One of the central concepts of "Attachment Parenting" is that one should "wear" your child whenever possible. My partner and I were committed to these principles and shopped earnestly for the best possible child carrier. I have been a big fan of Kelty products for years and I was originally drawn to the Kelty Koala for its looks, price, and seemingly infinite adjustability.
My partner is 5' 6" and I am 6 feet so we wanted a carrier that we both could be comfortable wearing and one that was easy to adjust to our different size frames. The Koala seemed to fit the bill. We practiced using it with baby sized stuffed animals and everything seemed to check out ok.
The reality of placing a child in it was another matter altogether. The Koala posed a series of problems when trying to get our son happily inside.
Problem #1) We had to put the carrier on the child, we couldn't simply put the child in the carrier. This may seem like a small point but when you have a screaming, wiggly baby the best thing to do is put them in the carrier and start walking all in one quick motion.
Problem #2) Uncomfortable fit, I could never keep the shoulder pads from pressing hard into the back of my neck, the more weight the baby gained, the worse it got. No amount of adjustment could balance the shoulder pad position with the hip belt placement.
Problem #3) Too many straps. The strap that connects the baby's shoulder area to the carrier is simply in the way. Our baby often screamed in agony when he accidentally rubbed it with his ear, or bumped with his eye. Small babies don't have enough neck strength to stay out of the way of this ill placed strap.
We returned the Koala carrier and bought a Baby Bjorn instead. The Baby Bjorn addresses all of the above problems. We simply put the Baby Bjorn on, place the baby in it, and we're on the way. We make minor adjustments while walking or putting the carrier on for the first time. All told, we can be out the door in under a minute.
I'm sure the Kelty Koala and Kangaroo are durable and well made but for us they simply were too uncomfortable and hard to adjust to recommend.
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