Product Review of the Hippy Chick Hip Seat

Cool name. For the name alone, I had to have one of these! Unfortunately, they are not available in the USA so I had to go to eBay UK. And unfortunately, I overpaid. Apparently, Walmart stocks a very similar hip seat product.

I like the cool olive color. Very trendy. I like the simplicity of the product. You put it around your waist and close the buckle. What could be simpler than that?

But it didn't work! I contacted the seller because there were no instructions and was advised to put it on my waist, not my hips, and fasten it fairly snugly. Well, I am never a fan of things fastened snugly around my waist but in the interest of giving it a fair shake, I went ahead and did this and tried it with my baby. Now, keep in mind that I have some lower back issues so I am pretty specific in my needs in a baby carrier but also a great test case for a product offering the wearer balanced support.

This thing still threw me a little off to one side. If I went really tight, it was better but just too uncomfortable for me. I can't walk around like that. And also, the seat part sticks out so far, I feel really ridiculous with no baby on my hip. Lastly, since baby is not in any way strapped in, she didn't want to stay on the seat and for me, a large part of why I use a baby carrier is so my baby will stay put.

Still, I could see this being useful. At home, I do a fair bit with baby on my hip so why not have her sitting on this Hippy Chick Hip Seat and take a load off? Well...my arm is needed anyway to hold her there so why not keep building my bicep? No, that's not right; it is best to not do off-balance carries. But this just didn't help enough.

Give me my Ergo baby carrier any day!