure you baby isn’t overheated.

Beco Butterfly II

Not me- but a good photo of a baby in the insert in the Beco

The infant harness is always included with the purchase of your brand new Beco Butterfly II.

Pros:

It does the job. The infant harness raises your newborn to a safe height and also keeps them in the carrier.  The crotch is also narrower than if they were in the seat of the carrier.

Price. FREE with purchase.  This saves mamas the conundrum of deciding whether to buy an accessory.  If they want to try their Beco with a newborn they can.  If not, they aren’t out any money.  Beco’s do cost more than Ergo’s when purchased brand new, but the Ergo tips the scale if you buy the carrier and insert brand new.

Slim. Because the insert is not padded in any way it is slimmer in appearance and less bulky to wear than the Heart2Heart.  It would also be less warm for you and the baby.

Cons:

Placement. I really (probably unnecessarily) had trouble getting the insert placed just right.  The velcro is very strong (good thing since it IS holding a baby) but I may have cursed at having to un-stick/re-stick the thing over and over until it was flat and level.  I also always wanted to attach it the opposite way it was meant to go.  Visually, it looked that it should go that way, but then it wouldn’t buckle so I knew it was wrong.  I wish there was a Front/Back designation for dummies like me.

Intimidating. The Beco itself just looks-scary.  There are straps and buckles everywhere.  Brand new moms who are also brand new babywearers have to learn how to use the carrier, and also have to figure out the infant harness.  They might just throw up their hands and give up.  Coming from using an Ergo I even had trouble getting things together.

Commonalities:

Both inserts are meant to be used from birth up to about 4-6 months.  This is completely dependent on your baby and your own comfort.  Once baby has good head control, is large enough that falling out of the carrier through the side is not possible, is tall enough that they are not in danger of suffocation inside of  the carrier, and you feel that they are ready to move up then you can discontinue using the inserts and put them in the carrier directly.  There is no hard and fast number for this.

The only photo of Ev in the newborn insert of the BBII

The ERGObaby and the Beco Butterfly II both instruct you to in some way, shape or form, put the baby somewhere, then place them in the carrier, then put it on.  I always used the couch when I was at home, my lap when out of the house.  When I was out I would often sit in my front passenger seat, take the baby out of the carseat, then so as shown in the video for the Beco.  I didn’t have a Heart2Heart for the Ergo for my newborn so I never used it.  I was able to put the Beco on and place the baby inside while standing (such as in a parking lot) but it never felt as well done as when I did it the long way.  I’m not sure how you could do that with the Heart2Heart.

Since I never used the Heart2Heart it I don’t want to give my judgement on the actual wear of it compared to the infant harness for the Beco. From playing with them both, and as a user of both carriers, I see the positives and negatives of each.

As always it comes down to your preference, your budget, and your baby. I hope the visual side by side comparison helps those on the fence make a decision when not able to visit a store or borrow one.

You can find all of the products mentioned linked below on Amazon.com*

ERGObaby Heart2Heart Infant Insert

ERGObaby Carrier

Beco Butterfly II Carrier

I was sent a Heart2Heart by ERGObaby to faciliate filming this video at my request.  The ERGObaby carrier was purchased by me, as was the Beco Butterfly II.  *I am am affiliate of Amazon.com.  If you order using my links I receive a small percentage, so thank you!

One of the things that makes cloth diapering so overwhelming is having to pick a diaper to use on your newborn, if you choose to go this route.  Prefolds and covers are the more economical choice, but some people would rather have an AIO or pocket diaper.  I have filmed a video showing these diapers, which has been broken into 2 parts.

Part 1

• Happy Heiny Mini One Size vs. Happy Heiny One Size
• bumGenius! XS vs. bumGenius! 4.0 One Size
• Thirsties Duo Size 1 vs. Thirsties Duo Size 2

Part 2

• “Little Smarti” Newborn vs. Smartipants One Size
• Tots Bots Tini Fit vs. Tots Bots Easy Fit
• Fuzzibunz XS vs. Fuzzibunz OS

This video is just a run down of the various diapers that will work on a newborn.  Just because a diaper was not included in the video does not mean it hasn’t worked for us, I just had limited time and wanted to highlight a few types and brands.

