This is the second installment of the the Carrier Feature. As I said in the previous post, I’ve had the opportunity to try out a few carriers, wraps and slings and these are my thoughts on them all. I’ll be pointing out pluses, minuses and also writing my honest opinion based on our experience. {We sort of got carried away taking pictures here, sorry!}
If you read The Lexi Awards, you might have noticed that I named Nordic as the best carrier. Â I don’t think any item is ever perfect or without flaws, however this has been the carrier we’ve gone back to over and over again.
And here is why:
{headband c/o of Ruffles &Fringe}
VERSATILITY:  It’s supposed to be a carrier that you can use from birth to toddlerhood. We have literally used it since Alexis was a newborn to now when she is well over 20 pounds of chubby adorableness without any accessories and I have not felt like it fits any worse at any stage. It has truly  grown with us. I am looking forward to seeing how it fares with a toddler and in the back carry position ( since I’ve only carried her in the front).
NEWBORN HEADREST: This is probably my favorite feature of the Nordic carrier. Instead of having a thick infant insert or permanent head support, it has  a cute flap that gets lifted up and clipped to the straps. It’s thin but sturdy and it gets clipped out of the way when your baby doesn’t need it anymore.
ADJUSTABLE SEAT: Â The seat has two positions: narrow and wide to adjust as your baby grows. Â This allows you to carry your baby with legs out, rather than in a frog leg position, in the first few months. For Alexis that meant the difference between hating the carrier and loving it. For a baby that doesn’t like being restrained, this option is a life saver. We’re still using the narrow seat, but will soon transition to the wide one.
PADDED SHOULDER STRAPS: I feel less weight on my shoulders while carrying her in the Nordic than I do in a wrap. The shoulder pads are just the right size and thickness that they are not cumbersome, yet provide comfort.
THICK SUPPORT BELT: With Alexis being at around 21 pounds at this moment, I am yet to feel any strain on my back from the support belt.
QUALITY & PRICE: While I am not one to go with the cheapest option, I have to respect a carrier that has the quality and features of expensive carriers, but is almost HALF the price of other carriers on the market. Considering that after trying an Ergo and a Nordic, I decided that Nordic was by far the superior product and returned my Ergo that cost me $140 with the infant insert, I am truly surprised this isn’t  a carrier more widely-used. I would honestly love to see the Nordic become more popular.
FRONT FACING: I realize that there is some talk out there about the detrimental nature of the front facing position in a carrier, where it doesn’t allow the proper hip development. With Alexis it  is was just not an option to have her facing in from about 2.5 months on. Even looking at these pictures above, where I carry her rear facing, she keeps arching her back and turning back and forth to see what’s up front. That’s just the fact of  life with a baby like Lexi. After reading some of the internet materials, that expressed concern about carrying babies front facing ( what’s interesting is that in 20-25 baby books that I have read, I did not see it be mentioned once, and I don’t like to only go by research done online aside from overstimulation which just isn’t an issue in our case), I went to look at how Alexis was positioned in the Nordic vs the infamous front facing Baby Bjorn. It seems to me that the Nordic hip angle is a lot wider than the BabyBjorn’s I’ve been seeing around where the legs are almost pushed together (correct me if I am wrong). I always try to position Alexis (when front facing) so that her spine and hips were aligned properly and her hips were spread wide and she was “sitting” rather than “hanging”, and I feel that Nordic definitely facilitates it.
WEIGHT LIMIT: Considering that if you buy a BabyBjorn, you have to stop using it at 25 pounds, which is where Alexis is almost at right now and Ergo doesn’t have the front facing position, Nordic seems like a much more versatile choice.
Aside from all these things I mentioned above, this carrier JUST plain works for us. If I were to recommend a carrier, this one would be it. My husband is of the same opinion and uses it often as well.
LEARN MORE ABOUT LILLEBABY
***Â WEBSITEÂ ***Â FACEBOOKÂ ***Â TWITTERÂ ***
BUY IT:Â Amazon
WIN IT: SCI would like to give this carrier away to one lucky reader. Â See details below.
