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*

On April 22, 2008, the CPSC issued a recall (read the official CPSC recall) on the Beco Butterfly. (Now referred to as the Beco Butterfly I Model, all current products are the Beco Butterfly II) 

Unfortunately, moms still ask me about this recall and are still worried about their buckles :(  ANY Beco carrier being sold through a retailer RIGHT NOW has the upgraded safety buckles and you don’t need to worry about buying a carrier that was involved with the recall.  BUT, if you are buying a used Beco Butterfly I, you will need to ask the seller to make sure that it was either retrofitted in 2008 (sent back to Beco and had the buckles replaced) or made originally with the safety buckles since any Butterfly I manufactured after the recall were made automatically with the safety buckles.  And if you have any ?s, feel free to ask us!

This is the buckle from the original Beco Butterfly:

And here is the retrofitted buckle which is standard now on all Beco carriers produced:

Once again, all NEW Beco Butterfly carriers that are for sale now are the Beco Butterfly II Model and were not part of the CPSC Recall. The Beco Butterfly II has been in production for two years now, and still going strong! You can be confident your carrier is safe and the best way to carry your infant or toddler!