Customer Reviews

BABYBJÖRN Baby Carrier Original

5 star:		(254)
4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(44)
2 star:		(29)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

Over the course of three children we have had FIVE carriers: Two slings, a Baby Bjorn, a Snugli and the Ergo Baby.

The Bjorn is definitely the best looking and easiest to use. The clips and connectors are very intuitive and it's easy to get smaller infants into it. In the first 3 months, this was my favorite carrier.

The "Air" version is basically the "Original" with much more breathable fabric. Unfortunately this doesn't address the biggest shortcoming of the carrier.

My big complaint is that when the kids get larger (or if you wear it for more than ~10 minutes at a time) it really starts to kill your back. This is because the design keeps all the weight on your shoulders. It's like wearing a backpack BACKWARDS!

The "Active" version has wider straps and a which provide additional support for a small improvement over the "Original," but it still puts all the weight on your shoulders, pulling them forward. The additional strap is a "lumbar" strap and still too high to put the weight on your hips.

If you backpack, you know what I'm talking about. A lightweight daypack is fine for lugging 10 lbs of textbooks from class to class, but if you want to be able to hike for an hour with 25+ lbs you have to shift the weight to your hips.

If you only plan to use this when grocery shopping and think you'll give it up when they're 6 months old, this might be for you. If you think you might want to go to the park and hang out, or use it even when the kid starts to crawl, then the Ergo Baby is probably more your speed. My wife can take our 25 lb one year old for 20 minute walks around the neighborhood in the Ergo. We keep it in the car to use as a stroller substitute just in case.

p.s. this is coming from a guy who is 6', 180# and fit. My wife is smaller and far more critical of the ergonomics of this carrier.

If you've found this review helpful, please let me know!

This carrier is the best! My son is child #5 and I have had a carrier for each one. This last one is definately the best! Not wanting to spend this much money on a "carrier" of all things, I researched and considered carefully before purchasing this. All reviews and reports were accurate...This is definately worth the extra dollars.

The ease of use is remarkable. I can get baby in and out all by myself. From the day after Luca and I arrived home from the hospital, we were out for our daily walks. I sing in our church choir every Sunday and Luca is in his Bjorn close to me and we have never missed a Mass! It is always in the diaper bag when we shop because he ultimately ends up in his carrier. Even at age 13 months I use this daily! Now he sits forward in it and charms all he sees!


My older boys take Karate 5 days a week, so Luca is in the carrier facing forward and watching his brothers. My other mom friends are struggling with their toddlers and mine is content in his BJORN! A few of them even went out and purchased it after seeing how easy it is to use. Now we have our own section where we stand and let our babies talk and interact with eachother. My little guy is so content in his that I can even sit down using mine!

The BABY BJORN has become a regular part of my wardrobe! Before I get in the car, I put on my BJORN. I have two strollers in the back of the van but I never use them! This carrier is where he is most content!

Shopping, trips to the vet, doctors, karate, weekly Mass, recently a trip to the funeral home for a close relative, football games and sporting events, pumpkin patch and corn mazes, parades, summer carnivals festivals and picnics, I even ran stand for our church's picnic last summer with my baby in his BJORN...and oh... the list just goes on and on.

I cannot praise this enough for the convenience it has added to my family's life. There is NO staying home using the new baby as an excuse when your baby is #5! This carrier makes it so much easier! Easy in, easy out! When Luca falls asleep in his car seat he goes in this facing me. When he wakes up, he faces out. I can unfasten this and turn him aropund and re-fasten him without putting him down or passiong him off to someone else...that is the amazing feature of this wonderful product!

Seems intimidating at fira=st but believe me, you catch on fast! I cannot tell you how many of these I have sold in stores I just happened to be in shopping! Exasperated parents would just approach me asking me where I got my carrier. Several times I actually watched parents take this from the box on the shelves, put baby in, and pay for it on the way out!

No backaches for me. I am about 5'7" and weigh about 115lbs. Luca is about 23 lbs. I have no complaints and on karate nights I am wearing him for about 90 minutes!

Unfortunately I have never figured out how to nurse baby when in this. I do recall reading that you could but I have found it impossible, at least for me.

You put your arms through the straps and the front of the carrier is open, you then take the front piece and snap it on (very easy) You can then place your baby on you and hold him/her with one arm and pick up the front of the carrier and bring it up over baby sliding the built in post-like fasteners into their respective color coded openings on the straps. Baby is safe secure and mom/dad has 2 free hands!

You really will not be sorry you splurged on this!

Great great product!

My husband (6' 1") insisted on the Baby Bjoern with the extra-long straps. I am happy to report that it is magnificent, even for short people! (I'm only 5' 3".) It converts to fit either one of us quickly and easily and I have always felt that our son was snug and secure inside. Now that he's older (6 months), he LOVES to face outward and see where we're headed. We toured Colonial Williamsburg (lots of walking and wandering in and out of colonial buildings), quickly and easily with the BB. While other mommies struggled with their strollers and couldn't get into many of the buildings, we whisked through everything safely and easily.

