Carrier comparison...

There are three major styles of  baby wearing apparatuses (can you call it an apparatus?) - the sling (Hotsling, Peanut Shell etc..), the wrap (Sleepy Wrap, Moby) and the baby carrier (Baby Bjorn, ERGO, LilleBaby).  Each seems to serve its own purpose and I've found that many momma's own two or more of these in various styles to serve different functions.  I've tried 4 different carriers that cover all three styles and definitely have my favorites.  Here's the run down:

HotSlings

This is the first one I tried when Noah was wee little.  We took a walk around the block about 10 days postpartum.  It fit tight because I still had a good deal of baby weight and I could never seem to get him situated where I was comfortable enough to take my hands off of him.  I always felt like he was goign to suffocate.  Come to find out, weeks later after I'd abandoned this anyways, there were a number of recalls on sling type carriers due to positional asphyxiation.  Gah...My need to have my hand supporting him wasn't just me being paranoid!

I don't want to write this one off yet.  But I am going to wait till he's a bit older to try it again.  I'm sure it's great for carrying kiddos like the one below and it was comfy to wear. However,  I was (and still am) worried that he's not strong enough to turn his head to breath if he gets turned wrong.

Moby
This was my second carrier.  It's a wrap style carrier and I love love love it! Noah loved it too!  I could fold him up in the fetal position and wrap him up against my chest where he loved to be.  This wrap would turn a fussy baby into putty and put him right to sleep.  This wrap was the only way I got anything done in those early weeks.  I'd drop him in it when i needed to clean or get groceries or even go for a quick walk around the block.

It does take a few tries to get the tie right and I did find myself readjusting the wrap on a regular basis but all in all I love it and will continue to use it.  I will say that now that he's bigger it puts a good deal of strain on my back because there's no real support.  So, I reserve this for around the house and when he's super fussy.  This isn't for long walks or extended pd's of time where you're standing/walking.

Kelty Wallaby
This was the first carrier I bought before Noah was even born.  I had visions of DH carrying him around in this (because lord knows he wouldn't be caught dead in the Moby).  We tried it a few times and it works well although I had concerns about Noah's hips.  He was so tiny and it splayed his legs out at a weird angle.  I couldn't imagine it was comfortable.

I did use it quite a bit to let him face out when I was too tired to wrap myself up (or it was too hot).  Now that i have my ERGO though, this gets little use.

Ergo Sport
This is our latest carrier.  It's also a "carrier" style like the Kelty with two huge differences.  This one positions Noah where his hips are rolled under him like he's sitting in a swing. Much easier on his back and hips.  And two it has a bib at the bottom that helps distribute the weight across my hips.  I feel like I'm wearing my backpacking pack.

There are a bunch of wonderful things about this carrier that makes me think it will be our go to carrier from now on.
- It has great support.  The hip belt distributes the weight perfectly.  I can walk for miles with him in this and feel little fatigue.
- The straps are super cushy and comfortable.
- It's quick and easy to get on, even once the baby is asleep. I can get him in and out without waking him.
- You can wear this a thousand different ways (It does front, hip, and back carry positions depending on the childs age).
- It switches from hubsy (6'3") to me (5'3") very easily
- It puts Noah is a very natural position so I know we're not doing any damage to his hips.

The one draw back is that it has no forward facing position for a baby that has good head control.  Noey like to face out sometimes and when he does I ahve to use the Moby or the Kelty.  This one doesn't work like that (i'm not ready to do the hip carry with him yet)


We got the sport version because it's made of a different material that was said to be good for summer time.  It also has a vent on the back to let air circulate.  I did buy the Heart to Heart insert because it was recommended for children under 4 months of age but ended up not using it.  The sport actually comes up high enough to support his head.  Perhaps if he was smaller then I'd need it.  I guess we'll see when we have our next baby:)

Overall I'm very happy with the choice to purchase the ERGO and I think it's safe to say it will be my last carrier purchase. Between it and the Moby I have all of my needs covered.  Besides, I think DH will hurt me if I buy one more of these things:) haha..

The diaper question...

Before Noah was born I went thru all my options for diapering.  I'd always liked the idea of cloth diapers because for every diaper I reused, that was another that was kept out of the landfill. However I just couldn't get over having to put poop into my washing machine and without a utility basin that's basically what I'd be doing.  So, when I found gDiapers I thought I'd struck gold!  The gDiaper is a hybrid system with biodegradable disposable inserts and the reusable outter shells (i've blogged about them here, here, and here).  I really like them because they were the best of both worlds. However, after using them for a while I've found that for the work involved I think I'm just as well off doing full cloth.  Don't get me wrong, I like my g's (once they fit Noah) but for poopy diapers I had to rinse out and then wash the liner anyways so why not just go full cloth and keep everything out of the landfill (plus I finally got over poop..)!

Off again I went to research what type of cloth I wanted.  I wanted something easy like a disposable so that hubs would buy in and that we could get our daycare to use.  Lucky for me cloth diapering has come a long way from the days of my parents!  There are a plethora of choices ranging from All-in-ones (AIOs) that have an outer shell and absorbent center all sewn together to traditional cloth diapers with covers, wool soakers, and the like.  Since I was looking for something simple the AIO's appealed to me a lot.  However, I read that they don't withstand the test of time because the waterproof outer cover wears out over time and you can't replace it.  Enter another hybrid called a pocket diaper!  It consists of a waterproof outer cover that has a pocket in it where a super absorbent soaker is inserted to catch the liquids and what not. 

Most cloth diapering mammas recommend a combination of systems depending on the situation (night time vs. day time, day care vs. home care etc...). However, since I'm just trying this out and haven't yet committed to all cloth diapering I settled on the bumgenius one size option for now.  It's a pocket diaper that has adjustable snaps that "grow" with the baby so you only have to buy one set of diapers (unlike other cloth options where the covers are sized). You do have to "stuff" them but you can adjust the absorbency by adding more soakers.

Today was our first day using them and everything went well - although I discovered that it's really nice to have a wet bag instead of using the sink to store the rinsed out but still not clean diapers - off to diapers.com I go!  They are a bit bulkier than the gDiaper and certainly more bulky than a disposable but nothing to the point where I'm putting him in a size up clothes to accommodate.

They absorb just as well as our disposables and don't leak either (and Noah's a heavy wetter!)  I was a little concerned that it kept his skin damp but I supposed that the lack of chemicals that you find in disposables out weigh that point.

I know I have a few followers that are debating right now so I wanted to put this out there.  The upfront cost of cloth seems huge but if you consider the number of disposables you go thru in a lifetime you'll save yourself a ton of cash in the long run!  You can also build your stash slowly...like I bought 3 to start with and just ordered 5 more to add to the stash. I'll mix g's, cloths, and disposables as necessary.  Ideally I'd be using cloth only but there are situations that disposables are just plain easier.  I want to get to the point where we're primarily cloth and only using a disposable in an emergency (or a very long car ride:) ). 

Anyways, I've gone on long enough. You can be sure I'll continue to talk about this as we get deeper into it.  As for the resources I found when looking I found some great info  here , here, and here during my search.