Hip Carry in a Soft Structured Baby Carrier and other ramblings

Finally! A photo of my improved method for using an SSC for a hip carry! I've been meaning to take a photo of this for freaking ever but until you guys nag, I don't tend to get to things. (More on what I got nagged - oops I mean I offered - to do today later!)

This hip carrry method is described on The Ergo Lady's Tips & Tricks section but I never had a photo before. Someone said they couldn't understand my ramblings so voila! A long-overdue photo! Now that I've learned a thing or two about PhotoShop, like, how to extract the background (which in my place is comprised of a whole mess of kid stuff that basically looks like clutter but isn't to me), I can just have my older daughter stand on a chair and do the honors.

For those of you that are keeping track, the Ergo pictured here is doubly new. Not only is it the very latest style of New Generation Ergo Baby carrier - so it can't lose its chest strap (among other enhancements), it's also Brown (chocolate)! And organic! I just got these in today and they were so worth the wait.

The other thing I did today was try my older daughter, who is over 70 pounds, in an Ergo and a Beco XO. Field research for someone who has a special needs child who is over 40 pounds and she's trying to figure what would work best. The Ergo was definitively more comfy for us both. No, Ergo doesn't recommend wearing 70 pounds, but they used to recommend the carriers up to 65 pounds, so you know they are tested higher. When a child is in a baby carrier, there are extra stresses that must be accounted for, so the carrier is not suddenly going to break at 66 pounds.

I suspect that the reason they backed off that recommendation was twofold. First, you just are not going to enjoy lugging much more than 40 pounds or so so unless you have to, it's really time for a stroller if your child won't walk. Second, their limbs are so long that wearing them is just awkward. But have I done it? Guilty. For example, this spring, my older daughter got a splinter during a hike. She absolutely needed carrying and it is still easier with a baby carrier.