As my baby has grown massively in size in the last five months, so have our baby carrier needs, and while I've loved our snuggly wrap and will miss it, I had to move on to something else. The 'obvious' next move for us was the ERGObaby.

The ERGObaby carrier, or simply Ergo as it's commonly known,  was developed by a mum who wanted to develop the 'ultimate baby carrier'. Her vision was to "construct a baby carrying device that would support her child‘s spinal development while distributing the baby‘s weight to parent‘s hips and shoulders, alleviating stress to the back and neck."

Her vision was specific, and her goal was definitely achieved. I know many parents start out liking the idea of a baby carrier. They don't know much about it, so they head into the first baby shop they can find and take whatever comes 'recommended' by staff that haven't actually tried many, if any of the options. Within about 3 - 6 months the baby is heavier and the strain on especially mum's back is too much, and they give up the beautiful journey of 'babywearing'. 

Since my baby girl was a newborn, we’ve been using the Simply Good Cozy Baby Wrap for wearing her while we’re out and about, or even at home for those times she just doesn’t want to be put down, but I still have a toddler needing my attention.

There’s a lot I like about this wrap. Firstly, it is incredibly light weight. I have another wrap made of much thicker material and on the very hot days, it’s just too much. With the Simply Good wrap, I’ve been able to for example spend the day at Legoland (in the picture above) with the baby in the wrap without ‘feeling the heat’ any more than anyone else.

It’s a gorgeous wrap. Everywhere I go, people comment on how lovely it looks. It is well made and well stitched, and with a newborn I found it really comfortable and supportive. I even went to a conference in June and spent a whole day with her attached. While I was a bit stiff the next day from what felt like 100 miles of walking around London, it wasn’t my back that hurt.

I like that you’re able to wash and dry it along with other clothes, since there are no buckles or clips to contend with, and I like that it comes in a bag, so you can store it or keep it in your bag or whatever without a long strip of material coming loose.

People often comment that stretchy wraps look really complicated, but having used one now for a few months I can say for certain that it’s not. It’s kind of like a shoelace – once you’ve figured it out, it becomes second nature. Also, it comes with a DVD for full instructions of different ways to wrap a baby.

I had a look at a few of the reviews on Amazon, and I must admit I’m surprised by them. Apart from one, they’re primarily negative. My only conclusion is that the people who’ve left them don’t understand stretchy wraps. (For example, one complained that it was just one long strip of material. Well, yes. That’s what a stretchy wrap is.)

The only ‘negative’ as such that I have about this wrap is that as my daughter has grown, I find it stretches out faster, and needs washing. It doesn’t snap back to its original firmness anymore either, but I’m not sure if that’s just because she’s so much heavier now.

As a newborn wrap I cannot recommend it highly enough – especially for summer time babywearing – but I don’t think it has the shelf life of a woven wrap.

Available in Grey and Circles, Red and Circles or Navy and Stripes and costs £46.95

My house is starting to resemble a sling library with all the baby carriers we’ve been testing and trying out in recent weeks. With my eldest it was simple – we bought a very popular baby carrier, and four weeks later found it was pretty uncomfortable and my baby was getting too heavy for my back. Someone recommended a Mei Tai and the rest, as they say, is history. I happily and comfortably carried my daughter until she was 18 months old and I was pregnant with my second baby.

This time round we’ve had a newborn wrap, stretchy wrap, sling, Mei Tai, the Caboo and now, the BabaSling. The reality is that you don’t need so many, and the best thing to do is join a sling library or borrow from other people who use them until you find the sling that’s right for you.

The BabaSling has many excellent features, and in preparing for this review I spoke to friends who’ve used it and generally it is well liked.

I love babywearing. For us it’s become a way of life, and with our second baby we don’t even have a pushchair, because we ended up carrying our first until she was 18 months, and have every intention of doing the same this time. It’s wonderful going about your business and your day with your baby warmly and securely strapped to you, freeing up your hands and in many ways, freeing up your time.  In a sling, both my babies (so far!) cry less*, they’re warm and content with the body heat and what’s more, they don’t develop flat heads! With my first I even did Latino Bambino – a form of salsa dancing where you carried your baby in a sling while you danced and exercised!

We have a variety of slings, and recently we’ve been testing the Caboo Carrier, sent to us from the NCT shop.  In babywearing speak, it’s a sort of a hybrid between a Moby and a Mai Tai, as it has straps to fasten, and a length of material to wrap too!