Moova Baby Carrier

Ana Vuletić, Finland – certified babywearing consultant

The Moova carrier is something completely new on the market, combining some known features and innovative in new approach.

Moova carrier comes beautifully packed in its own bag, with printed instructions. It also has plastic wrap with custom printed instructions.

The whole idea of a moova carrier is to overcome the stress of many straps and complicated features. Someone who has more than several hundred carriers under belt, I was trying to put myself in a position of someone completely new in this world. So I start with reading and blindly following written instructions. Here, it gets complicated for someone new, not knowing the basics of a carry, I would say he can get tangled when following instructions, particularly for back carry. Here, some video instructions will be highly helpful to understand that is the principle of the “Walk like an Egyptian” way of transferring the baby on the back. So, I would work in more detailed mid steps when providing instructions as they are not that much straightforward when you are completely new. Also, I miss some steps in apron style wearing and embedded insert usage.

Moova carrier provides wearing in several different positions: front, back, and hip carrying. You can use it as a regular carrier with a folded belt or apron style depending on age.

Front Carry

The front carry is probably the one I like the most. It is quite straightforward how to set up a carrier and get a good position inside of it.

For younger babies, when the panel is too wide, you should use an embedded seat inside a carrier, which should help naturally position the baby with the legs above belt and panel.

I would say the idea comes from easier positioning, like in a hammock swing rather than using separate inserts like Ergobaby or embedded like Manduca. And compared to one mentioned, this is probably the one I like the most. It can be easy to put the baby in the right position with rotate pelvis. I have tried with belt positioned in fully folded and apron style.

There is a difference as where when fully folded baby legs will reach the end of the panel, which we want to avoid, so you should use an apron style when using an embedded insert.

Putting a small baby inside a carrier can be done as in any regular carrier or by opening a panel and putting the baby directly in the previously settled carrier.

You can easily set up a carrier by just putting already prebuckled carrier over head.

Or open a panel and put baby like that inside of a carrier.

Once the baby is in, we zip up the panel and set it up to the needed height.

Here, you can see plenty of useful details to protect zipper and baby when setting up. For front carry, this is an amazing option. The only downside is that you need to make sure they are zipped all the way up before putting the baby on a back as they can slide during the weight of the baby and tension.

Baby can also hold to details in front or you can clip something to it which can be useful at some age to keep them occupied.

Straps

Straps are already predefined in cross carry, and there is no possibility of changing it without losing their function. They are meant to come over head or used as one when transferring baby. You can adjust them on two levels depending on your height. I am 172cm and plus size. I have used it in a lower setting to accommodate my statute more and be more comfortable and easier to handle. It uses simple snaps for keeping them in place, and those sometimes can open in a transfer on the back, but it should not be a huge deal as you can adjust them in front. The issue with straps is that when transferring on a back or doing it in reverse at front, you need to be aware of tension of all time, and that is something worth training new parents to. Otherwise, in front carry, it is really easy to adjust and quick and safe. They are generously padded and really comfortable, I tried carrier with my 5y old daughter, and it was also really comfortable.

The straps have 2 way buckles, so you are able to adjust it from both sides, and it also helps with lowering if needed cros on a back. I am personally a huge fan of 2 way buckles, and I really enjoy it.

Belt

Belt I like a lot. It is firm, and it also has two buckles and a protective elastic band on both sides. You can buckle on both sides, so I think this was designed considering both left and right-handed people in mind.

It also has really firm lumbar support, which is always a nice addition to taking off some pressure on a back in lumbar part, and I personally didn’t mind it in back carry also.

You can open the belt for apron style wearing. This provides a bit more deeper seat for baby and also a more length to a panel. Apron style is probably not the one I would use for back carry as it will lower the height of the baby.

Or you can fold it and get more of a regular and firm belt, depending on age or way of carrying you prefer.

Back Carry

This is tricky for me to decide do I love or not. Once when you get used to transferring baby, it is an easy and mostly safe way to put the baby from front to back. But it also requires taking the baby out to always put in front. With smaller baby it was easy to make a transfer, but when I have tried with toddler there is when it gets tricky as much more space is occupied so it is getting harder to take out hands and put them back, this is when I noticed that I can get sweaty and tired and need to keep more safety checks. If you have not fully buckled zippers, this can become a hazard as leaning baby with weight can get them open. Also if you don’t keep a tension on baby can lean too much backwards. It still should be somewhat safe that baby can’t fall from it easily, but it is something you should be aware of.

As mentioned in the beginning, when transferring, you should use the “Walk like an Egyptian” technique, which requires putting your hands through both straps, one from the lower side and one from the upper side.

