Are you already a fan of Beco Baby Carriers?  Have you already worn a Beco and loved it?  Do you already own a Beco and wonder how you got anything done before you had one?  Are you a new babywearer ready to fall in love with Beco’s newest baby carrier?  Beco’s new Gemini has us all in suspense as we wait for the release of the newest Beco carrier!  The launch date has been moved several times, but we are confident that the schedule changes are for the best, ensuring that we will be carrying our babies in the safest, most comfortable carrier available!  There are so many hoops for baby carrier manufacturers to jump through these days, and we are thankful to Beco for diligently going through the steps to provide a fabulous new baby carrier for us babywearers to enjoy!

The Beco Gemini is a throw back to the super popular Beco 4th Generation which was retired back in 2008.  The 4G has become hard to find these days so if you come across one, snap it up!  It was the first Soft Structured Carrier to showcase designer fabrics and take babywearing to a stylish level!  Now, Beco has redesigned their classic design of the 4th Generation and renamed it as the Gemini!  The differences between the 4th Generation and the Gemini are slight but important!  There is no longer a hood on the Gemini not the storage pocket of the 4G.  The Gemini has a headrest and  a convertible front panel, both which are customizable for your baby with a set of snaps.  Both carriers can cross their shoulder straps across the back for that PERFECT fit, and the Gemini can also convert to being a hip carrier or a front facing out carrier!   As usual, Beco promotes style and comfort without sacrificing any structural integrity of the baby carrier itself!

Taking babywearing to new levels of comfort is Beco’s claim to fame, with each of their carriers being more comfortable than the last!  Their previous new carrier was the Beco Butterfly II which introduced a whole new way of back carrying to the babywearing world!  Using an integrated insert, parents can now swing their babies up onto their backs by themselves without having to use any tricky techniques like the hip scoot or the Santa Toss!  The Butterfly features that Y panel that I find to be so comfortable and useful for nursing easily and discretely and for soaking up some of the baby sweat created by summertime babywearing!  A detachable hood and optional infant insert complete the Deluxe package of the Beco Butterfly II!

Can’t decide which Beco carrier is the right one for you and your baby?  You might choose based on these factors!

Worried about back carrying independently?  Beco Butterfly II

Want to face baby out or carry on your hip?  Beco Gemini

Looking for a basic carrier with a hood & a great sense of style?  Beco 4th Generation

Have a large baby or plan on wearing a larger child?  Beco Butterfly II - weight maximum is 45 pounds

Have a petite baby or plan on not using the carrier through toddlerhood?  Beco Gemini - weight maximum is 35 pounds

Want to cross the shoulder straps for extra support and comfort? Beco Gemini or 4th Generation

Want to babywear in comfort and love?  Any Beco Baby carrier will do the job!

*happy babywearing from PAXbaby*

While we all sit and wait for the Butterfly’s new little sister, the highly anticipated Gemini,  to arrive, I invite you to walk down my Beco memory lane with me…

This was Beco’s first BIG trade show in Las Vegas.  Of special interest are the discontinued Obi carriers on the wall, the VERY popular Joshua Butterfly I on the left, and the Avocado Bird on the right!  I love the tiny Echino Dove Mini Becos hanging up on the walls looking like little birds, and the bright color-blocked walls look fantastic!

Walk with me to 2006 when I bought my very first Beco. Back then, the world was a more simple place!  Want a Soft Structured Carrier?  There were really only 4 good options!  Organic versus non-organic?  Nope.  Infant insert, nope.  Integrated seat, foot stirrups, detachable umbrellas, or military grade parachutes?  Nope, nope, nope, hahaaaaa!!!!  These carriers were no muss, no fuss.  Until Beco Baby Carriers changed the world of babywearing and blew the other SSC brands out of the water!  I mean seriously, Beco’s 4th Generation carrier became so popular that a large corporate baby carrier company decided to mark their territory and pulled patent on the poor unsuspecting 4G.

This was my very first Beco ever!  It was the 4th Generation in the Spa print which Gabby had helped fit to Baby#4 and I earlier that day!  He was 3 months old, and I had deliberated over which carrier to buy since he was born.  He was a BIG baby, and that’s when I realized that I would need something more supportive that my ring slings which had worked great with my previous 3 babies!  He actually cried the first time I put him in my new Beco at the Beco Head Quarters, but he quickly learned to love being worn in a SSC, and Baby #4 is still happy to be worn even at 3 1/2 and close to 40 pounds!