LilleBaby Nordic Carrier
BELOW ARE THE GIVEAWAYS RULES
and Mandatory Entries:Â {read carefully}
There are 2 mandatory entries , after which you will have additional entries available,
This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only.
The winning entry will be verified and the winner disqualified if the action is not found or if the mandatory items are not fullfilled.
Each giveaway has specific rules, so read them on the widget (including which countries are eligible). See the rafflecopter widget for additional terms and conditions.
{If you’re not sure how to use to enter, feel free to watch this video tutorial or email me at contact {at} prebabyblog {dot} com
Otherwise, make sure to read everything carefully. Click the DO IT link first, then I’VE DONE IT once the action is completed}
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. SCI Â provided me with a product sample to review. All opinions are 100% my own.
Elena, these posts about the products you’ve been using are really fantastic. They’ve truly given me great insight on what to purchase after me and my fiance have conceived. I have a list of all the different things you’ve recommended. That’s why I love coming to your blog; you give up to date info on the stuff that’s worked for you. Not many other blogs do that. 🙂
I love how happy Lexi looks in the carrier. And what a great deal, being so much cheaper than the Ergo. And really, I cannot get enough of that beautiful little girl. Those chubby happy cheeks and thighs slay me every time I see a picture of her! You look just beautiful, as always. Love that head band. 🙂
Awww, you’re just too sweet! Thank you so much! It really makes me feel great that what I do is helpful and appreciated. We really love the Nordic and Alexis always does a happy dance when she seems pulling out Nordic 🙂
This seems a lot like the Beco Gemini. It has all of your favorite features. I’d be curious to see how they are different.
I love the looks (and price!) of this carrier, but I do have one concern. I see that she already is able to get her arms out of the top of it. My baby is 30 inches tall at 10 months, and 23 pounds, and his arms have just started to come comfortably over the top of the Ergo. He does love sticking them out there and I’m excited about it. But what I’m wondering is, since her arms are already out, does she either have an extraordinarily long torso or is the back of the carrier fairly low? Because I’m thinking that with an older baby, the back being so low could be really bad for the balance of the parent. I’m picturing a baby on the back unexpectedly lunging backwards, that sort of thing. What do you think? I’ve actually considered getting a Boba with the next baby because I’ve heard they have the highest back.
Boba does have a very high back. I wrote about them and posted pictures if you want to find that post.
I cannot say the back is low. Alexis just hates being restrained so she has always tried to get her arms out even back when she didn’t even reach the top. Now she still doesn’t do it comfortably. Like she can only get one out if she cocks her body to the side. And if she gets two out, then it’s definitely right up her armpits. I don’t know her height but 2 months ago she was 27.5 inches and she’s grown a lot. So i would get she’s 30, or at at least 29inches tall.
Also, the headsupport comes up and clips up, I don’t know if that something that would help you or not.
What I would do if I were you is order one on Amazon, they have free shipping and free returns, try it out and send it back if you don’t like it. I’ve been doing that with a lot of baby items, because you never know what is going to work,b but I refuse to not try out of fear that it might not work. That’s why amazon has worked fabulously for me. I’d hate to have to go to actual stores a million times to exchange things and look at stuff.
thanks for the info! i will def consider this one the next time. especially for this price. I figure Braeden might still be in a carrier occasionally if he wants by the time we have another so I’ll be in the market for a 2nd. right now I’m good with my Ergo and my Sleepy Wrap. Love these posts!
Holy cow that’s a lot of carriers! Is there a specific reason why you have so many? It seems a little excessive for one baby.
I was sent these so that I could use, compare and write a carrier feature. It’s for the blog more than Lexi. Lexi just gets to use them 🙂
Oh, that’s nice I guess….. So out of all the stuff that you consider ‘best for baby’ and a necessity, what exactly did you and your husband purchase? Knowing that you received things for free (for reviewing purposes) makes me think twice about the honesty of your product reviews. It also explains why your blog now reads like one big product placement….. I’ve enjoyed reading your blog in the past, but it seems to get more and more materialistic with each passing week. It’s obviously your blog and you should do with it what you want, but it would be nice to hear more about your experiences in motherhood and less about strollers, baby carriers, activity mats, etc.
