Solly Baby Loop Carrier Review
As a long-time fan of the Solly Baby Wrap, I was psyched to hear about the newest launch of the Loop Carrier. When I started using a Solly Baby wrap carrier five years ago with my firstborn, I didn’t realize how integral baby-wearing would become in my day-to-day life as a new mom. All these years later, about to welcome my fourth child, I’ve been through the different stages of keeping baby close and am thankful to continue reaping the benefits of a carrier that’s meant for bigger babes.
Learning How to Wear the Loop Carrier
Similarly to the traditional Solly Wrap, the Loop Carrier comes perfectly packaged as one long piece of fabric, but with an added sewn-in ring that can be tailored to fit mom’s body comfortably. The fabric is made with 100 percent organic cotton, making it more structured and less stretchy; they offer two different sizing options as well versus the one-size-fits-all approach. Having zero experience with a ring sling model carrier, I was a bit intimidated upfront and went straight for the online tutorials. They do a great job of providing video resources to ensure you’re wearing your baby properly for a safe hands-free experience.
I’ll admit that I was confused at first. It took a few tries to get my bearings with placement and hand-positioning, but eventually it clicked. I was used to similar steps with the traditional wrap (making an X across the front of the body), but I really had to practice getting the fabric OVER the ring and then through the ring loop to lock off the fabric tails. Doing it behind my back made me feel, well, a bit backwards! But it really is an easy process once you get the hang of it. Just give yourself time to practice before you’ve got a wailing baby on your hands.
How to Ensure You’re Wearing Baby Safely
Solly Baby promotes a safety checklist called TICKS to make certain your child is safely in the carrier. TICKS stands for:
Test Driving the Loop Carrier With my 1-Year-Old
I received this product at the best time. Not only is my daughter close to fading out of the wrap carrier weight limit at a healthy 20 pounds (!), but I’m also super pregnant and struggling to carry her around throughout the day.
While she’s newly mobile and having fun running around with her big siblings, she’s still my baby, and I WANT to hold her as much as possible before her little brother arrives. As the wearer, having the Loop Carrier available to assist in supporting my baby’s weight when I’m pretty dang exhausted these days makes savoring the time we have left as her being the youngest more enjoyable with fewer tears from the both of us—totally worth it!
Being a bit older, she doesn’t like to be completely confined by the shoulder straps, so we had better luck with one arm tucked in and the other arm remaining free while getting used to our new carrier. Like the wrap, you place baby in the carrier one leg at a time and spread the fabric from knee to knee for full support of the bum. Once my daughter was secure, I pulled on the fabric tails one at a time to find that perfect fit, which is a bit awkward for me right now because I have a massive belly she essentially sits on. This only shows how comfortable the carrier truly is, and I look forward to trying it out post-pregnancy for a truer fit. (The Loop Carrier can also be used with a newborn at least 8 pounds without an infant insert, so this will be beneficial for my family in more ways than one!)
My daughter settled within a few minutes of our initial test run and seemed content, eventually falling asleep for a bit. I don’t use this carrier for hours of breastfeeding and sleeping like I did in the first year when she was younger because she’s bigger, more in my face and less interested in being restricted, but it definitely serves a purpose on a regular basis.
What I Love About the Loop Carrier + Possible Improvements
There’s a lot to love about the Solly brand as a whole, but I especially appreciate the beauty and aesthetic of their products. The carrier is no different, and each custom-dyed print is still machine washable, which is a must. It’s also easy to store in the diaper bag, a nursery drawer, the bottom compartment of your stroller, etc.
I would recommend this product to any parent or caregiver in need of a slightly structured carrier who is familiar and confident in baby-wearing. While this can certainly be a mom’s first choice for her baby registry, I think the traditional Solly Baby wrap perfectly fits that newborn/younger baby season of life for a reason. The Loop is called the “perfect next-step carrier,” and it lives up to the name for Solly fans.
In terms of improvements, this is more of a wish for the next product launch: I wish forward-facing was one of the acceptable carrying positions with this wrap. Baby is always meant to face inward, which works sometimes, but there are definitely instances where my daughter is not interested, and I feel I could maybe convince her otherwise if she could be on my back or face away from my body.
Overall, this is one of the best baby wraps I’ve used on an older child. It’s sentimental to me to offer her the familiarity of being close in a carrier while I am nine months pregnant and without the energy to hold her as much—because I want to keep her close forever!