I guess Gabby Caperon was no longer just any ol’ WAHM!  If such a large corporate baby carrier company was coming after her, she had earned her title as “superior baby carrier creator,”  but now, she needed a new plan!  With the remaining 4th Generations locked up (wouldn’t you just LOVE to get into THAT warehouse!) Gabby formulated a plan!  Her new Beco Baby Carrier would be so different that the former top dog in the baby carrier industry wouldn’t be able to come after her with their threats, and the babywearers would be forced to try it because it was so new, so different, so revolutionary!!!!

The infant insert was not technically a new concept.  Gabby had discussed the insert with her friend who designed the German Manduca baby carrier, but the Y harness was a new addition that babywearers had never experienced before.  Suddenly with the help of the integrated insert, moms didn’t need to learn to hip scoot, superman toss, or any of the other ridiculously named methods of getting your baby on your back that were part of every babywearers’ skill set.  Now,  you simply buckled baby in and popped on the Beco like a backpack! Anyone can do that!  Plus parents could remove the baby carrier from themselves and re-buckle it on someone else!  This was a fantastic new concept that rocked the babywearing world and made the Beco Butterfly a household name (in babywearing houses!)

The Beco Butterfly debuted with a bang, and a sizzle, due to a voluntary recall.  I visited Gabby’s shop in Southern California the week the carriers began flooding back in to have their new safety buckles added.  The shop was overflowing with packages, and in the middle of it all was the always calm, always smiling Gabby enthusiastically telling me about the upcoming design changes and fabric options!  Not letting a little thing like a massive recall get her down, Gabby had already figured out how to make the Butterfly even better! And so, out fluttered the Beco Butterfly II showing off its loveliness and featuring just a few fabulous upgrades that made the Butterfly II unique in a market now flooded with Soft Structured Carriers:  unparalled features, unequivocal beauty, one stop shopping for the babywearer who only wants/ needs 1 carrier, and that special fashion style that only Beco Baby Carriers possess!

I have no doubt that the Gemini will be just as lovely and just as sought after as the Beco Butterfly because with Gabby and her Beco Baby Carriers, there is only the Beco way to wear your baby - in style, in comfort, and in love!

*happy babywearing*

Just a little sigh and a quiet sob for the loss of one of favorite SSCs ever!  The Beco 4th Generation was easy to use, fabulously stylish, and quick on & off!  Just wanted to say, Beco 4G, we still miss you, but we are enjoying your new friend, the Beco Butterfly II!

The Beco Butterfly has so many wonderful details that make this SSC  the top of the line!  Removable hood for shade or to prevent noggin sagging with a sleepy baby!  Removable infant insert for wearing baby straight from the womb!  Integrated insert for easy peasy back carries and transferring baby to another wearer!  Comfortable Y panel absorbs the baby soup inevitably created by wearing a baby in warm weather!  Handy dandy stay put strap for wrapping up the Beco into a neat bundle.  And of course,  the sensational prints and organic styles have made the Butterfly a big hit with me!

From the desk of a very busy mommy!  THANK YOU to Robin K. for taking the time to provide such a detailed comparison!

“I purchased the Beco Butterfly II from Paxbaby.com after seeing how much Beco had improved the carrier since my 4th Generation Beco came out.  My 2nd daughter was born in March, & I was desperate to use a carrier/sling again especially since I have a 2 year old to keep up.  I tried several other slings I have including my 4th Generation and either it didn’t ‘feel right’ or my baby was just not big enough for it yet.  Even with the infant insert for the 4th Generation I felt my daughter wasn’t as safe b/c of her small size.  After receiving the Butterfly II I was amazed at the improvements!  It feels more comfortable which I didn’t think was possible, the back/chest clasp is now sewn on, the clasps have an extra safety feature, the infant insert is a great bonus as it didn’t come with the old version plus it actually raises the baby higher, and now you can switch the baby from front to back with the baby in the carrier.”

Beco Alice hard at work