wrap carriers - what type of fabric is best?

[cmoraes]

I want to get a wrap but don't know much about the different brands. It seems that some are a stretchy knit fabric and some are woven fabrics. Which is better? What else is there to compare? what do you recommend?

I'll probably also get other types of carriers (maybe a pouch or ring sling, probably an front/back carrier later too) so the wrap may not be used much when the baby gets older/heavier. But I think it looks like a great idea for small babies.

thanks for any info.

[maestramommy]

For a newborn/small baby I would recommend a stretchy wrap because they are easier to get the baby in an out, and maybe for bfing as well. Course, this is secondhand wisdom, I haven't had a chance to try it out yet! But it makes sense to me. Also I think the stretchy ones are cheaper. There's the Moby, Ultimate baby wrap, which I believe you can find at the BRU.

I have a slightly stretchy wrap, and a woven wrap. The stretchy wrap I got from wraphappy.com. A WAHM sews and dyes the fabric by hand. Her name is Minda and she is awesome to work with! If you get solid colors the wrap is about $35, and if you get a patterned dyeing, it's $55. I got the patterned because I just couldn't resist, it was much prettier. My woven wrap is a Storchenweige. I got this so I could do back carries with a heavier child. Once the child gets bigger the woven wraps are much more supportive, although Minda does carry her toddler on her back with her own wraps. It's all rather subjective and depends on the wearer's physicality I think.

What you could do is go to thebabywearer.com. It's a forum for discussing all types of carriers, and you would get awesome first hand advice on all the different types of carriers.

[kekane]

There's also also the CuddlyWrap for stretchy wraps (haven't tried it yet -- expecting 7/17). I chose it because it got slightly better reviews than the Moby (and in turn is also a hair more expensive).

Another arguement for starting with a strechy wrap is that it sounds like they have an easier learning curve than the woven wraps.

Note: i think the ultimate baby wrap got a lot of bad reviews -- forget if that was on BRU or thebabywearer.