12 Best Baby Carriers of 2024

BabyBjörn's founder and creative designer (a Swedish mom) invented the structured carrier 50 years ago, in part to help dads bond with their baby.

It's still one of the most popular brands globally among parents and can grow with your baby from infancy through age 3. It has the necessary ergonomic design for a baby, and its wide, padded straps and waist belt offer good support for the wearer. We did find that learning how the clips work takes a bit of practice, but once you get it, they're easy to keep using. Because the clips are fairly substantial, this is the heaviest carrier on our list — but in many cases, only heavier by a few ounces.

This carrier converts to four classic setups you can switch between as your child grows: front inward-facing (one setting for newborns with their legs splayed out and their bottom low, and one for older babies), front outer-facing and back-carrying. The Harmony, among the brand's newest carriers, is made using a high-tech mesh fabric that's more breathable, flexible and lightweight than older BabyBjörn carriers. The Harmony also offers greater lumbar support, a feature that can help a parent carry a toddler weighing up to 40 pounds.

If you're also looking for a place to set your baby down at home when you're not feeding or carrying them, we're big fans of BabyBjörn's baby bouncers.

Structured carriers can get pricey, but this one wowed our Lab pros with how well it performed at a fraction of the cost of others. Though it doesn't have as much supportive padding as other carriers, most users say it's lightweight and comfortable to wear. At this price, it's worth trying out for your needs.

It's both adjustable at the waist and shoulders and convertible to use with your baby facing in, facing out (once they have excellent head control) and on your back (when your baby can sit up unassisted, generally after their first birthday). Plus, it has more than 46,000 five-star Amazon ratings, including in-depth reviews to pore over. Some Amazon reviewers reported that it restricted circulation in their baby's legs, so make sure the seat is configured to be wide enough for your baby before you place them in it.

An Ergobaby carrier can be worn on your front or on your back, but also on your hip, which can be comfortable when your baby gets bigger. We love that it comes with a storage pouch so parents can grab their keys and a debit card and go. There are several ways to get it to fit your body correctly, with the opportunity to use a back buckle or have the straps cross in the back.

The Omni Breeze offers great support for the caregiver, so this one's ideal for hikes or longer outings with your baby when you won't be using a stroller. Just note that it's a bit bulkier and may be too over-the-top for people with smaller frames — or anyone who mostly wants to wear their baby around the house for bonding time.

We named one of the brand's similar carriers, the All Carry Positions Aerloom baby carrier, a winner in our 2023 Sustainable Innovation Awards. The carrier uses the brand's FormaKnit material, which is made of 87% postconsumer recycled polyester.

READ OUR FULL REVIEW: We Tested the Ergobaby Carrier

Tula first grabbed parents' attention with a wide range of colors and patterns; the brand still offers more fashion choices than many other brands.

This soft cotton carrier has a mesh panel down the middle to keep your baby comfortable, plus three different width adjustments for your baby's legs as they grow. Our Lab experts like this carrier best for older babies who have excellent head control and can face forward, but testers say they love this for young, inward-facing babies too.

"I like that this is a little more compact than other structured carriers," one tester told us. "Others are long, and my baby was little, and I'm not tall either, so the Tula was comfortable for the two of us." Though we've heard firsthand that it fits petite parents well, there are also many online reviews from plus-size parents who say this carrier fit them comfortably.

The brand says the waistband adjusts from 27 to 57 inches, which is nice to know; many other brands do not divulge exact size ranges but instead say they fit "most" or "all."

If you plan on wearing your baby during the early months and aren't so concerned with having them in a carrier as a toddler, the BabyBjörn Baby Carrier Mini is a fantastic size and lightweight.

It doesn't have the lumbar support of a regular BabyBjörn carrier, but if you're only holding a baby less than a year old in it, you may not need that added support. You'll have fewer straps to buckle, and you'll save money too.

"The Mini was great during the first three months especially," one tester, a first-time mom, told us. "We even went hiking with it!" The brand carries the Mini in many solid colors, including this new-for-2023 purple shade.

A baby wrap is essentially a long piece of fabric that wraps snugly around you and your baby to encourage bonding and create the calming effect that newborns crave.