I know many people are concerned that they won't use it enough to justify the price - my response is that you need to make yourself use it! Try it out during a simple walk through the mall or your neighborhood. As you grow accustomed to it you'll realize how easy it is to hook on and go.

Enjoy! I HIGHLY recommend this product!

I have had four baby carriers. We received a Bjorn (actually 2!) at baby showers. Of the four, I found this one to be the least comfortable and most difficult to take on and off. Based on my experience I'd say that the Bjorn is good for one thing - going for a walk with a very small baby.

My daughter cried whenever I put her in the Bjorn (unlike the other baby carriers). At first I thought that was because she was picking up on *my* discomfort. However, it was when our pediatrician told me that the Bjorn is not healthy for babies (because it locks baby hips in an unhealthy position and also because the out-facing position prevents them from being able to turn away from difficult stimulus) that I realized it wasn't just me ... she really disliked it too!

There are other carriers that cost the same but are more durable, hold babies for longer (up to 40 lbs.), more comfortable for mom and dad, are more versatile (can be worn front, back, and side depending on how you place the straps), and sit the baby in an appropriate position for their physical (and emotional) development.

Check out the Ergocarrier. When I wear my baby in front in the Ergo I can nurse her in public (really w/o anybody being the wiser). When I wear her in back in the Ergo I can cook dinner safely, clean house, grocery shop, even pick things up off of the floor knowing that she is securely and safely in place. You can't do this with the Bjorn.

We have a Baby Bjorn (Original) as well as an Ergo baby carrier. I think both have their advantages and disadvantages, which I will try to explain below.

We purchased the Ergo carrier before our daughter was born based on the recommendation of a friend. However, we found that she could not sit in it comfortably at first. Before your baby can straddle your torso (until about 4 months/15 lbs), you have to put both legs on one side. I watched the instructional DVD several times and tried to place her into the carrier as comfortably as possible, but she did not like it at all. It didn't look comfortable either with her back twisted and body squished. This is when we decided to try the original Baby Bjorn carrier.

Our daughter loved being in the Bjorn (facing in or out). This carrier is easy to put on and take off and quite compact. However, it was not very comfortable for me (especially as she got heavier) since it put a lot of pressure on my back and shoulders. The fact that there is no waist belt and little padding on the shoulder straps probably contributes to this. The newer Baby Bjorn Active carrier with lumbar support may alleviate some of these problems. (I haven't tried this product though, so I'm not speaking from personal experience). We used the Bjorn until she turned 4 months (about 15 lbs).

I was so relieved when she could finally fit into the Ergo properly (with one leg on each side). It is so much easier on my back and shoulders. With the Bjorn, I could maybe last 15 minutes (at 15 lbs). With the Ergo, I can comfortably go for an hour or two (at almost 20 lbs now). I go grocery shopping and on longer walks this way. She seems very comfortable in it now. She's happy whenever I put her in it and will even go to sleep in it. (Sometimes, this is the only way I can get her to sleep). It looks a lot more comfortable than the Bjorn since she's sitting in it as opposed to being suspended from her crotch. I also don't have any trouble nursing discretely in the Ergo.

Around 6 months I also began carrying her on my back in the Ergo, which was even easier on my back. I have found this to be really convenient when doing things around the house such as vacuuming, doing laundry, cooking etc. It's also nice for outdoor activities like apple picking, strawberry picking, hiking etc. I find these activities somewhat more difficult when carrying a baby in front. While it is easy to put your baby in the front carrying position by yourself, it takes some practice to wear your baby on your back. At first, I needed somebody to help me get her situated on my back, but now I can easily do it by myself. Some may not like the fact that you cannot face your baby outward in the Ergo (and some babies may not like facing inward). This has not been a problem for us. While our daughter loved facing outward in the Bjorn, she did not object to facing inward in the Ergo. Rather than being pressed up against me, she's sitting in it, so she can still look at things to the sides. One more thing about the Ergo - I would recommend purchasing the sucking pads (ERGO Sucking Pads - Cream). Our daughter loves sucking on the straps and it's just much more convenient to wash the sucking pads rather than the whole carrier.

In summary, I think that both, the Bjorn as well as the Ergo, are good carriers, each with some drawbacks. The Bjorn is wonderful for a newborn up to about 12-15 lbs. Being able to have your baby facing in or out is a nice feature. Because of the strain on your back however, I would not recommend using this carrier with older/heavier babies. The Ergo is great for babies starting at around 15 lbs or when they are able to wrap their legs around you. It is much easier on your back and being able to carry your baby on your back can be convenient. For us, the Ergo was not very useful before our daughter turned 4 months as she was not comfortable with her legs on one side, but this probably depends on the baby.

