Shortly after my third child Sarah was born, I had the chance to review the Sleepy Wrap baby carrier.  I fell in love, hard and fast – the Sleepy Wrap is without a doubt the most comfortable and easy to use carrier for babies up to a year old on the market (of the carriers I have here at home at least!)  The Sleepy Wrap also carries older children as my photos of my then two and five-year-old’s demonstrates, but it’s not the most supportive carrier for older kids.  I also would never feel confident enough to execute a back carry in one due to it’s stretchy fabric.

Naturally I was incredibly thrilled to have the opportunity to review Nap Inc.’s latest child carrier!  The Boba is a soft-structured carrier (think Ergo) designed to be used for children ages 1 to 4 (15 – 45 lbs.) for front and back carries, and my two youngest are now 16 months and 3.5 – perfect timing!  As an Ergo owner my first thoughts were – how does the Boba differ from an Ergo?  Well, to be honest there are quite a few points of differentiation, most good, some not-so-good.  There are also some similarities and challenges that seem to present themselves with any structured carrier.

Before we dig in, I want to let you know that there are lots of pretty pictures on the Boba website itself, I’m not going to use them in my review though, I have plenty of pictures of my own kids enjoying being carried!  Feel free to head on over if you’d like to see some ‘professional’ looking snaps!

So, first off, the Boba is an organic cotton carrier, made in Boulder, Colarado by mountaineering professionals – very neat!  I received the Walnut to review; there are six earthy shades to choose from.  You can find a complete list of the major features here.  The first things I noticed were the nicely contoured padded shoulder straps, the handy ‘hide-em’ elastics to roll up the excess webbing from the shoulder straps and waist strap (very nice touch!), and the heavy duty safety-buckle.

Loading both of my children in the front facing position was very simple, but I did need some help fastening the chest-strap across my back (I have limited mobility in my right arm), so I need some help there.  I played with the foot-straps some before realizing that my baby’s legs are just too short for them to work at the moment, but they are very adjustable with a neat sliding feature that let’s you move them around the bottom of the carrier.  Adjusting for circumference is tricker, as they velcro up inside of the padded waist area, which is securely fastened when you have a child in the carrier and are trying to adjust the straps.  The front carry with Sarah is blissful, it’s the snuggliest, worry-free front carry ever!  She’s in the perfect position to kiss, and the extra fabric on the sides and top really gives it a cocoon-like feel.  She slept for hours in the Boba the first time she rode in it.

Now, the shoulder straps were hard for me to get snug enough, so I called in my husband, but this isn’t unique to the Boba, I always have a hard time with this design of tightening fixture on soft-structure carriers.  Once adjusted though, between the shoulder and chest straps you can get a good custom-fit for your child.  It does take a few minutes to adjust the carrier back and forth for different children.

Now, my 3.5 year old IS tall enough to get use out of the foot-straps!  Looking at this picture I think they could be a wee bit tighter, but they’re pretty good here.  Designed to be used with shoes, the straps function almost as a stirrup, and are designed to lift the leg to a healthy, 90degree angle from hip to thigh and thigh to calf.  You can read more about it here.  I think it’s a pretty neat idea, and you can tell that the posture is definitely better with the strap as opposed to without when you compare the photos.  If she gets excited and tries to ’stand’ in the stirrups, the velcro lets loose and needs to be done up again, and she did say they were a bit ‘itchy’ – some of the velcro must have brushed her leg (something to note if your youngster has sensory-integration issues).  Again the front carry is very supportive and incredibly comfy, I could carry her for hours like this!  She likes it too .

Now, for the back carry, I actually got Sarah in without help on my first try by following the instructions!  The extra fabric on the panel really makes a difference here.  With other soft-structured carriers I often felt like my baby was leaning away from me because I couldn’t feel her upper body against my back.  With the Boba that problem is no longer there!  With some careful adjustments I can get my little girl hugged up nice and comfy….see?  I REALLY like this…sure helps when I’m doing dishes!

Now with Rosie, you can see her shirt through the gap between the carrier and me – that’s just because she’s bigger (and the camera angle), she’s still nice and tight up against me as you can see.  It also looks as though I should have slid the foot straps around the unique bottom rail to be closer to the front, that would have brought her legs into a slightly better position.

Now, with her being heavier I did notice that the unpadded webbing that makes up the front portion of the Boba (where you fasten the safety buckle) carries more weight and did dig into my abdomen some.  That’s likely due to my squishy mommy belly, but it wasn’t entirely comfortable.  Some other carriers feature a flat band of fabric that goes underneath this section of webbing to distribute the weight without so much digging, but the Boba doesn’t. Thankfully, I don’t use a carrier with her often, as I’m the only carrier wearer in the family, so I usually take Sarah.  If Rosie tuckers out her Dad uses his arms .

The Boba also doesn’t have a sleeping baby head flap, but in truth, I’ve rarely been able to fasten those by myself with a baby in the carrier, and often it woke mine up.  With the extra fabric providing upper-back support, Sarah just tucked herself in closer when she fell asleep in the front carry, so I haven’t missed it yet.

With both the back and front carries high, snug, and secure, the Boba is a great carrier for moms who want to wear their babies through the winter with a baby-wearing coat.  Once you get your adjustments made you’re ready to go, there won’t be any budging.

Parents shopping for a first soft-structured baby carrier should STRONGLY consider the Boba due to the extra fabric in the panel ALONE.  The added feeling of security is so sweet, snuggly, and above all reassuring!

If you have any questions, please let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them for you from a first-hand users perspective.

Thanks to Nap Inc. I have a coupon code to share with you all!  You can buy the Boba online here for $99.00 plus shipping. If you use coupon code “QuiverfullFamily” until November 11th, US purchasers will receive free shipping, and Canadian orders will receive a $3.99 discount (every little bit helps!)  Enjoy these precious times of baby-wearing with your little ones – my too tall six-year-old so misses those special times with mommy already.