I appreciate your input.
The best for baby is only based on things that I’ve tried. I don’t “advertise” things, reviews I write are 100% my opinion and not slanted in any way. I don’t consider things I feature in best for baby a necessity ( unless I state it in the product review, but very few things are actual necessities) and best for baby is just a catch phrase, the name of the feature, nothing more.
I also never obligated to write a positive review, and I review ONLY the things that I would personally buy, those that appeal to me or I think are cool and/or less known to the public.
Finally, I do have a million ( well actually 38) drafts of my experience in motherhood and more real (what you call non-materialistic) things, but the problem with them is for me to write them the way I want ( from the heart and honestly), I would have to sit down with 2 free hours ahead of me, think about my feelings, write them down. It takes a lot of concentration and time, which is something that I don’t have right now. And the biggest thing is because it’s more of a creative process, I can’t get interrupted, or I’ll lose my sincere train of thought and then end up forcing something out that isn’t from my heart. So I do what I can to keep writing, which is write about Lexi’s progress and things that we’ve been finding useful and helpful, because emotions and feelings aren’t involved there so I can do a post quickly in the 3-4 20 minute breaks that I get during her naps.
A lot of people do appreciate posts about baby products I found helpful, I know I love reading other blogs that write about that, because I’m always looking for something better. But I don’t want you to think that I would ever just write for product placement. It’s just not true. Certain features, like the carriers, are me picking out 3-5 similar products,using them and then writing about what I think about the comparison. Other reviews are simply about things that we use and love. In the end, though, reviews are reviews. Things that I got for free for the purpose of writing my opinion about it. I am not going to feel bad about doing it just because it’s free. I use it JUST like any other item I bought, and love it or hate it just like any other item. And to be honest, I would say in 50% of the cases ( at least) I’ve gone back to that product and bought more after trying a sample for free. If that doesn’t show that I truly stand behind my reviews, then I don’t know what would.
{But i do know what you mean about writing more about my experience. I try hard, but it takes a LOT more effort to do those, so I can’t do them as often. I do have a few of them queued up for the next weeks}
Nothing in life is free. I’ve seen other bloggers talking about how all of these “freebies” are really income and need to be reported on your tax returns.
Yeah all the stuff that is given to bloggers for review needs to be reported on tax returns. It’s a federal law. I’m sure Elena knows this.
That picture where she’s making a kissy face at the camera – I DIE! She’s such a cutie pie!
I’m so buying one when I’ll need it 🙂
Lexi just cannot NOT see everything around!
I’ll buy you one as a baby gift. Along with a million other things I love. I know I won’t be able to resist.
And yeah, Lexi will throw A FIT if she can’t see. ( a very cute fit, but still).
Can I have one of the carriers that you reviewed? We have a lousy carrier that hurts my back and it looks like you could spare a few, lol
What carrier do you have?
My respect for writing everyday !!!!:) even I don’t find time for this pleasure every day lol
My comment has nothing to do with this carrier (which is so cute btw) the thing is that I love the tones in this pictures,is just me or you used another ‘style’ to edit those pictures? The tones are sooo beautiful,looks a lot like film!
Thank you for noticing Carol!
Yes it’s a new way I’m processing photos and I wasn’t too sure about it but I’m glad you like it. A photographer friend of mine showed this technique.
It does look a lot like film.
I love it so so much! I’ve been looking ways to get this tones,because I love film tones,would you share it?
yeah, I’ll facebook it to you
Thank you!
I’m not sure if this carrier can do it, but as my son got bigger, I found crisscrossing the straps in back added even more support and was even more comfortable for doing a front carry! Just a thought in case it helps you at all!
