1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
My go-to carrier for a heavy baby or toddler,
November 27, 2011 When my first baby weighed almost 12 pounds at birth (surprise!) and got up to 30 pounds by six months, I knew I needed some good, solid help carrying him. Even without the infant insert, we started using the ERGO when he was still a newborn. (Granted, he was the size of a three-month-old, so it worked out fine.) When he had good neck control, I could start carrying him on my back in the ERGO, too. By the time he was a year old (and not yet walking), I was carrying him on my back in the ERGO exclusively.
This carrier made us both happy,
saving my back and hips and keeping my high-needs but heavy baby content. The straps distribute the weight evenly across my back and shoulders. I also love how it's adjustable for both my husband and me and doesn't take a great deal to switch it between our different sizes.
Speaking of husbands, I let mine pick out what color we would get: plain camel. A different color lining, dear? No. Camel. So it was. But the upside is that he loves to wear it, and I see lots of dads using the ERGO so I consider it a nice gender-neutral option for baby carrying.
A couple quibbles that aren't enough to make me dock a star: The straps can dig into my armpits if I don't get them adjusted right. And the version I have (I think they might have changed this?) doesn't fit plus-sizes well, meaning that relatives of mine couldn't/wouldn't use it. (Even though I bought the waist extender, I think they thought that was kind of insulting and stayed away.) I also could never get the hood to work for us, but maybe I just didn't try hard enough, or maybe my kid was more sensitive to having anything touch his head.
That first baby is now a 50-pound four-year-old (and this kid barely eats!), and we have a new newborn (much smaller, relatively speaking). I've been using the ERGO again with the baby, and it still works great and feels so comfortable. At his urging, I even wore my four-year-old down the street to a restaurant -- hard on my hips now but easy on my back, and hilarious to boot! The ERGO can take it.