Erin Lanais Designs - buckle ONBU/waistless carrier

Erin Lanais (http://erinlanais.com.au/)

 is two clever Aussie mums who have combined their skill sets to bring custom carriers to the world! Krystal and Nadine have both worked in the baby wearing world before and bring their experience as textile artists and baby wearing parents to bear on their carrier construction. 

The sent me one of their Erin Lanais waistless carriers - basically, a buckle onbu which functions like a backpack - to try out and I have been very impressed with their take on the simple panel carrier. Buckle onbus are a panel with two adjustable shoulder straps and a chest safety buckle. They're suitable for children who are at minimum sitting independently and care should be taken that they're appropriately sized to the child - which is why these lovely onbus come in a standard and toddler size.

Chest strap is on adjustable sliders - it cinches to a minimum 13cms and extends to 29cms. Here I have it at about 20 cms wide, sitting squarely in an "H" shape. 

I love and adore the flat padding in these straps - not overwhelming, sleek enough to fit under a jacket and rolls up tiny. 

Excuse my underarm, but you can see a nice amount of leg padding here too. 

Let's talk seat width: Audrey has just turned four and is pretty leggy. With a panel width of 42 cms in the toddler size (the standard is 32 cms) she is very well supported and made no complaints. The seat angled her thighs upward to my core and I found her 18 kgs totally manageable. The toddler size is a 56cm-high panel, (standard is 50cms) which will give you a back panel height of 43-48 cms depending on how tight you tighten the straps and bring the seat up between you. The standard will give you around 40-45 cms, and was a good fit for my 9kg-ish demo doll. 

Onbus seem to have a limited adjustability, but they're fantastically simple and alter very quickly and easily between wearers, helped along here with the addition of perfect fit adjusters at the top of the body panel. 

I've been really impressed by the construction and attention to detail in these Erin Lanais carriers: nice design in strap tapers, finishing on adjusters and elastic safeties on the strap buckles. 

Apparently they're just as comfy for the child as the adult carrying, and Nadine and Krystal have the aesthetic side covered too - you can browse their latest work at http://erinlanais.com.au/build/catalogue and find your perfect match ;)