My favourite baby carriers and backpacks for family travel, adventuring and at-home use.

It’s no secret that travel is one my most fundamental spiritual, practical and lifestyle mainstays in life. I travel for business, and I travel for pleasure and more often than not, I travel for both. Since having a baby, not much has changed, but the main shift has been literally having a small human hanging off me at most times, as I move through the world. Because of this shift, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time sorting through ideas on what kind of baby carrying devices make sense for me, as a mother, an outdoors person and a traveller.

Below, are my top four carriers or backpacks that I find useful in different situations of motherhood and family travel, that I hope you’ll find helpful too.

Top Four Baby Carriers and Backpacks

1. Tula Explore Baby Carrier

   for around the house, city days, and close quarter travel. This carrier comes in all sorts of fun and trendy patterns and colours, and is good for tiny infant stage, to larger toddler stage. Now that my daughter is 21 months and super active, I use it for instances where I’d rather her not roam free (like cooking dinner - she watches and can take part in preparing the meal from over my shoulder, or for instance visiting a museum).

2. Deuter - Kid Comfort 3

   for hiking and other outdoorsy activities like fishing.This more substantial, and structured backpack is truly awesome for carrying my baby in situations where space isn’t too much of a consideration (think hiking in the great outdoors, or adventuring in a large boat). This item is super useful during family travel that involve activities outdoors and road trips, and it’s definitely ergonomically designed. I have a bad back, but the support from all angles makes it so I can carry Yale for long periods of time.

3. Matt and Nat fanny pack

   for hip support. This was a gem I originally bought solely for it’s trendy look and to carry my wallet and that’s about it. However, as Yale and I galavanted in NYC, and walked from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, it quickly became clear the Matt and Nat fanny is good for propping her up when she wanted out of her stroller. When you carry your baby on your hip, it takes a little bit of the weight from your hip and arm on to the fanny. So good!

4. Onnit Division Daypack

   as a combo diaper bag /carry on. Also a surprise! On our same trip to NYC, I wanted to condense the load because we were heading to Toronto directly from there and didn’t want to have to travel with a bunch of stuff. I shopped all over for a diaper bag that I thought would also be sufficient for my laptop but couldn’t find anything quite right. And then, I had a epiphany and remembered my partner had just ordered Onnit’s backpack and sure enough, it’s the perfect bag for both baby items AND work items. It has a padded slot for laptops but also super tight pockets for things like bottles and sippy cups, and a ton of pockets strategically placed so as to allow for a lot of storage without taking up much space. I truly love it and will take it on all our family travels going forward.