Wrapy Baby Carrier (review)

First of all, special thanks to Thoughts of Fluff for letting me do my first ever "guest blogger" post. With four young kiddos in tow, I'm not often invited to be anyone's guest. Ever. So I'll be on my best behavior...

Today I'll be reviewing the Wrapy baby carrier. This will be my first time attempting to use a wrap-style carrier and I won't lie: I'm stoked! I've always wanted to try a wrap and I've especially heard good things about "stretch" wrap carriers like the Wrapy. Word on the street is that they are particularly comfy for curvy mammas like myself. Considering my only experience with babywearing involves our two Ergo structured carriers (which aren't particularly "curve friendly") and a ring sling that I made from a tablecloth,  I'm really looking forward to giving this a try.

First Impression

This has got to be the most convenient carrier ever made for a first time wrapper! For starters, it comes in a matching drawstring storage bag so I won't have to wrestle an alligator... Oops! I mean "try to properly fold a hugemongous piece of fabric"... every time I use it.

I predict many years of shoving a Wrapy into this drawstring bag -without folding it- in my future.

The Wrapy also comes with a handy little booklet that includes step-by-step illustrated instructions on how to wrap yourself with it for use as a carrier. Better yet, there are also directions on how to use a single wrapping method to carry your child through various ages (from a newborn to a hefty 35 lb toddler) in several different ways.

There's even a breastfeeding carry! How cool is that?!

I'm dying to try all the different carrying styles but my toddler is currently in the "I'm totally independent and can do everything myself including walking but I'll throw a screaming tantrum if you don't wipe my butt fast enough" phase and the newbie is only a few weeks old. So basically one of my daughters is unwearable and the other can only be worn a couple ways. I also have two boys but one of them is six-years-old and the other is a rock (seriously! He's 40" tall and weighs 40 lbs... that's a pound per inch!!!).

This is what 40 x 40 and stubborn look like.

Seriously though, the Wrapy would make an awesome gift for a first time parent. It's got a lot to offer and a lot to teach a first time wrapper like myself, which is amazing. If you follow their FaceBook page, you can see all sorts of tips for more than just wrapping, too.

The Details

I'm a huge fan of the gender neutral color options (blue, black, gray and red) that the soft, breathable and comfortably stretchy fabric comes in. I chose blue, which is closer to a navy color. My color selection process involves three factors that all of the Wrapy color options meet though: A) I wanted something that matches most of my clothes, B) Something that my husband wouldn't be embarrassed to wear in public and (most importantly) C) It can't easily stain from mustard-ish newborn diaper blowouts. Speaking of which, I'm an even bigger fan of the fact that the entire thing is machine washable AND dryer safe.

It's like the people who made the Wrapy are telling me "Relax Mommy. Don't slave away hand washing and scrubbing the poop and curdled milk spit-up from your carrier. Just throw it in the machine and pour yourself a glass of wine to go with that chocolate and your new book..."

Like most wrap carriers (which are essentially just a massively long piece of fabric) It has a convenient tag to mark the center of the wrap to make the wrapping process easier. The Wrapy also has nicely tapered ends, which I really like. Many of the cheaper wraps I've seen leave the ends square which looks unfinished and bulky hanging down.

All in all, I really like the Wrapy carrier. It's priced extremely competitively for the baby carrier market, offering an incredible value. I honestly couldn't buy enough fabric of this quality to MAKE a wrap carrier for the price that the Wrapy goes for on Amazon (seriously, I checked)! And for such a simple product it was very thoughtfully designed. It's now officially at the top of my baby shower gift list for new mommies who won't realize how badly they need the freedom of babywearing until they're crying over a pile of dirty dishes/laundry while bouncing a screaming infant on their hip. It's the gift of sanity.

And of course, what's a review without a disclaimer?... Lost and Farm was sent the above product to facilitate this review. This did not sway my opinion in any way though. All opinions in this review are 100% my own honest opinion and therefore may differ from your own.

Ann Milligan is a devoted wife, mommy to four crazy kids, a Chicken Soup for the Soul author and freelance writer. Her extremely limited free time is consumed by a chocolate addiction, obsessive internet cat stalking and her blog at LostandFarm.Wordpress.com.

Hip Baby Wrap

One thing I love about babywearing is how it allows me to stay connected to my children, even when out and about. It could be absolute chaos all around, but my child can be safely snuggled up to me, and I don't have to worry about something happening to them.

Hip Baby Wraps are a nice, light-weight cotton and available in many colours. I was sent a wrap in the colour scheme "Ocean" for review. It didn't have a size listed, but it was the same length as my size 6 wraps. It was even nice and pretty hanging to dry!

Hip Baby Wraps can help you provide that closeness and peace of mind. In fact, if you're an eco-conscious person, they can give you peace of mind on more than just the closeness of your child as they use non-toxic, eco-friendly dye on their lovely 100%, locally-sourced cotton wraps. Better yet, these wraps are hand made in India, and fairly traded. 

Braided up

This wrap was very different than other wraps I've had, as this wrap is much lighter. I'm used to the heavier, thicker cotton wraps, or the hemp and cotton blend. Wrapping with this was a bit shocking at first because of how light it was!

Squiggle wasn't the most cooperative that day, but I was at a local babywearing meeting, so I was able to borrow other adorable baby models for you (with permission to share,of course!) :

Lovely little one helping me model a FWCC
(In case you were wondering, it was really cold in there when we first arrived, so I wanted my arms covered!)

