Baby carriers and slings: Compare features & prices

Side-by-side comparison

Weight (kg)
Sling or carrier only, without accessories.

Length of time before feeling discomfort
How long mothers were able to wear the carrier before feeling discomfort. 1-star is equivalent to 10 minutes, 5-stars is equivalent to 30 minutes or longer.

Willingness to use again
Based on a statisitcal analysis of whether mums were unwilling to wear a carrier because it caused discomfort. 1-star means that mums were definitely put off wearing this carrier because of discomfort, 3-stars that some were, some weren't, and 5-stars that mums definitely were not put off wearing the carrier because of any discomfort that they experienced.

Parents would recommend this product
Parents rated how likely they were to recommend the carrier to a friend. They were completely unlikely to recommend a product with 1-star and definitely likely to recommend a product with 5-stars.

Body support
Parents rated their confidence that their child was well-supported in the sling or carrier.

Head support
Parents rated their confidence that their child's head was well-supported in the sling or carrier. If a carrier does not have a rating it is because too many of the children who tried it were able to support their head unaided for a us to carry out a statistical analysis.

Sore spots or rubbing
Parents rated the severity of rubbing or sore spots on their child after using the carrier. A 5-star score indicates that there were no signs of rubbing on any child.

Comfort
Parent's rating of how comfortable their babies appeared to be in the sling or carrier.

Contentment
Parent's rating for the question 'did your child seem contented in the carrier'?

Able to follow safety advice
Parents rating for whether it was possible to follow the TICKS advice for using a baby carrier safely.

Instructions
Rating by and expert of the clarity and time taken to become familiar with the instructions, intuitivemess of using the carrier and need to refer to the instructions over time, plus the parents ratings of the instructions.

Using for the first time
Based on ratings from parents about how easy it is to put on and remove the carrier on by themself, length of time to put on and adjust the carrier, getting a child in and fastening the carrier around them, doing up and undoing the fastenings and getting the baby out.

Using when accostomed
Takes into account how easy parents found it to put the carrier on by themselves, security of the child, length of time to put on and adjust the carrier, ongoing issues they encountered and whether the carrier become easier to use with experience.

Fit and adjusting
Takes into account ratings from parents for how easy the fastenings are to use, strap and harness padding, ease of adjusting the straps, excess strapping/fabric after adjusting and parent's view of how well made the carrier is.

Effect of washing
After washing as recommended we rating the carriers for signs or shrinkage, stretching, fading of fabric, bobbling, pilling and twists in fabric where seams no longer line up.

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