What is the Ergo Infant Insert Like?

I have the Infant Insert for my Ergo and because those with little babes or are buying an Ergo while pregnant are always curious if it is worth getting one, I thought I’d share my experience with it!

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to like it a whole lot as many people I had talked to that had used the first generation inserts didn’t like them. My understanding is in the older version, you put your baby in a cradle position. Ergobaby now only sells the heart-to-heart versions which is what I have. Heart-to-heart means that it is intended for use with baby in the front carry tummy-to-tummy optimal newborn/infant position.

To use the insert, you lay your baby in the insert, strap it across them and then put them on your chest in the insert. You then pull the Ergo up around the insert. The insert has a little padded cushion that your baby’s bottom or legs (if they like the froggy position) rests on. What I love about it is Jude can have his legs out and they are properly aligned for optimal hip/pelvis/spine position with his knees naturally bent. He is comfy, too with the padded edges of the insert around him. I like to unsnap the insert once he is on me since he’s not a tiny guy anymore at around 12.5 lbs but if he was a newborn still, I’d leave it snapped.

I have the Performance Insert, but Ergobaby also offers an organic insert and the original. What’s nice about the Performance Insert is the outside is mesh and it isn’t as bulky as the other offerings, yet still enough padding to keep a little baby snug and cozy. The mesh is breathable and the inside is a wicking fabric helping to keep you and babe cooler.

The insert has 3 different wearing options. First is the way I explained above. This is the way you would put your newborn (at least 7 lbs) in. The second is for larger babies that still need the head and neck support the outer shell offers. You simply take the removable pillow out and wrap the shell around your baby. The third option is for a smaller baby with good head and neck control that isn’t quite big enough to have his/her head in a good position in the Ergo. You can just use the removable pillow by taking it out of the shell and place it in the carrier for the baby to sit on.

For Jude, I really like using the whole thing together at this point. He does have good head and neck control but if he falls asleep, I like having the padding there for him to lay his head on.

For me, I’m really glad we have the insert so I recommend it. If you have another soft structured carrier that you aren’t able to put your smaller baby in, the Ergo insert even works for those most likely! I’ve tried it in another soft structured carrier and it worked perfectly!

Disclosure: I received no compensation for this post. Ergobaby provided me with a complimentary Performance Infant Insert but I was not required to write a review. All opinions are 100% my own. I only review products I believe are products my readers would benefit from. Amazon links are affiliate links.

5 Responses to "What is the Ergo Infant Insert Like?"

I looked around for an insert for Ailia, but after seeing how much they were, I decided we could live without it. For me, it just wasn’t worth the price for as short of a time as we would use it (although I suppose we could have recouped some of our costs by selling it). We started using our Ergo much more after she had head control.

[…] at 15 lbs so since my little Jude is under that at this point, we are using it right now with the Ergo Performance insert and that works beautifully with the Onya. Alternately, you could try rolling up a towel to put […]

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