Brands included in the video:

• Sustainable Babyish Flat
• Kissaluvs Size 0 Fitted
• Little Beetle Little to Big Fitted
• Baby Beehinds Newborn Cover
• Kissaluvs Marvel One Size Cover
• lil Joey’s
• bumGenius! XS AIO
• Fuzzibunz XS
• Ragababe NB AIO
• Happy Heiny’s Mini One Size
• Thirsties Duo Size 1
• Ragababe Step 2 Size 0
• Happy Heiny’s One Size
• bumGenius! Elemental One Size
• bumGenius 4.0 in Snaps and Velcro
• Fuzzibunz One Size
• Charlie Banana One Size
• Rocky Mountain One Size
• Softbums Omni

Update at the end of the post

I am the sort of person who needs to “talk it out” (my to my husband’s dismay) so I am going to write up my plans for the newborn cloth diaper reviews.  If there is something you want to see added that I am missing please let me know.  As of now I plan on comparing newborn diapers on the following:

• Weight they begin fitting well
• Weight they no longer fit
• Leaks, if any
• Bang for the Buck
• Performance

Really, the only thing I have added is the time frame that they fit.  But, it will be nice to be able to compare these brands on those points for anyone considering them.

L to R in a circle: Baby Beehinds NB Cover, Sbish Wool, Sbish flat, KL0, Nifty Nappy Ooga Booga, Thirsties Duo, Smartipants NB, FB XS, BG XS. Lil Joey, Tiny Fit

To recap, I have the following newborn cloth diapers to review:

• bumGenius! AIO Deluxe in XS.
• Fuzzibunz XS
• Tiny Fit by Tots Bots
• Smartipants Newborn
• Nifty Nappy newborn fitted
• Sustainable Babyish XS Flats
• Sustainable Babyish Wool Soaker
• Baby Beehinds Newborn Cover
• Lil’ Joeys
• KL0
• Gro Via newborn
• Thirsties Duo Size 1

What I haven’t made up my mind on is how I will film reviews.  I do not believe I will film a review for each individual diaper.  I may group them into categories and show the different brands in one video.  Or do them all together.  What do you think?

I also plan to pit a few one size diapers head to head to see which fit a newborn first and best.  The biggest request has been for Softbums, so this will be done.  And I will choose from the others I have as well.  Most likely you will see bumGenius! 4.0, bumGenius! Elementals, Gro Via, etc.  If you  have a particular One Size you really want tested, let me know in the comments and I will see what I can do.

***UPDATE

Rather than reply to all of the comments I will update here.  I will try my best to address the issue of meconium, cord stump, washing/drying, etc. that were asked about.  Also, I have set a lot of my one size diapers to the newborn setting.  Here is a list so far:

• Bottombumpers OS
• Doopsy
• Rocky Mountain OS
• Softbums
• Gro Via AIO
• Gro Via AI2
• bumGenius! 4.0
• bumGenius! Elemental
• Smartipants Smart Fit Cover
• Smartipants OS
• Fuzzibunz OS
• Charlie Banana OS
• Little Beetle velour fitted
• and a Rumparooz and Sprout Change V2.0 is getting added soon.

I think that is all but there might be more.

While it will be difficult my plan is to either photograph or film the fit of these diapers on a newborn as well.  Thanks for all of your input.  I hope when all is said and done this will be a very beneficial experiment for new parents looking for newborn cloth diapers!

The trouble with adding a new member to the family, along with the adjustment period with a new baby and a toddler, is mainly: where  am I going to put all of this baby crap? I recently washed most of the baby’s new clothing and folded it (or, I should say the babysitter did it for me!) but I had no clue where it was going to go.  In my mind I am not even sure where the baby is going to be getting changed or dressed.