I didn't just borrow babies for pictures, though... I shared the wrap and borrowed mamas, too!

I really liked how light this wrap was, and think it would be a fabulous summer wrap. Obviously it works any time of the year, but I feel like this would definitely have the upper hand compared to some of the thicker wraps when it gets hot and sticky outside! Check out their store to see all their colours available!

Hip Baby Wraps were also generous enough to offer a wrap for one of my readers. Giveaway is open to the US only.

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Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was sent the above product in exchange for a review. This did not influence my opinion of the product in anyway, and the review was not required to be positive. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Thoughts of Fluff is not responsible for prize fulfillment.

Vanamo Woven Wraps

It's no secret that I'm big into babywearing. I love wearing my children and will continue to wear them as long as I can, or as long as they will let me. I recently had the opportunity to try out a Vanamo woven wrap from Wearababy; a small, family-run company in Finland. I was sent a Kide Tuli, size 6, to review.

Before washing, taken in poor lighting but a good overall idea of the pattern

While I waited for the wrap to arrive, because shipping from Finland to the states won't exactly happen over night, I exchanged a few emails with Niina, the mother behind Wearababy. She is very passionate about babywearing, having worn both of her children, and these wraps are her dream come to life. The wraps are produced on a small-scale in Finland, requiring lots of hand-work. These wraps only use the best quality materials, using organic cotton, merino wool, and european linen.

When the wrap arrived, I excitedly washed it and hung it up to dry. It is gorgeous!

I couldn't wait to try this out because my husband's (father's) side of the family is from Finland. This shows in my son, Bobble... he looks the part!

Now I promised my husband I'd get a good picture of him. Bobble was not wanting to hold still, and the only other picture I got had his eyes completely closed, so he gets the slightly goofy face picture used. Sorry, hubby! Good thing he has a good sense of humour, eh?

I actually tried to get an action shot with him wearing in this wrap for weeks. I finally gave up on trying to get him wearing Squiggle because she's been super clingy for mom lately (sick plus teething) and hubby has never wrapped before. She simply wouldn't be patient enough to let him try at the moment. Instead, I snagged Bobble for a photo op.

I took the wrap to a local babywearing meeting to let some other moms see it, too. It was a hit! It's a gorgeous design, the materials is a lovely, soft material (this was all organic cotton), and it wraps so nicely!

I was surprised at how secure even Bobble was in the wrap. He is still pretty heavy from his recent health issues, and wiggled around like mad. Even though he popped the seat in the ruck carry shown here, the other passes held so nicely that you would have never known (if you didn't see it)!

Both children love the wrap, as do I! Here's a bit more about Wearababy:

Taken from their website:

"Our ambition is to offer high quality and special woven wraps to meet the needs of a demanding customer. The fabrics and weaving patterns are carefully designed to make the first-class baby wraps. We do not want to make compromises with the manufacture - only the best materials and production methods are used.


Vanamo collection offers both joyful and brightly colored wraps and classical looks for elegant style. You can find a suitable baby wrap for different taste, mood and occasion. The quality of threads, weaving pattern, density and thickness of the fabric all have an effect on the functionality of the baby wrap. Vanamo collection provides many types of baby wraps that differ in the materials, weaving pattern and thickness."


             

Squiggle naps well in this gorgeous wrap, too! I know the above ruck is a bit loose, but she was already asleep when I wrapped her and I was trying not to wake her. Don't worry, she was definitely secure.

Wearababy sells more than just woven wraps, though. You can find gorgeous ringslings, mei tais, SSCs, children's clothes, etc. Check out their shop here.

Braided up



Speaking of their gorgeous ringslings, they also sent one for one of my readers!

Not the greatest picture of the sling, but I didn't want to take it out of the bag since I have cats, so it stays sealed, sadly. (I wanted to try it out!). It is a gorgeous, cotton Karpalo ringsling with a red weft.

There is a stock picture of the sling from the wearababy page.

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Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was sent the above product in exchange for a review. This did not change my opinion of the product in anyway. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Starfish Cove Baby Boutique: Natibaby Kurpie Sunset Woven Wrap (hemp blend)

Starfish Cove Baby Boutique, a lovely natural parenting store, sent be the gorgeous Natibaby Kurpie Sunset Woven Wrap in a size 6 to review for them. Starfish Cove has a great selection of baby carriers. For more about Starfish Cove Baby Boutique, please check out my intro post for them here.

Tail of the wrap ("right" side)

Tail of the wrap ("wrong" side)

I received this lovely wrap a few months back, but right before Bobble ended up in Children's for a week. After things settled when we returned home, I got to work breaking in this wrap. The hemp is very durable, but thicker than wraps I'm used to (which were just a thin cotton). 

Bobble excitedly displaying the Kurpie Sunset before we ended up at Children's. He isn't quite grasping the idea of holding still.

It was much softer after the wash, and even softer still after a few braids.

My go-to carry is a front-wrap cross carry (FWCC), though I do use a ruck more now that I am better at it and the kids are old enough to get in my face when worn on the front!

The design of this wrap is beautiful. I love the colours, too. The background is a gray/blue material, accented by orange, yellow, and red. The "wrong" side is every bit as gorgeous as well.

Don't forget to follow Starfish Cove Baby Boutique on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr to stay up to date on their stockings and see what else is new!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was sent the above product in exchange for a review. This did not influence my opinion in any way. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.