A Hip Seat Carrier Is A Simple Solution For Carrying A Toddler Who Likes To Walk But Sometimes Needs To Be Carried

I broke my back — crushing 3 vertebrae in a motorcycle wreck 8 months before I found out I was pregnant with my son. He is now 2 -1/2 years old, 35 pounds, and quite heavy for me to carry. I tend to wreak havoc on my back and alignment quite regularly after picking him up or carrying him for any length of time.

Even though my son can walk on his own, he’s at the toddler stage which pretty much guarantees that my husband or I will have to scoop him up for whatever reason — especially when we’re out and about away from home.

Frequent backaches were becoming quite common for my husband and I any time we had to carry our son for longer than a few minutes.

Fortunately, I found an amazing solution…

A Toddler Hip Seat Carrier!

I saw this unique hip seat carrier for toddlers on my Facebook newsfeed and decided to order it from Lavish Moms and give it a try. I mean, who wouldn’t want an easier way to carry their baby or toddler… especially with no strain or pain involved?

The toddler hip seat arrived at my doorstep within 12 days — quite surprising actually, considering I tracked it from China.

I couldn’t wait for its arrival and immediately started using it at every opportunity. We like it a lot!

We use our toddler hip seat carrier for:

• Short outings
• Hiking
• Exploring
• Even around the house

Not only does it properly disperse my son’s weight, but it also helps keep my back straight while carrying him.

My son is 2 years old, weighs 35 pounds, and is very active. He usually walks, but sometimes he wants (or needs) to be carried.

PROS: What I Like Best About This Hip Seat

These are some of the awesome features that I like most about this toddler hip seat carrier:

1. The Lavish Moms hip seat carrier is extremely lightweight — so it’s easy to wrap around and piggy back a backpack.
   
2. It has an ergonomic design and frees up the use of one hand — I can easily carry my large toddler with relative ease, while also freeing up an arm and hand so I can still do other things while carrying my son! I would normally need to use both arms to carry him.
   
3. This toddler hip seat has a large styrofoam insert and is weight rated for toddlers up to 70 lbs. It fits securely around my waist and provides a comfortable seat that easily supports my 2-1/2-year-old 35 lb. son — so he can quickly hitch a ride on my hip or in front of me.
   
4. The seating position is ideal for toddlers — allowing their legs to rest on both sides of the hip seat, which promotes better spinal alignment for both mama and child.
   
5. The hip seat carrier effectively shifts the weight of my son across my lower body while resting on my hips — so now I don’t have to constantly shuffle him around to different positions to relieve muscle fatigue.
   
6. The hip seat provides multiple positions to hold your toddler. I mostly use the hip carry position and carry my son on whichever side feels most comfortable while freeing up one hand.
   
7. The toddler hip seat carrier is adjustable and easy to use — it fits around waist sizes up to 40 inches and has a secure snap for extra reinforcement. It takes only moments to put on or take off, as well pick up or set down your child — because it doesn’t have any cumbersome straps attached. Basically, the hip seat secures around my waist and not around my son, so I can lift him up or set him down whenever he or I wish. (We used to use our Osprey Poco AG plus hiking baby carrier, but this hip seat carrier has virtually replaced it — because it eliminates the cumbersome act of loading and unloading into a hiking backpack.)
   
8. This toddler hip seat comes in a variety of colors — I chose the navy blue color.

CONS: What I Don’t Like About This Hip Seat

There are a couple things that I dislike about this toddler hip seat carrier:

1. There is absolutely no storage, and the mesh pocket is really small and unsecured — I would not feel comfortable placing my phone in there. My girlfriend ordered a slightly better version of a toddler hip seat that actually has a decent size storage pocket with a zipper — she absolutely loves it!
   
2. The fact that this hip seat has no storage means that I have to bring an additional backpack to carry the essentials on all of our outings.

The Bottom Line

A toddler hip seat carrier is one item that I never want to be without these days!

I’m in the habit of packing it for most of our outings now, because it has been such a lifesaver — giving me relief during those times when I’m required to carry my son.

The downsides are really not that big of a deal when it comes to the sheer relief I get anytime my son wants (or needs) to be carried.

Plus, now that my son is walking quite regularly everywhere we go, we try to be really mindful of unnecessary items to pack. Items such as an umbrella stroller, push car, and hiking backpack seem really futile because they rarely get used on our outings anymore. Of course, we are always grateful for those aids when we need them — which is why I think a hip seat carrier is the perfect solution for this transitional phase of toddlerhood, when too much walking can tire out a young child.

The hip seat is basically a giant fanny pack — which I know won’t ever come back in style. I’m willing to rock it though, to save myself from the back pain of carrying a heavy toddler.

Again, this isn’t an item you will use everyday, but it’s definitely worth every dollar of the price!

In this video, I’m showing exactly how this hip seat carrier works:

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