The plan is for the baby to sleep in bed with us at first for nights, and I will put the baby in the Hushamok hammock for naps.  And hey, if the baby really loves the hammock, I will throw him in there at night too.  It will be right next to my bed so I can get him whenever I need to nurse him .  He will need changing in the middle of the night but I won’t want to wake my son, so I am going to not only need somewhere to change him (on the bed?) I need a place to put his diapers.  I will also need a wet bag for our room.

During the day I will change the baby on the changing table in my son’s room, most likely.  Unless my older son is napping.  Then bedroom again.  I feel like a nomad of diaper changing and he isn’t even here yet.

Same goes for clothing changes, which I am sure will be frequent.  My first son had massive spit ups until he was 10 months old!  No, he did not have reflux or food/ dairy allergies.  I was just lucky I guess.  We went through gobs of outfits and burp cloths.  I feel like I need 2 wardrobes; 1 for our room and one for “playroom” bedroom.  Same for a stash of burp cloths.  ACK!

As it stands, the changing table in my older son’s room is stuffed with diapers and inserts.  I have 6 baskets, 3 full of diapers, 1 full of extra inserts and cloth wipes, 1 with the “overflow” of diapers, and one with newborn diapers and wet bags.  But I need the newborn diapers in the top basket, not the bottom one.  I have to rearrange my whole system to accommodate.  At this time my top 3 baskets are arranged, left to right: Daddy Friendly Diapers, Daddy “meh” diapers (he can use most but he doesn’t like to), and Daddy Don’t Touch (diapers I need to review or ones he sucks at putting on).  Now one needs to be Newborn Diapers. (I included my changing table tour from a few months ago)

I am also unsure where I am going to put the Mamaroo, which I am so excited to be reviewing!  Will the livingroom be good for it?  If the baby naps in it will the livingroom be too noisy or unsafe (think- toddler who likes poking eyes).  Then, should the bedroom be a good home?

None of these things were issues with my first son.  I could do whatever I pleased and I had a wonderful 9 months of nesting!  Now I don’t feel the need for any nesting.  I have no desire to wash and fold tiny baby clothes and I certainly don’t feel like rearranging furniture or drawers of clothing.  My birth kit still needs some things and I am slacking.

With Fletcher I was very excited about the “stuff” and arranging it (and of course having a new baby).  With this baby I am excited about the birth and how my son will bond with him.

As an organized person, this drives me nuts!  I need order!

Any tips on having 2 young children, 1 “bedroom,” and no storage space?!?

Because I can’t think of a snazzy name, we are calling the next newborn baby event the “New Baby Event, part 2.”  6 months ago we hosted lots of fun reviews and giveaways for the new mom and baby.  In November we are doing it all over again!

This event has some very exciting reviews and giveaways coming up.  I am going to let you in a few of them so you can get all excited!

4Moms Mamaroo, Woombie, Sugar Sweet Baby Wraps, Knoodle Knits, Hushamok Baby Hammock, Oeko Glider, Aden+Anais, Binsi, and more!

Over 1,000$ dollars worth of giveaways so far!!

I am still not sure how I am going to organize the newborn cloth diaper reviews, but as of now I am going to review:

Kissaluvs (KL0), bumGenius! XS, Fuzzibunz XS, Lil’ Joeys, Sustainable Babyish XS Flats, Thirsties Duo Size 1, Smartipants newborn, Nifty Nappy newborn, and Tiny Fit from Bummis. Some of these I purchased, some have been sent for review.  You can expect to have a few fun itty bitty cloth diaper giveaways too!

There is still time to participate in the event as well.  Any PR inquiries can be sent to me at dirtydiaperlaundry@gmail.com.

Visual of my acrobatic son in bed with us

I have decided that my son needs to sleep in his own bed, all night.  Not because I don’t love sleeping with him, because I do.  I love snuggling all night and waking up next to him saying a random word every morning like “uh oh” or the standard screaming of “mama, Daaadeeee!”  I need him to sleep in his own bed because in a few short months I will have a new nursling by my side in the bed.  I will also have a husband in that bed.  Our bed is a Queen, not a stately King!