After that you rotate the belt on the back and put your hands back to position.

When baby is centred on your back, you will tie the straps and you are ready to go.

Taking out the baby

I find quite useful opening a panel with smaller baby particularly and for easy transfers, but as baby gets bigger up to toddler age it can be tricky with long legs and not that smooth as expected. You simply need more space, but with a bit of practice that can be managed too.

Hip carry

Being able to hip carry is a really nice option to have, especially in a time of strike, when the baby gains good head and neck control and prefers to have more space between you and the baby. With Moova, it is basically a step between a back carry, so it is easy to put the baby in that position.

Adjustability of a carrier

When we talk about adjustability, there are several considerations we need to take into account.

Adjusting panel in width

There is an embedded insert for small babies and options to carry apron style or folded.

There are no particular adjustments on the panel to make it wider for toddlers. As a babywearing consultant, I still prefer to have a full knee to knee support, even with walkers. Based on that, my impression, depending, of course, of baby growth, it can maximum be used up to 2 years of age, and that is already a stretch. Apron style will provide a bit more wider seat and push a bit more legs to stay higher, but still, it will not be knee to knee.

Adjustments in height

Here, we can regultate the panel with zippers, which I mentioned before, and it provides quite a long support for baby and toddler, so the only issue I see is locking those zippers well before transferring on a back bigger child. I really like how that part of the panel fits smaller babies, and it is really soft and well designed to provide support for babies without head control. So this solution is something I really like.

Material

Carrier is made of really quality material and soft padding on shoulder straps. OEKO-TEX 100 Standard or Bluesign material is used, and it will be perfectly safe for even the most sensitive ones.

Final Toughts

It is hard after all these years to come with something completely new but still functional on the market, and I think Moova Carrier exceeded my expectations. It joined several features that I really liked and it will be an interesting solution for new parents and easy to use, once they get a hand of it. I think it will provide a more secure way of using a carrier and it is particularly aimed at those who are afraid of using a carrier. Also I think it will work really well for pettit person as usually there are not too many options that can well fit as the same as plus size like me. It is easy, functional, and a good choice of the carrier, especially for the first year.

Tatjana Mitrović, Serbia

Thanks to #lenastravelingcarriers and @moova.baby I had a chance to try this carrier. The carrier is very well made, with nice firm but comfortable material.
My 8 month old, weighting 10+ kg, outgrew the knee to knee support, but maintains the correct M shape. The carrier has x straps which are connected and you have to put them on over your and babys head. This was easy putting on, but combination of our big heads (he has a really big head) and my poor shoulder rotation made it hard to loose enough for easy dismount. Also front strap buckles made me realise how much weaker my left hand is. The straps are cushy and comfortable, and don’t move up your neck. I tried both apron and folded belt position, and found the folded one more comfortable. Unfortually my baby was uncooperative during our testing time, so we didn’t get a chance to try back or hip carrying. Thanks again Lena’s traveling carriers for this opportunity

Snežana Simić, Serbia

Thanks to Lena’s traveling carriers and Moova carriers I had the opportunity to try the completely innovative design of a carrier. It came in the original bag with the same colour as a carrier and with manual instruction, which I highly recommend reading before trying to use a carrier.

The carrier is completely different from that one we usually try as it has fixed shoulder straps which are crossed and the idea is to put them before we put baby In a carrier. I like the opportunity to use carrier based on setup of the waiste belt and it seems that prolongs a bit usage of a carrier itself. My kids is older he is 4years and 16kg and I could not resist to try it also with him. My impression is that is really comfortable even if we used it only for a short in front carry. I mostly tried it with demo doll and it was fast once when I understood instructions. I would highly recommend everyone to try it out as material is really soft and comfortable, Mash is ideal for hotter days and idea of adjusting hight is really nice. Thank you once again for opportunity to try something new on market.

#lenastravelingcarriers
@moova.baby

Marija Magdalina, Serbia

I would like to thank Lena’s traveling carriers and Moova for this opportunity to try out this wonderful carrier. I really enjoyed using it. At first I needed some time to get used to the crossed straps, since i was used to the H straps, but after the adjustment period I really started to enjoy the cross straps. What I really liked about this carrier are the handles for baby to enjoy while being carried, and the fact that there are zippers at the sides so you can easily put the baby in and out of the carrier without unbuckling the whole thing. Also, the fact that you can wear this carrier in more ways than one is also very innovative. All in all a very comfortable carrier that is easy to use.
#lenastravelingcarriers