pouch or ring sling recommendations

[bethanta]

Hello, I'm wading through all the baby sling and carrier options and am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I've seen lots of different pouches and ring slings, but I'm not sure where to even start on which ones are any good. Any recommendations?

[staceychev]

It's such a personal decision! Different mamas (and different babes) will prefer different carriers. Where do you live? Is it possible to go to a babywearing meeting and try on a bunch of different ones?

Personally, I've tried:
Mei Tai
Ring sling
Moby wrap (stretchy wrap)
Pouch (Hotsling)

I'm not a fan of the Hotsling, and while I like the Moby OK, it seems like a lot of fabric to me. The ring sling is great, but it takes a while to get used to. If I had to only have one carrier, hands down, it'd be my Babyhawk Mei Tai. I use it all day long for my 1 month old, and actually carried my 4.5YO around when I was making dinner last week, because she came home from Grandma's cranky. (FWIW, I hadn't carried her in it for a year before that!)

[Asiago]

The Kangaroo Korner fleece pouches are very nice, comfortable and stretchy but warm. I use mine right now but with baby in a t-shirt. We primarily use the kangaroo carry position so that he faces out (good once they are a few mos of age). The pouch is also adjustable in size.
http://www.kangarookorner.com/c-9-.aspx

[bethanta]

Thanks for the recommendations

I think I'm leaning more toward the ring slings than the pouch now. I like that the ring slings are adjustable and (for example) if one of my friends wanted to wear the baby for a little while while over, we could just adjust it.

It's nice that the pouches are so easy, but I don't want to have a ton of slings and I'd like to save some money up to get a nice woven wrap or SSC for later (and those are much more expensive! eek)

Asiago: out of all the pouches I've looked at, the Kangaroo Korner fleece ones are my favorite. I'm considering getting one since the baby will be so little during the winter. Plus its adjustable like you mentioned

[Beauchamp]

For trying a ring sling, you can't go wrong with SBP. Jan has great prices for simple fabric slings that won't kill your budget to try.

[ps4624]

I have tons of carriers, but the one I use everyday is the New Native pouch sling. I love it. DD is 14 months old and about 23 pounds and she still does fine in it. Here's their link:

http://www.newnativebaby.com/