angelpack buckle tai
After ker-fuffing around (as my aunt would say), I finally ordered a new SSC (soft-structured carrier). I’ve been using the spouse-unit’s Ergo a whole lot in the past two months, but hated several things about it, including how fugly, bulky and limited it was. What I really wanted was a padded mei tai (I have an unpadded one), but the long straps are killer to keep from dragging on the ground. I finally realized I wanted a “buckle tai” – a low-frills mei tai with buckles instead of straps.
The major players on the buckle tai market are the Beco Butterfly II and the Catbird Pikkolo. They’re remarkably similar, including gorgeous designs and quality workmanship, but have a few notable differences. The Butterfly has an inner sling that the baby sits in; it’s both a feature and a PITA. It means you can do pretty safe Santa tosses to get the baby on your back, or pass the carrier off to someone else with the baby still inside. But it also means an extra, likely annoying step if you & your kid are the adventurous sort. So I was all set to order the Pikkolo until I realized how short the body is. Spice is tall for her age and since the Pikkolo doesn’t have a headrest part, she would be hanging out over the top a lot.
So I googled a bit more and found a comment somewhere that the Angelpack was good for taller babies and those nursing in carriers. I instantly loved the simplicity of it and promptly ordered one in Lotus from Frogmama. Lorene from Frogmama had incredible service (she responded almost instantly to both my emails the day I ordered) and shipped my Angelpack out the same day I ordered it!
It arrived last week and I instantly put Spice inside. I ditched the removable chest strap buckle and instead crossed the straps behind my back and buckled them. This is by far the most comfortable non-wrap front carry I’ve ever had. Unlike the Ergo with that god-forsaken thing to buckle behind your neck of all places, crossing the straps on the Angelpack means nice padding over your shoulders and across the upper part of your back, plus easy buckles & adjusting at your waist. It was just as easy and comfortable to Santa-toss Spice onto my back and cross the straps in front later to get from food prep done for dinner.
The print, Lotus, is beautiful. It looks elegant and casual at the same time. The whole carrier looks sleek and I’ve gotten compliments on it already. The straps extend quite a bit, and easily fit my mother who happens to be quite a bit fluffier than me. Perhaps my only complaint it that the hood is a little awkward. There are toggle clasps on the cords to adjust the hood space and when the hood is tucked into the inside pocket, I feel like the clasps are hard and bulky against Spice’s back. I’ve resorted to tucking in the fabric and straps of the hood and leaving the clasps hanging out behind Spice’s back – not elegant, but I’m sure it’s more comfortable for her. The hood fabric is also a little narrow and I can’t figure out if that’s a good thing or not. Spice is one of those babies that doesn’t like things over her head, so I guess less fabric is better, but when I pull it up, it seems to barely cover her neck to the top of her head. I’ll have to see how it works out as she gets older.
