We’ve had our Manduca babycarrier since our little one was about 1 month old. It seemed more practical than the 5 meter long wrap that frankly I was struggling with a bit. In the first 1,5 years however we used the wrap a few times and hardly used the carrier. Where we lived it was so much more convenient to take him in the pram. But on the road things are very different and we’re so happy that we have our Manduca!
We weren’t even sure if we were going to bring it, since we had too much luggage and weight already. But on a whim we decided to take it anyway. Our first two months in Egypt we didn’t use it at all as we could borrow a pram with air tires, which was a lot more practical and less warm for all of us. But since being in Indonesia we’ve used the Manduca almost every day.
It allows us to take our little one on the motorbike. A very practical means of transportation when you’re traveling around Asia. I’m not sure if this is what they had in mind when they designed the carrier, but we love it 🙂 The locals think it’s very funny and keep waving and taking pictures of us when we’re driving around. Still it seems a lot more safe than the way they transport their kids, the little ones standing between their legs or sitting in front of the parents on the seat holding themselves steady with their feet on the dashboard. Now that’s a sight!
Anyway, back to the Manduca. I didn’t use it a lot when Jace was younger because I wanted to carry him on my front and my shoulders were too narrow to use the Manduca. It kept sliding off. Now that he’s older and heavier and I’m comfortable carrying him on my back I don’t have that problem anymore. He sits very comfortably and sometimes even falls asleep while in the carrier. We mainly use it on the motorbike, but also while hiking.
Our little one weighs over 12 kilo’s now, but with the Manduca I can easily carry him on my back. It’s made of very sturdy, but breathing, material, with clips that secure very well. I would actually prefer to have metal clips instead of plastic, to make them even more strong, but I guess that would bring both weight and price up. The €89.90 that we spend on it seemed a lot of money at the time, but considering that our son is now almost two years old, it’s actually pretty good value for money. And I’m sure we can sell it again when we’re done with it, it’s great quality.
For more info, check out Manduca’s official website
