I don’t have this carrier but it was one of the many I looked at and considered. I am glad to see this post as I have been extensively searching for research or proof that wearing a baby facing forward is harmful and I have not found it. I do it when facing in doesn’t cut it but I do prefer facing in when he’s tired – nothing beats a baby’s cheek resting on your heart as they sleep! It’s just nice to see a different take on this particular subject and for that, I thank you.
I bought your carrier for just this reason. I have that outgoing baby and the bjorn irritated his diaper area. I have that baby – the outgoing one who needs to see everything. In all honesty he was carried that way for only a few months. Now he’s perfectly happy with the back carry. But I liked the flexibility the Pikkolo offered.
My husband and I both love the Pikkolo. I am 5’6" and he is 6’5" and we both carry our 10 month old comfortably. What I appreciate about the Pikkolo’s way of forward-carrying my daughter IS the sitting position she naturally takes on. We used to have a different carrier and when she was forward-facing, her back was arched and she would just hang there. I couldn’t imagine that it was very good for her back and hips. In the Pikkolo, she is in a sitting position with her legs sticking out in front of us (kicking around in the air all the time of course) and her back is the way it would be if she was sitting on the floor playing; a much more natural look. Needless to say, we love our Pikkolo’s versatility and will even use the hip carry on occasion. I’d say that with using it regularly over the last few months, I can put it on and have my daughter in and secured in under 90 seconds. I tell everyone that they should look into this carrier before buying some of the better-known carriers.
@Kristie, that is one reason I decided to write this post. In our instructional brochure we mark age ranges for carries and the FFO one says 3 month-8 months. We get tons of calls and emails that say “why can’t you use it for FFO after 8 months.” Of course, you can, but we want to be honest with our customers about to expect, which is why we put that age range in there. As for back carries, I strongly urge parents to work on perfecting them, but I do know that some parents feel intimidated and it can take some time to work into feeling comfortable doing them. That is why I think that the growth of babywearing groups around the world is so awesome, because getting one-on-one help in a casual setting will help many more parents feel comfortable. And it changes the culture over time to where back carrying isn’t viewed as a feat of acrobatics ;)
I agree to a point. The problem is that I talk to a lot of parents who want a carrier to carry their child FFO at an age where it’s not really appropriate, whether it’s six weeks or 15 months. I can see limited utility between 4-8 months, but before a kiddo has good head control, s/he shouldn’t be FFO, and after about 8 months, there’s really little reason not to move to back carries. Added to that, people seem to want to pop their kid in and forget about him/her, so I see these tiny babes FFO asleep with heads and limbs hanging all over the place. :-(
So while I don’t have a problem with carriers designed to FFO per se, I guess I haven’t seen one yet on the market that really explains when FFO is a good option and when it isn’t.
[…] Leistensnider, founder and president of Catbird Baby, explains in this blog post why she decided to give their carriers this feature. I think I wore RJ facing out a grand total of […]
[…] Leistensnider, founder and president of Catbird Baby, explains in this blog post why she decided to give their carriers this feature. I think I wore RJ facing out a grand total of […]
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