I would rate the Bjorn 3 stars (because it's so hard on your back and we could only use it for a few months) and the Ergo 4 stars (because we couldn't use it with our newborn). My recommendation would be to get one of each if you can. We bought a gently used Bjorn for less than $10, and I have seen a lot of these on Ebay as well as Craigslist. Maybe you could even borrow one from a friend. It just seems like a lot of money to spend on something you aren't going to use for very long. However, I loved carrying my newborn around in it, so I wouldn't have wanted to do without it.

There have been so many times we really loved this carrier. Originally, though, I wanted a sling because I thought they were better for baby, like the previous reviewer, and all my crunchy friends recommended them. They may be, but we've tried the hotsling, the maya wrap, and even the ergo baby carrier, and this is by far the best and easiest for us.

For months, the only way to get my baby to stop his colicky crying was to put him in the Bjorn and go for a walk. It would put him right to sleep like magic, and we'd come inside, lean over his rocker, and unlatch the Bjorn with him in it (the outer piece comes completely off) and he would just stay asleep. Try that with a sling!

Now that he's past his colicky phase, I use the sling a lot and it's great, but for a quick run to the store, nothing beats the Bjorn for speed. It's so easy to put on and take off - and it's also easier to get my husband (and my dad!) to wear the baby with the Bjorn, he thinks the sling is for moms.

I had two problems: at about 20 pounds and 27 inches, his arms don't fit in the arm holes, and they don't fit above them either. It still works without the top latches, though, and it's cooler in summer. I just keep a hold on him to be sure. And when he was a couple months old and I was wearing the Bjorn a lot, I got a plugged milk duct. I thought it was about where the strap lay on my chest, so I stopped wearing the Bjorn for a while. I was having other breastfeeding problems at the time so it might not have been the Bjorn, but who knows?

I got this as a hand-me-down, and I thought it was going to just collect dust, but boy was I wrong. It's in the washer right now!

I received this as a gift when I had my first baby...my husband used it a couple times around the house to rock him to sleep. We didn't really use it with my second son 14 months later...maybe because we had a double stroller and they went around in that all the time...NOW introduce new baby sister 3.5 years after our first baby. She was a late spring baby so we were able to use the carrier at picnics and get togethers at friends' homes when I needed to mingle around. This way I didn't have to carry the car seat around with me....but now that it is winter, we really don't need it. And once the babies become heavier than 15 pounds, it really does a number on your back.

SO if you are considering buying this...I would suggest only buy it if you are having a Spring baby so that you can use this during the summer. Or if you have 2 other rugrats that you need to hold onto when crossing parking lots...other than that, the car seats are just fine. You will only really use this a maximum of 4 months.

We recieved the baby Bjorn as a gift and were excited to try it out. It wasn't so horrible when my son was first born, but as he gained weight both my partner and I found that the bjorn caused excruciating back pain really quickly. We both attribute this to the fact that it has NO lumbar support. I looked online and found out that Bjorn has recently made a carrier WITH a lumbar support. If you are going to buy a Bjorn I would highly recommend spending the extra money.

My other concern with the Bjorn is that my son seemed to be to big for it by the time he reached 16 pounds. Just too tall.

The thing I like about the Bjorn is that baby can face in or face out. This is great for when they are able to hold up their own head.

As for me, I found that something like the moby wrap, which is a long piece of fabric you wrap around yourself, gave me great lumbar support for a fraction of the price of a bjorn. The downside, my partner won't wear it because it is too girlie.

I bought this carrier before I knew about all the other carriers available. I found it to be quite easy to use however, the weight of the baby is being distributed in such a way that within 20 minutes of wearing it my back and shoulders hurt terribly.

I was then educated about the many other choices of baby carriers. The one that worked best for me was the Ergo. Not only does it distribute the weight of the baby in such a way that I don't even notice that I am carrying 17 pounds of baby on my chest, but the weight and height maximums are far greater than the Bjorn, therefore making the life of the product far longer. And, the Ergo has a handy pocket that has enough room to store several diapers, cream, wipes, etc. so the need of a diaper bag is obsolete. I LOVE my Ergo.

i hate the bbj for several reasons & i look forward to the day when scientific evidence of the damage it does will be enough to pull it off the market.
1) the seat is too narrow, putting all of baby's weight onto the crotch, contributing to spinal compression. it is especially damaging to boys as the weight rests entirely on his testicals.
2) the legs are left to dangle stright down (see above), which does not promote proper hip development. in indigenous cultures the baby is worn with his legs spread or froggy-style, with belly contact against the wearer's body. this position allows the hip balls to properly connect to the socket. this also allows for baby's weight to be distributed across the entire bottom & thighs. can you imagine straddling a bicycle seat all day & not being able to touch your feet to take the weight off your crotch?
3) facing out for extended periods is not healthy for little ones. the world is big & too much stimulus can quickly overwhelm a baby, who is unable to turn away & bury his face in your chest. it is also vital for a bby to be able to see your face & gauge your reactions to people & events. they learn how to interact with the world by watching you, but if they are thrust out in front of you like a ship's head, this is impossible.

invest in a mei tai or other similar carrier, NOT the bjorn.