Plus, lately he has been very restless at night.  He used to wake around midnight from his own bed to come to ours (at least we get a little bit if evening time alone in bed!) and sleep all night.  Now he tosses and turns and wakes so that he can put his head on my chest or place his hand in between my boobs.  You read correctly; he likes to put his hand down my shirt in my cleavage for comfort.  This is a little thing that developed after he weaned.  He still loves my boobs but they have a new purpose.  Being that I am pregnant, him moving and kicking and doing acrobatics next to me has gotten very uncomfortable and a little scary.

Sleeping with his hands down my shirt

Since he falls asleep with me rocking him or with me laying next to him in his own bed I have a head start.  He knows he goes “nite nite” in his bed.  He has never fallen asleep on his own but he definitely knows the routine.  I just have no clue how to get him to accept that his bed is his home for the entire night.  I have tried many times to get him back to sleep once he wakes up in his bed.  It works, but he wakes up shortly after I leave and then points to the door screaming.  He wants to be in OUR bed.  I give in and we all get a good night’s rest.

For the past 2 nights I have slept on the floor next to his bed on a couch cushion.  As soon as he wakes I try to comfort him back to sleep.  So far he has crawled out of bed and onto the floor with me.  I have to put him back in his bed.  The only way he falls back asleep is if I am in bed next to him.  Even worse, he has spidey senses and knows when I leave.  I have to wait until he is deeply asleep before getting up and going back to my floor pallet.  If I were with him he would sleep the rest of the night but he knows I am not and wakes again.  This time he won’t let me slip away.  No matter how ninja like I escape after he falls back asleep he will wake up.  So for these two nights I have actually slept in a short twin bed with my son.  I have to curl up because it isn’t long enough for my body.  Often times I am relegated to a small section since my son hogs the bed.

This isn’t solving our problem.  Now I am co-sleeping in a short twin bed.  I would rather co-sleep in my comfy queen!!!  I feel like doing this has to say something.  It says “You are not allowed back in my bed for sleeping.  You will sleep in your own bed.”  But how do I get him to let me leave him?  I try shhushing him to sleep, patting, etc, things that don’t have me IN bed with him but after the 2nd waking he has none of those.  I know I have to do this now before I am too pregnant to do it later, and of course before his brother arrives.  Co-sleeping with a restless 2 year old, newborn, Mommy, and Daddy is not going to work for this family.  Sorry!

I would love any advice from those who have been in a similar situation.  Or just words of sympathy for the pregnant lady sleeping on the floor/ in a toddler bed!

While pregnant with my son Fletcher, I had a dream.  In this dream I was in my glider rocking my newborn baby boy.  He was in my arms, beautiful, wrinkly, sweet, and perfect in every way.  And, I was nursing him.  It was the most wonderful dream…. we seemed so happy and breastfeeding was natural for us.  I woke up excited about this particular aspect of having my son and the idea of being everything to him.  His life source before and after birth.

It seems like only yesterday I had that dream.  Today marks 7 days without nursing my son.  He weaned when he was 18 months and 5 days.

I knew it was over when I was rocking him in the glider before bed.  He had not nursed the night before so I was trying to not offer it again thinking maybe he was done.  He was crying and very upset; he didn’t want to go to bed.  I caved and offered him “milkies.”  Instead of happily agreeing he shook his head “no.”  Cue the mommy waterworks.  As much as I wanted him to be finished knowing he really was done broke my heart.  In theory, having him wean would make my life much easier.  Once I hit my second trimester my nipples became extremely sensitive.  There were many times I cried while he nursed.  He never bit me, but he does have a mouth full of teeth and one tight latch makes for a very painful experience.  Reality was a lot harder to cope with.  Realizing that I would never again bond with him in that way.  He was really done…

Our nursing journey began on a rocky road.  Latch trouble, very painful and bleeding nipples, nipple shields, lactation consultant visits, and marathon nursing sessions on the couch followed by cold gel packs and lanolin cream.

