Connecta Baby Carrier

I got a Connecta Baby Carrier today! Until very recently, these were absolutely not available in the USA. But now Hannah is able to send them over here so I got one of them for my very own!

I am going to be honest here. I am surprised. I loved it!

You know me by now; I am the structured baby carrier lover. And true, this can kinda sorta fall into that category. But I'm forever going on about how mei tais don't work for me. And the Connecta, like a mei tai, doesn't have any padding at the waist, so I assumed I'd run into the same issues.

But curiosity got the better of me.

Before I tell you more, I must say that the quality of this carrier is perfect. It just doesn't get any nicer. Ever seam detail is pleasing. The straps are made of nice nylon. It's very simple but very nice.

I had a quick scan of the instructions, which I don't normally do, but this was a bit different from what I'm used to and I wanted to get familiar with it. I noticed that it's suitable for newborns so I am going to have to take it to a babywearing meeting so I can see that in action. Luckily, the next meeting is in a few days so I won't have to wait long! I wish my camera charger could be found so I could take pictures - perhaps I will unearth it in time.

So anyway, my little one allowed me to do a back carry right off the bat, even though she is pretty much only into front carries these days. For a back carry, there is no need to cross the straps in front like you would with a Sutemi. There is an optional strap that you can use as a chest strap but I didn't need it. I really thought the shoulder straps would fall right off. I guess the baby's low center of gravity holds the straps down and back. Not sure. I have heard that some people use the Sutemi without crossing the straps and I never had the guts to try it but now I am going to have to give it a shot. I am about to loan most of my SSC stash to someone who's going to do an article but I keep finding reasons to hold off one more day before shipping them off. I guess the moral of that is that research is never done so I should just quit for now!

Later, I tried a front carry and it is a bit trickier to do than in an SSC with the straps already buckled. I didn't love that I was back to dragging on the ground. I always find that so icky and it's part of why I feel the SSC love so deeply. I suppose it's possible to close the buckles and put the child in from the top. I might give that a whirl at some point if my daughter will allow me any more attempts.

It took a bit of fiddling to get the buckles closed and tightening the straps seemed backwards; it would have been much easier to pull forward rather than backwards. But once I got it adjusted well, it was, well, super! I just don't get it. I didn't feel it dragging on my shoulders the way a mei tai does.

My husband tried it this evening and he wasn't feeling the love. It totally did not work on him. I tried a few adjustments but he just grumbled. I think he has found his love in the Ergo and now he is simply not willing to try anything that is at all uncomfortable. Not to say a baby carrier should be uncomfortable but for so many years, we both struggled along in varying degrees of pain and discomfort so once we both got the SSC bug and realized how good it could be, there didn't seem any point in ever suffering again. So if it's not 100% amazingly luxury comfortable, he just won't bother at all.