I always loved baby carrying and used various baby slings up until my little girl started walking. Suddenly I was finding that my little girl started to get fidgety in her sling and I started to get worn out with her wanting to get up and down all the time. So I wanted to find a product that allowed her to have small burst of walking (as she only had the strength for this) and rests in between. Neither the buggy nor my sling allowed for this, so I bought a hippy chick child seat and it worked wonders.
Using the seat made it easy for me to put my child down and pick her up. I really think buying it helped my little girl get practice at walking and created opportunities that allowed her to strengthen her leg muscles more quickly.
Description This product is basically like a big bum bag, that fastens around the waist and your child sits on top of the bag part. The seat has a thick strap, with padding on the inside. The seat unit unzips to uncover a brilliant storage bag, ideal for changing items or a quick snack.
Price. The Hippy Chick Seat costs £34.95 plus p & p. I bought the seat from the 'Perfectly Happy People' catalogue www.thebabycatalogue.com, but it is also available direct from the makers 'Hippy Chick'. Both these companies are always advertised in baby magazines such as Mother & Baby/Prima Baby.
Where and when to use This carrier does not hold you child, but provides a more comfortable way to hold your child on your hip. My partner found this was a great pretend hip, as he has none, ha, ha!
This is ideal for use for shorter walks with a child who cannot yet walk or for longer walks with a child who walks and is willing to walk (to provide short rests between periods of walking).
This is good to use on public transport, such as buses and trains.
It is useful on shopping trips if your child gets board of sitting in the shopping trolley seat.
Things to be aware of I have had experiences on longer trips where my little girl has refused to walk (when I had only the hip seat with me) and I did find that my arm started to get very tired and I had to stop and adjust the belt strap that started to slip down and I did not enjoy these trips.
In my opinion the seat does not have enough padding for prolonged periods, either for the child or the wearer of the seat. I found after a while of wearing that the seat started to dig into my hip and also my child became fidgety and I expect this is as much to do with the lack of padding as her wanting to walk.
My recommendation is that this seat is brilliant for short walks or for carrying a child for short periods of time, but not good if bought as a main carrier.
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