By 3 months I finally had it figured out, including the all important side lying position which transitioned us into a cosleeping family.

By 6 months I was nursing in public comfortably and proudly.

By a year I was ecstatic that we made it and was ready to go where the wind blew us.

Then I got pregnant and had to decide whether we should try weaning or tandem nursing.  At that point he was nursing on demand many times a day.  I decided to limit our sessions to a few a day.  This took about 2 weeks for him to stop signing for milk unless it was time for a nap or night time.  To get him to that point I used distractions when he would come up for a nibble.  I would offer a cup of milk or play with him, read, anything to distract him from boredom nursing.

A few weeks ago I nixed the first of the morning feeding.  This was a sad one.  I loved laying in bed with him in the morning and nursing him while cuddling.  However, out of the three a day, this was the only one I could get rid of.  He nursed to sleep for his nap and bedtime.

Then away went the nap nursing session.  I rocked him to sleep without nursing him which was a gradual transition.

I felt sure I would be nursing him to sleep every night, however.  We tried having Daddy rock him to sleep but even if he did get him asleep he could never get him into bed without him waking up.  So he would come to me them want to nurse.

Then we went to visit our family in North Carolina.  We had some major sleep issues at first.  Me and my husband took turns trying to get him down.  Some days he fell asleep very late and many hours after his “night” nursing session.  Then, he dropped it.  Suddenly he was fine with me simply rocking him to sleep.  He didn’t ask and I didn’t offer.  When I did offer, he refused.  I believe this was mostly due to a drop in supply.  There was nothing to get so why try, he decided.

I won’t call it baby led weaning because I consciously pared down feedings over a few months time.  I tried to make it as painless as possible for both of us.  In the beginning when we transitioned from 6-8 to 3 a day, occasionally when he asked and cried I would give in.  I knew he loved it and so did I.  But as a busy toddler he has quickly forgotten the days of constant nursing.  He has signed for milk once or twice but he also uses it as a synonym to “sleep.”  He knows the milk is gone.  I already had a low supply from being pregnant.  The last time he nursed it was for a few seconds.  He got the comfort then allowed me to rock him to sleep.

I know I did what was right.  Even though I would have gone longer, having 19 weeks of not nursing is good for everyone.  I dreaded nursing him due to the pain, and I know he could sense that.  I resented having to nurse him to sleep while being in pain while my husband watched TV.  This break gives me time to rest my nipples and mentally prepare for nursing a newborn again.  I’m really not sure how I would have coped with nursing my toddler to sleep on top of nursing a brand new little one.

Now I am already excited about getting to nurse my next little boy.  I hope my experience will make the first few weeks more relaxing for me and the new baby.  I look forward to watching my toddler grow and become a little person while I get to nourish a new little life.  Only time will tell if my son will become jealous of the new nursling or if he will have forgotten that that was our thing.  I am so proud that we had a happy, healthy, and joy filled 18 months of breastfeeding.  I am also proud of the transition we have made.  It wasn’t easy but it was worth it.

This post is part of the Cloth Diaper Carnival from Cloth Diapering Bloggers (Ning network) and Dirty Diaper Laundry.  Each participant write about the chosen topic, this month is Newborn Cloth Diapering, and links up using the MckLinky.  Please visit the other participants listed at the end of the post.

Newborn Cloth Diapering is challenging for many reasons.  If this is the first time you are cloth diapering, ever, it is even more challenging in some ways.  If you have cloth diapered an older baby but never a newborn, you have some ideas about the diapers you want to use and how to cloth diaper in general.

I was totally new to the whole thing.  Babies, cloth diapers, and cloth diapering a newborn.  I was armed with months worth of research, but had never put a cloth diaper on a real baby.  I did practice on a humiliated teddy bear, who was sporting a Bum Genius 3.0 for months before my son arrived.  Teddy also sat very still while I practiced snapping prefolds.

