For those hikers with babies: what kind of carrier system do you use?

Mine is 3.5 months but already over 16 pounds! we'll be hiking it the summer..and he will be around 6 months then. How do you carry a baby and a backpack? Baby on front?

also how do you solve the sleeping arrangement? baby in your bag?

Thanks!

Elena, I didn't know you had one! Congrats :-)

As for hiking? I carried Walker last year on my front until this Feb. actually, so for a good 11 months. I preferred it that way. I had many choices (I have 4 front carriers), but then went to a Deuter Kid Comfort III on my back. I bought the Deuter as it fits me - he had to grow into it (like the BOB Revolution jogger stroller, the KCIII is big and swallows tiny babies). Now at 12 months he fits great into it.
IMO carrying on front is good for babies BUT you cannot see your feet. Wearing a backpack does counter balance you as well, but use trekking poles for stability. Once I went to the backpack carrier I was suddenly springing along again, with better balance.

But don't expect to carry much in a back carrier. Once I have my dayhiking gear, his gear, Triple B (Bowling Ball Buns) and the carrier I am hauling 40+ lbs, I kid not. And I have the pack with the most real carrying capacity of all. (BTW, while Sherpani's new line is nice, be wary of the Rumba - the carrying capacity isn't quite true).

As for sleeping? It depends on if you co-sleep at home or not. I don't and won't share a sleeping bag because of this. If you co-sleep and are used to it, then sure. I co-slept with Ford and hated being kicked when he was a toddler and we camped.

Also...it is going to be easiest if all you carry is baby, water and their stuff and someone else carries everything else. The one thing that was hard about 6 months old and front carrying is needing help so I could go pee or take a break - I needed someone to hold the baby for me. Now that he can walk it is so much easier.

Thanks, Sarah. yes, the baby has arrived on December 29. He's already done Little Si, Rattle Snake ridge, and snowshoeing in Whistler. We expect Mt Rainier by the age of two :))

Looked and Deuter, and wow, what a monster compared to our regular tiny gear! I guess things change when you become parents :)

He will be carried by Papa, and i expect papa would also carry his own gear. So

Pack - 7
Food and gear - 12
Max - 18

That's about 40 pounds! wow, i think daddy better start training :)

just curious, why did you choose deuter? have you looked at other backpacks with a kid carrier? how did they compare?

By the way, what kind of front carriers have you used?

I thought I would chime in here. Our kids our exactly 2 years and a day apart. My son was born on Dec. 28, 2 years ago. He is also a chunker like yours. He was 16 Ibs at his 3 mo checkup. He's now a little over 2 and he's 35 Ibs and this is only the 75th percentile. Let me tell you, there would be no climbing Mt. Rainier this year, although we could have gotten away with it when he was 3 mo old.

We used our Ergo on me in front the first year with my pack filled with light stuff on back. Last year because of some medical complications, I broke my arm in Spring and hubby needed surgery in July, we only got to do one backpacking trip. We had me with my son in the Deuter, and hubby carried almost all the gear.

This year, I am planning on only 1-3 mile hikes in. Ds simply too big to carry with gear for very long at all, but he can't really walk more than 1.5 miles. We will base camp and bring the ergo with us for hikes from camp. If need be, I figure we will drop one of the packs, put my son in the Ergo, go to camp and one of us will go back for the second pack. With some of my friend's lighter children, I think we could get away with the Deuter again this year. To me, the Ergo is a lot better once they hit the heavy stage because it both holds the weight more centered and because it is much lighter itself.

This is all just for your information, since the Deuter is so expensive. It was worth it for us because I also lead family dayhikes for our local hike club and needed to be able to bring a first aid kit, etc. But I'm not sure it would be worth it for everyone, if their kid was on the bigger end and wouldn't comfortably fit weight-wise for that long. If you are expecting your dh to carry your son and his gear, he will rapidly go over the 40 Ib mark.

I picked up the Deuter when they were clearancing the 2010 ones - after seeing a 2011 I didn't see a lot of differences. Then I went online and ordered the really cool Deuter rain cover (think pack cover!) It covers the baby's legs and arms nicely - really well designed!
I had tried on quite a few (pretty much all of the back carriers). The Deuter didn't hurt my back (perma low back injury) but also went small enough in the torso for me and long enough for Dad! Yay! Some brands didn't go under 16. I really liked Sherpani's designs and it fit well but the way the area for gear was designed was a bummer. The pack I ordered came defective as well and had to be sent back (the strap to hold the gear carrying pack on back was ripped out). And with Walker taking after Kirk...I went for a big boy hauler, no UL for him. I also really, really liked Deuter's seat for the baby versus a crotch sling, better for the kid.

Photo of Walker in late Feb in his pack:


On front carriers I have 2 Bjorns, a Kelty one and an Ergo Performance. Of the 4 I honestly loved the Bjorn Active that has lumbar support. It fit me and I could get it on without help - the Ergo is nice but I need help.
Walker in his Bjorn on the AT in October:


I'll admit I sometimes carried 2 front packs, in case he wanted to swap. Btw, one reason I used the Bjorn so much was he liked looking out.

I forgot to answer your question about sleeping. We did the stuffing baby into a down jacket. We don't co-sleep and I sleep pretty lightly, so we needed to be separate. I just made a quilt for our toddler based off of the one from Enlightened Equipment I wish I had made it sooner because it would have been perfect for a baby in the foot box doubled over.

http://enlightenedequipment.webs.com/protege.htm

The Ergo Carrier is my favourite up to about 30lbs of kid. Beyond that I use a framed carrier. I have a REI piggyback that works pretty well but I have never gone overnight with it as we got that after we had our second child.

With the Ergo on front and a day pack on back or when your kid gets bigger Ergo on the back and the other person is a pack mule. For 2 night trips you can get you can keep your pack weights reasonable.

For sleeping from 6 months on we used a grow bag and a small kids sleeping bag unziped put on top. The grow bag works well becaues if your baby squirms out from under the sleeping bag they are still covered.

This year with two kids I am limiting myself to 10 mile round trip day hikes as the older one is 32lbs plus a 5-7lb carrier is 40lbs of weight already. So car camping it is for family trips at least until they are 5 ish.

Who needs an Aarn 'bodypack' when you have a Baby Bjoern front carrier to balance out the weight? :) Only lasts for so long, though- around 8-12 months, My son had to move to be backpack carrier.

Disclaimer: We've only gone car camping with our son so far. I'm hoping to get him out for his first backpacking overnights this summer, though!

We have a Deuter Kid Comfort II that has served us well. It has 20L of capacity in addition to the kid. It works well for bigger kids, too. The carrier is designed more like a seat than a harness- My son is almost 3 and still fits in it just fine. Not that he's used it since last spring- lost interest last summer. It's comfortable, though it's obvious that the designers assumed that moms and/or small people would be the primary users- it is torso length adjustable, though I'd need another two inches past the max to be really comfortable, and the hip belt doesn't accommodate my big waist well. We've done ~500 miles of day hiking and urban walking in it between the two of us. We didn't use a stroller until the last few months.

For sleeping- when our son was really little (3-6 months), we brought one of those little travel bassinets along with blankets or my puffy down vest. I'm not sure if that's what they're called- it's got a zippered canopy that's half bug net and half sun shield. Too big and heavy to take backpacking, but worked well for us during summer car camping. As he got older, my wife just shared her sleeping bag with our son, positioned over both her self-inflating Thermarest and our son's Ridge Rest. Mostly car camping during fair weather, but they've been comfortable through some 30 degree F nights.