catbirdbaby_mei_tai_ondineWeb site: CatBirdBaby.com

Price: $99

Weight: 8 to 35 lbs.

Comments: Catbird Baby manufactures one of our favorite front carriers, the Pikkolo, so we were excited to see they also make a meh dai (mei tai). Priced at $100,  and available in over ten fabric options, this is a great choice for parents who want carrier flexibility. You can use the Catbird meh dai (mei tai) in five positions including front inward facing froggy and front carry forward facing. Check their web site for great videos on all five positions.

Catbird Baby makes most of their carriers in Chicago (a few are made in China) and include other features like a padded headrest that folds down, padded shoulder straps for mom and designer fabrics. The tall front panel can be folded to accommodate infants, then unfolded as baby grows. Good news: the Catbird Meh Dai doesn’t require an infant insert.

For parents with toddlers who want to continue wearing their Catbird, you can buy a support belt ($25) to make it more comfortable. The belt is best for children heavier than 20 to 25 lbs. in the back carry mode.

Fans tells us the Catbird Baby meh dais are lightweight and easy to use. They also like the soft fabrics and the reasonable price, which leads us to give them our top rating.

FYI: Catbird Baby offers one of the best explanations of the change from mei tai to meh dai. Here it is:

Inspired by traditional Chinese baby carriers used on the back, pronounced Meh¹ Dai² in Cantonese (superscript numbers represent tones); bēidài in Mandarin. Mei tai is from an older Cantonese-English Romanization system. All transliterations are meant to communicate the same word, but use different romanizations to spell Chinese words in English, and of course many different Chinese dialects exist as well.

Rating A