Hotslings sizing

[1love4ever]

Hi, my daughter is 20lbs, 11 months old.  I carry her everywhere, all the time and my arms are killing me lol.  I want to do babywearing with her, and I have heard good things about the Hotsling, and it is pretty reasonably priced too.  I want to carry her on my hip in this sling.

I am wondering if the sizing chart is accurate.  I weigh 130, am 5'3" and about 22" from shoulder to hip I think.  The size 2 Hotsling has my measurments, but I am at the max for weight and hip to shoulder measurment. 

Anyone know if the slings run a little large or small?  Does carrying a larger baby on my hip make a difference, for this should I buy a little larger sling?

Also, is there a difference when in the Hotsling description it says "pouch carrier sling" or "padded", or are they all the same?  What is the difference if any, and which would be best for me?

Thanks!

[TiffanyToo]

A pouch is a good start at baby wearing.

However you mention that your baby is 20# baby that is a bigger sized baby for a single shoulder style carrier. You might instead look at double shoulder carrier to evenly distrubute the weight of baby over your shoulders and upper body.

If your baby is sitting up well you might want to look at soft structured carriers (Ergo type carrier) mei tais (Asian style carriers) German Style Woven wraps, and Podegais (Korean baby carrier). With any of these carriers you can to back carries allowing baby to see the world, as well to re-organize should be get over stimulated by simply tucking into your body and relaxing.

[littlehoneybee]

The padded slings have padding along one edge so that the fabric doesn't cut into the child's legs when you're doing the hip carry.  I would definitely buy a padded one. My experience with the sizing was that they ran a little small, but I did buy mine before they changed their sizing chart.  If you do buy one that's the wrong size, their customer service is very helpful with finding the right size for you.  I returned my original one (which was too small ) and it was no problem. HTH.

[1love4ever]

Thanks!  Can you tell me a good carrier that would work well for me that is fairly cheap?

[TiffanyToo]

Your baby is big enough that you have a number of options availabIe to you.

 Mei Tai (If you sew you can make one easily for under $25.00) a used wrap I would expect to pay about $70.00 worth the investment, a soft structured carrier (boba and ergo can often be found for around $80.00 new) I think finding a local baby wearing group will give you a good place to make an informed decision on what will be best for your baby, you and your wallet.

You can google baby wearing groups and a number of places have listings.

www.thebabywearer.com (need to subscribe) has group listings, a DIY forum for learning to make carriers and vendor rating and product rating system that if you decide to buy a carrier can help you find vendor manufacture with a  good reputation. There is a for sale or trade forum there as well.

There is a yahoogroup called babywearingswap that you can post in search of too and resell carriers as well.

HTH