At last! At long last! Nobody was home the day my Beco arrived, so I had to ask someone else to pick it up for me the next day at Poslaju office. But all is well. I guess I saved abang Poslaju another trip too, my Baby Cubes from Fabulous Moms arrived as well, so I got 2 parcels in 1 day. Yeay! I'll blog about the 'Cubes later.
Since this is my first SSC (Soft Structured Carrier), I was surprised at how bulky it was. Maybe it's just Beco, after all this was supposed to be good for hiking. Not that I ever gone hiking in the past decade or so, but you never know. The second thing that hit me was how beautiful the Tyler print is in real life. It is exactly how it appeared online, so was definitely pleased. Oh erm, now I see why some people took an instant dislike for Beco. What am I supposed to do with all these buckles?
Time to pop in the instructional DVD that came with the Beco then.
Once the formal introductions were over and dealt with...
Hello, Beco. My name is Shareen. Please don't strangle me with all your buckles and straps. Please?
... Asyraf was fast asleep. Since it was almost the weekend, we postponed the grand ceremony till then.
The detachable infant seat is the trickiest, IMHO. Plus, it added a couple more buckles to the half dozen already on the Beco. We tried to put Asyraf without the infant seat, but we can only see 2 inches of his head above the neck/head support thingy. Baybe turned out to be better at assembling the Beco. Go figure.
Asyraf stopped crying after we strapped him in.
He was even all smiles after, playful as ever.
Being SSC virgins, we only tried Front Carry for now. There are basically 2 ways to do this. One, by laying the Beco on a flat surface, strapping the baby in, lift it to our body and
then put on the straps. Asyraf really hated this, or maybe it was because we were fiddling with the buckles so much he got agitated with the whole thing. A bit worried that he would fall out when lifting to our body, but turned out OK. The seond method, was more comfortable for us since we're already familiar with the apron style similar to using a Mei Tai. Again, fiddling with the buckles trying to strap Asyraf in. He cried. Ayah and Mama panicked. Once the buckles were all in place, though, he stopped crying and looked pretty comfortable in it.
Baybe said the Beco was very supportive and comfortable, he did not feel Asyraf's weight at all (he's around 6.5kg). I did not get to test the Beco at all so I can't verify this. We walked around The Mines for a a few hours, no problems. We did walk outside a bit from the parking in the building next door, it was about 5 to 10 minutes, but Asyraf didn't mind or notice the heat despite the bulk of the Beco. Baybe did not mention anything either. So I am assuming that it is not that hot to wear outdoors, for short a period of time that is. Will update more once we test it outdoors.
The straps. Le sigh.
The gorgeous Tyler print. Me like *thumbs up*
Oh, but the buckles! Perhaps it won't be so bad after we are able to use without the infant seat. It is possible to unbuckle the shoulder strap with one hand, but it is difficult. I had to help Baybe with it most of the times. The straps are also hard to adjust,not like in the instructional video. Maybe because ours was still new? The chest strap was fine. Nothing spectacular about the hood, or headrest as it is called in the video. The plus thing about the hood is that it can be conveniently stored in the waist belt when not in use, so you will not misplace it.
Waiting for our food at Nandos. Asyraf is teething again, 2 more on his upper front side.
All in all, I would give the Beco 3.5 out of 5 stars. I love it, but I wouldn't marry it. Turns out I'm more of a Mei Tai girl at heart... for now.
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