When I decided to cloth diaper, it became an obsession.  I would say I was a little more prepared than some moms because I scoured the internet for any information.  I joined cloth diaper message boards and picked the brains of other parents.  I read reviews of every diaper imaginable before I made purchases.  I stalked Diaperswappers for deals on used diapers I wanted to try but didn’t want to invest the full amount on, just in case it wasn’t for us.

My newborn stash ended up being

24 preemie unbleached indian prefolds.

36 Infant bleached DSQ (chinese) prefolds.

4 XS Thirsties covers.

I had many more cloth diapers, but they were one size or size small.  I went with prefolds and covers based on the feedback from other parents.  The concensus was that one size diapers didn’t fit babies until between 10-14 pounds without leaking.  And it wasn’t in my budget to buy XS AIO diapers or pockets, as cute as they were.

I spent many hours prepping the large amount of prefolds I had.  I went with the boiling method since my washer/ dryer were down 2 flights of stairs and washing them 10 times + would have killed by pregnant self.  Boiling was a mistake.  It steamed my apartment and “cleaned” years of dirt off of the walls.  Fun times.

The moment of truth arrived when we brought our new baby boy home from the hospital.  I began using my cloth diapers here and there the first days of his life.  He did have two meconium poops in cloth diapers and they didn’t stain.  We didn’t exclusively use them because the covers would rub his cord stump, which didn’t look very comfortable for him.

At the two week mark we started cloth diapering about 80% of the time.  We didn’t always use them at night because frankly I was delirious from lack of sleep, and having to put on a prefold then a cover in the middle of the night, multiple times, was hard for me and my husband.  Even though at first my hubby was hesitant about prefolds and vowed to never use them, he did, and did a great job.

We did run into an issue.  My son kept getting a red bum from the prefolds.  It didn’t look like a rash, there were no bumps, just redness.  I asked mommies on my forum and they thought it could be from having wetness against his skin.  I ran to my nearest fabric store and purchased some fleece, then cut them into contoured liners hoping this would help.  Of course, right after that he stopped having that problem.  I think his skin was just extra sensitive from being a new baby, and he grew out of it.

Some lessons I learned:

Unless you know you made tiny babies, preemie prefolds are not necessary.  I heard the infant ones were too large at first.  My son wore preemie prefolds for all of a week before I could hardly snappi them.  Had I known, I could have trifolded them and put them in the cover, but I didn’t.

I bought 36 infant prefolds and never touched at least 16 of them.  I washed pretty often at first, every 1.5-2 days.  I could have gone longer but didn’t.  I either should have waited longer to wash or bought less!

Even with 4 covers I didn’t use them all!  Don’t go overboard with the covers.  4-6 is plenty.

Cut yourself a break.  The wash routine, the snapping, the folding, everything will come about.  You have a brand new baby and the number one thing is keeping them happy and fed.  If you run out of clean diapers and you are sleepy, get your hubby to wash or grab a sposie or two that you surely own thanks to the hospital.  GASP.  I said it…

Breastfeeding was the most awesome thing because the poop was washable.  Kinda gross to think about, but Exclusive Breastfed babies have water soluble poops.  And, the poop doesn’t smell that bad either!  Just put your diaper in the wetbag, poop still in it, then wash.  You won’t have to worry about spraying or scraping poop out of your baby’s diaper until they begin solids, around 4-6 months for most babies.

And finally, don’t expect your one size diapers to fit perfectly from day one.  While I did start using my Bum Genius 3.0′s after he was a few weeks old, I had leaks until he was around 12-13 pounds.

Now that you have read my story, go read the other awesome entries about cloth diapering newborns.

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This review was written and performed by Kristen, DDL Contributor, for the New Baby Event.