What carrier did you do that with? I find the Ergo very comfy with my 23 pound boy, though if we walk too long I’ll start to feel it. But I just figured it meant it was almost time to carry him on my back on longer walks. (thankfully I know he likes the back carry because I sometimes do dishes with him in it… it’s funny feeling him move around to look over each shoulder to see what I’m doing. lol. I wonder if this would work with the Ergo Performance? I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try, right?
Did you delete your last post?
Hi Elena
I can’t wait to see what you write about the K’tan too (please let that be the next review)! Being in New Zealand I can’t try out these great products I see posted everywhere as Amazon postage to here is CRAZY so I have to be hopeful that what other people say will be good. We can buy Ergo’s, Mobys, and a few other Ergo-type packs (that look like it should be a tramping pack!) plus some horrid-looking slings. If only I could try and compare the Nordic & K’tan!
Love the blog BTW 🙂
Oh, what happened to your post on little Clara? She was so cute! Hoping to see more of her on your awesome blog!
See answer above 🙂
As a hard core babywearer from the moment my daughter was born (she’s 17 months now), I’m totally jealous of your stash! I have a Boba 2G which is our workhouse and would love, love, love a 3G! But, since Lexi doesn’t seem to really like being warn, have you thought about donating some of those carriers to your local babywearing group with a lending library? Carriers are soooo personal (I’m not sure anyone can designate one “best” for anyone else) and lending libraries really help people be able to try them out and determine which is best for them.
Lexi loves being worn! She kicks her legs and smiles so widely when she sees one of the carriers being pulled out.
I will donate items we no longer use, though.
I was just coming to show my coworker the post with the playdate- I can’t find it! Am I missing something?
Nope, had to take it down at the request of Clara’s parents. They aren’t sharing photos of Clara with the world yet. A total fuck up on my part since I completely spaced out on asking them permission. Sorry no more cute baby Clara 🙂
Haha, re “sharing photos of Clara with the world” yet. 🙂 That’s too bad, it was such a cute post! Do you guys have future playdates planned?
Just curious why you went with the Nordic seeing that Lillebaby also makes an organic carrier. I just ordered the organic carrier and I am hoping for the same results as the Nordic. I was really torn between this and the Beco, so hopefully I made the right choice!
What? Seriously? I didn’t know. It must be a new product. I would have totally preferred the organic one. I’m gonna go look. Thanks for the heads up!
*I’m back. It’s the other style. I didn’t see that they had organic back when I was getting this Nordic, I would have definitely tried to compare the two carriers.
I’d be very interested to know how you liked it, please come back to update me!
Yeah, I kinda thought they were different. The organic one was a steal on a baby website so I got it for super cheap. I really like the shoulder straps on the Nordic–that is the one thing that worries me about the organic one. I have a 2 year old now and I am due in Sept with #2 so I will def report back on how it works out for both of them.
Hi Elena, love your blog 🙂 I purchased a Nordic after seeing it on your blog a couple of months back since the Bjorn was hurting ( and my little girl is only 5 months now, so that was at 2 months) my lower back and the Moby was just plain confusing and comber some IMO. Anyhow my question for you is do you have issues with putting it on by yourself … I have such a struggle with getting the should straps strait and then clipping the back shoulder clip… Would LOVE some advice if you have any!
Great, Emily!
No I don’t have ANY trouble putting it on. Explain what exactly is difficult, maybe I can help.
I usually snap the belt on, put Lexi on my waist with legs around me, while holding her by her butt, put one stap on, switch arms, then another. At that point shes pretty secure in there, so I snap the back in.
Hi, thanks for the great review! I have a question regarding the carrier. I’m pregnant with my first, a lil boy :), and I own the Nordic. I’m planning on using it from the beginning and I noticed they have an insert for infants, do I need to purchase that too? Did you use the insert with your little girl in the beginning? Thank you so much!
The infant insert is only necessary if you want to carry your baby in a cradle position. 🙂
Bought this on zulily after reading your review. LOVE it.