Hotsling with or without leg padding?

[AnnR33]

I just ordered a stretch one without leg padding and now I'm not sure if I should get it with?
I'll be using this for a newborn but still later too I assume when he/she is bigger. I've only ever used an unpadded ring sling but not with a bigger baby (I gave up by then) so don't have any real experience with a pouch.
I know I shouldn't keep second guessing all my purchases and just try it out and go from there but if I can prevent any errors early ya know?
Thoughts??
Thanks
Ann

[melaniewb]

Well, I can't compare my hotslings to the ones with leg padding since I don't have it, but I do like the ones without it. I use mine all the time with my 17 month old without any problems. I'm not really a fan of padding though.

[mcmrymoon]

i have the padding and i like it. ds will be one on mother's day (yeah) so he can't tell me if it feels any different than the kkacp we have. its not bulky padding (and you can even ask her to make it half thickness if you want - i almost did that but then decided just to get the regular padding) when i have put it on incorrectly (i'll explain below) and the padding ended up on his back vs under his legs - i thought it worked as a nice pillow!!

the only cons i have for the padding are:
1 - you actually have to put it on correctly - and this is hard to explain. you won't get what i mean until you actually have this situation. when you have a pouch with no rails - you just pop it on. if one rail is padded - you actually have to make sure you put it on with the padded rail towards your body. once i put it on and the padded rail was on the outer part and i swear it took me a good 15 minutes to figure out what the heck was going on . you kinda have to turn it inside out (but not really...thats the part that is hard to explain) to put the padded part against you. once you get the lightbulb moment it'll take you seconds to adjust it next time

2 - it doesn't fold down as small as it would without the padding. so - instead of a square - you end up with a rectangle.

i really hope i made some sense!!!