For many people, “BabyBjörn” is synonymous with “baby carrier.” We tested a now discontinued model, the BabyBjörn Baby Carrier Original (currently unavailable), but dismissed it for its limited carrying capacity of 25 pounds. It works fine as long as your kid is still small, but you’ll probably want something with a waistbelt once they’re past 15 pounds (about 4 to 6 months, on average). Even though the BabyBjörn is not a pick in this guide, we wouldn’t discourage using one for a small enough baby, especially if you can get one from a friend or buy a newish one secondhand. This carrier cradles a baby’s head well, remains very easy to put on and take off, and has one unusual advantage: It’s much easier (for men and women) to pee while wearing this carrier than with models that have bulky waistbands.
The Beco 8 is a souped-up version of the Gemini that addresses some of its flaws. Like the Gemini, the Beco 8 has crossing straps and an adjustable seat and panel, but it also includes a lumbar pad and a little booster pillow for infants who need the extra height. It has a regular buckle on the waistbelt and safety buckles just for the shoulder straps—which you would need to unbuckle only when changing between X- and H-style. Our panel testers liked the Beco 8, but it comes only in a utilitarian gray and costs much more than the Gemini. Plus, petite adults may find the lumbar pad unusable, because shortening the belt past the pad is impossible.
We almost included the Tula Free-to-Grow as one of our picks because of its simple design, comfortable padding, adjustable seat, and great fit for toddlers. We also like that this carrier has both a detachable hood and an accessible pocket. However, it’s designed for use without an infant insert, and we found that it doesn’t offer younger babies as much support as other models. It also doesn’t have crossable straps.
The Lillebaby Complete Airflow has crossable straps and additional pads for the chest/back strap and lumbar support. But with all the add-ons, it’s just too many straps and closures, too much bulk, too much carrier. Petite adults may find the lumbar pad unusable.
The Boba 4G Carrier, one of our panel expert’s favorites for older babies, offers a minimal, easy-to-use design along with a hood and two zippered pockets. One unique feature is the epaulette-like shoulder tabs, which snap into place to keep purse or bag straps from falling off your shoulder. But the Boba 4G has one of the shortest panels of the carriers we looked at, and our testers found that having so much toddler hanging out of the top put a strain on the back and hips.
We liked the standard Tula Baby Carrier, and it’s a favorite of many experts we spoke to, but our budget pick from Lillebaby offers all the same functionality at a significantly lower price.
Ergobaby, another big name in carriers, currently has four models: the Original (currently unavailable), All Position 360, 360 Cool Air Mesh, and Adapt. We compared the first three models for this guide and found that the wide Velcro waistband on the popular Ergobaby All Position 360 offered substantial back support and didn’t dig into waists the way a simple buckle waistband could. But the All Position 360 does have significant downsides: You can’t adjust the waistband on the fly—to correct the fit, you need to undo and redo the whole thing, which means taking out the child, since you’re never supposed to remove the waistband while the baby is in the carrier. Plus, the additional buckle that goes over the Velcro band means that donning and removing the waistband requires two steps. That Velcro is also very loud, which could wake a sleeping child; it could snag on clothing, too. We preferred the 360 Cool Air Mesh for its improved waistbelt and its smoothly operating piping rails for the chest/back strap (the All Position 360 and the Original use webbing rails, which the strap tends to catch on). We do like that the All Position 360 comes in many more colors and patterns than the much newer 360 Cool Air Mesh.
The Ergobaby Original (currently unavailable) is a well-known, popular carrier with backpack-style straps. Although it has many fans, it’s bulkier than our main pick, it requires a large, padded infant insert, and it doesn’t allow your child to face out.
The cleverly designed Onya Baby Outback (currently unavailable) has a built-in baby seat that you can secure to a regular chair. Unfortunately, the synthetic fabric is so abrasive that we wouldn’t want to use it for its primary purpose. The shoulder padding is also not as cushy as that of our picks.
On first inspection, the Infantino Carry On seemed to offer many of the same features as carriers that were three times the price, namely an adjustable seat width and panel height and no need for an infant insert. Plus, it had more pockets—six—than any other carrier. But once we had it on, we realized that this model cut costs at the expense of the wearer’s comfort, as the thin shoulder and waist padding offered little support. We wouldn’t want to carry a baby over 15 pounds in it.
Although the Infantino Flip Advanced ranks among the least expensive carriers available, it offers many of the same features as the most expensive competitors, including an adjustable-width seat, an adjustable-height padded panel, the option for the child to face out, and a detachable bib. Unfortunately, it had the greatest number of buckles among all the carriers we tested, which made it more inconvenient and difficult for us to put on and take off. The buckles and fabric felt cheap, as well. Like dozens of Amazon reviewers, we found this carrier uncomfortable for carrying a baby larger than a newborn for long periods of time.
The Evenflo Natural Fit was the other inexpensive model among those we considered, and it showed: What little padding this carrier had in the waistband was floppy and insubstantial. This pack might provide adequate support for a newborn, but when your child gets to 15 pounds or more, the carrier will become quite uncomfortable at the shoulders and waist.
The Stokke MyCarrier is unusual in that it has separate parts for carrying on the front and carrying on the back; the cost for both of those was beyond the range we were considering.
We dismissed the Cybex Yema, introduced in 2017, because of its hefty price tag ($200) and lack of customer reviews at the time.
The MiaMily Hipster Plus was another relatively new entrant that we cut because of cost; with the infant insert, the total price exceeded $200 at the time of our research.