I wore my older daughter a lot and I knew I would be wearing my new daughter as much, if not more than my first. I hadn’t tried a lot of different carriers originally but knew I wanted to experiment more this time around. I was given the opportunity to review the Sleepy Wrap baby carrier and was pretty excited about it.

It is similar to other fabric wraps in that it is one really long piece of fabric that you wrap around your body in different ways to achieve different ways of holding your baby. This can be a little daunting for the babywearing newbie, but they do give good illustrated instructions to help you out and once you get the hang of it, it’s easy to figure out the different wraps or positioning. The fabric is super comfy (I was trying out the organic style) and stretchy, which is good and not so good. It’s good because it’s really nice to be able to make the wrap tight and have your baby all snug and secure in there, but it’s not so good because I found that after wearing my daughter for a while, she started to sag a little lower. I think that this is something that people will learn through trial and error and the wrap probably just needs to be tied really tightly. There probably will be a period of adjustment though where it’s a little too tight in the beginning but once they sag a little, it will be a perfect fit. It is definitely comfortable to wear for long periods of time though as long as you initially tie it tight enough to not end up with lots of sag from their weight. Because of the stretchy nature of the fabric, I don’t think I would intend to use this wrap for a heavier kid, although it does evenly distribute the weight of the child well.

There are many great advantages of the Sleepy Wrap though. It’s nice because it’s essentially a “one-size-fits-all” kind of wrap because it’s a long piece of fabric and you can custom fit it to your body. If you are tiny, you will end up with a lot of extra fabric but it can easily be tied so it’s not in your way. I was also able to nurse my daughter while she was in the Sleepy Wrap. It was pretty discreet but it takes a bit of finesse to be able for me to do it. I think with practice it would be easy to nurse discreetly using it. The fabric is lightweight and comfortable for both myself and my baby but any wrap style carrier may not be ideal for someone in hotter climates due to the amount of fabric wrapped around you.

My daughter loved being in the carrier and often fell asleep quickly when I was wearing her in it. Because it was so comfortable, I was able to wear her for long periods of time…while cleaning my house, playing with my other daughter or just relaxing on the couch (which didn’t happen as often as I would like! haha).

To view the many sizes, shapes, ages, of babies being wrapped snuggly in a Sleepy Wrap I highly recommend visiting the Sleepy Wrap Photo Gallery.

Sleepy Wrap is giving one lucky DDL reader an Organic Sleepy Wrap in either Khaki or Natural. Closed

Mandatory Entry:

Become a fan of Sleepy Wrap on Facebook. Leave a comment saying you did.

-and/or-

Go to Sleepywrap.com and let me know something you learned about babywearing safety. Leave a comment.

For extra entries do any or all of the following.  Leave a comment for each you do.

Follow @KimRosas on twitter and tweet this giveaway. Please tweet, “Snuggle your baby close in a @sleepywrap.  Enter to win from @KimRosas http://odexy.th8.us #babywearing.”  Leave a comment with a link to your status.

You can tweet once a day for the duration of the contest. Leave a comment with your status for each tweet.

Follow @SleepyWrap on Twitter.  Leave a comment.

Subscribe to my blog via email through feedburner. Leave a comment.

Follow me through Google Friend Connect or via a reader. Leave a comment.

Grab my button and post it on your blog. Leave a comment.

If you have the New Baby Event button on your blog you get (3) extra entries. Leave 3 separate comments.

Blog about this giveaway. Post a link in the comment.

Get Creative: Post about this giveaway on a messageboard or forum. Leave a comment with a link.

New Entry: Become a fan of Dirty Diaper Laundry on Facebook and get 5 extra entries! To qualify, post on my wall with either your favorite review I have done (would prefer this to be diaper related but it can be another product if you don’t dig my diaper reviews) or let me know a diaper you want to see reviewed.  Then copy and paste what you wrote as a comment here.  Then, leave 4 more comments saying “facebook entry 2, 3, etc)

Giveaway ends on March 29. Winner will be chosen using random.org. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours a new winner will be drawn.

***Open to US and Canada***