While it isn't super intuitive to use at first, a few video tutorials can help you master all of the wrap techniques until they're as easy as tying your shoes. You can wrap it a few ways depending upon the size and developmental stage of your baby, including in a style that supports the head and neck of a newborn.

The lightweight modal fabric is unbelievably soft and machine washable, and there's a clever built-in pocket for storage inside a diaper bag or elsewhere. We like this wrap as a way to keep your baby close and your hands free while you're at home. It's also a nice way to wear your baby while out and about.

Despite the wrap's softness, though, modal isn't as sturdy as other types of fabric. Modal is typically used in garments like pajamas and underwear, whose next-to-skin comfort is prioritized as the most important feature, as opposed to factors like durability. Note, too, that the wrap is not to be used past 9 months.

This hybrid model combines the waist and shoulder straps you get from structured carriers with the comfortable fabric from wraps.

We especially love how easy it is to put on yourself — no pre-adjusting clips and buttons like structured carriers and no fumbling to tie a single piece of fabric around your body. With this one, you just clip the waist, put the straps over your shoulders and tie the loose fabric around the middle.

There's no shoulder padding for support, and it comes in just one color, but the material is super soft, fully machine washable and UV protective. Also, this carrier isn't as pricey as others. Wear it from the newborn days until your baby becomes a toddler, and, since it folds down into a small case for easy storage, you can bring it everywhere.

If you're worried about how your back will handle wearing your baby, the LÍLLÉbaby has thickly padded straps, unique lumbar support and a thick strap across the back to help distribute the weight — our dad testers in particular liked wearing it.

We'll just note that all the extra protection makes the carrier itself a little heavier than some others on this list, and the buckles may be slightly challenging to reach by yourself.

It's also unique because it can be converted to six different positions, from newborn through toddler settings, and front-, back- and hip-carrying. As an added bonus, there's built-in storage to keep your baby's must-haves close by.

Like a wrap carrier, this sling uses a long piece of fabric to keep your baby close and snug, but it has the added feature of a ring to help you adjust the fit.

You can also continue to wear it with your toddler; it's designed to sit a toddler of up to 33 pounds at your hip. Just keep in mind that it doesn't have the same type of shoulder support you'll find in the structured carriers.

Like other fabric carriers, it's soft and machine washable for everyday babywearing. It's also the lightest option on our list. It's an 85-inch-long stretch of fabric, so it works well on parents of nearly every size.

For adventure-loving families, this premium back carrier is the perfect way to bring little ones along to explore. It's worn just like a hiking backpack and has sturdy padded straps, clips at the waist and chest and easy adjustability to offer optimal support.

Plus, there are built-in pockets for storing your essentials and a hydration sleeve to hold your water. We love that this backpack carrier has a built-in sunshade, removable foot stirrups and mesh panels to allow for airflow. Note, however, that unlike other kinds of baby carriers for infants, this one is designed for babies weighing at least 16 pounds and at least 6 months of age.

"We used this in Yosemite when my second child was still a toddler," one of our testers told us. "I was afraid he would fuss in it, but I think he was both comfortable and happy with the view." Just know that there's a bit of a process to loading them in and getting this positioned comfortably on you. If you'll be hiking, it's worth it to get it right before you head off.

A hip seat carrier is ideal for older babies who like to be held, so their parent won't throw out a hip. The wide, padded band is adjustable for 24- to 44-inch waists.

TushBaby says the carrier is for newborns through age 3, but our Lab experts recommend only walking around with it once your baby can sit with great head control (usually by about 9 months). For younger babies, it can make for a good support worn on the front of your body if you're nursing or bottle-feeding while sitting or standing up.

The memory foam seat has an anti-slip fabric panel to help keep baby in place. There are large storage pockets, allowing this carrier to double as a fanny pack/diaper bag.

For parents who need to be hands-free while carrying two babies, this front and back tandem carrier is an ideal setup to keep weight evenly distributed. It's structured with ergonomic positioning for the babies and thick padded straps to support the wearer.

The waist is adjustable to fit multiple caregivers (it goes from an astounding 20 to 99 inches). Plus, the tandem carrier can also convert into two single carriers if you have two people available to carry the twins. And don't let the brand name fool you: You can use it with siblings of different ages when they both need to be carried. We like that each side includes a little cotton hood you can pull over a baby to give them shade.