For most people, the 2009 movie “Away We Go,” has all but faded from memory, a wry little comedy that didn’t gain much traction at the box office and was all but ignored during the past awards season. But for some people one scene in that movie continues to echo at playgrounds, coffee shops and on city sidewalks. The characters Burt and Verona, played by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, arrive at the home of a friend and mother of young children, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and proudly present her with something she does not own: a stroller. The result is not the warm “Thank you” they expect. “I love my babies,” she exhorts before banishing the stroller from her house and flying into a rage. “Why would I want to push them away from me?” And that’s exactly the question some parents are asking themselves these days. For them, the last decade’s coveted Bugaboo or Maclaren stroller has been largely supplanted by baby carriers — chic wraps, minimalist pouches and soft structured packs. Hardly new, wraps and other types of baby carriers are traditional in many parts of the world, and Western versions have been used in North America and Europe for decades. But lately, “wearing” one’s baby has taken on a certain cachet, with celebrities like Brad Pitt and Keri Russell pictured in star-gazing magazines and blogs with their babies strapped to their bodies. In recent years, the number of carriers has expanded from a handful of styles to scores. “In 2004, there were barely any carriers,” said Bianca Fehn, an owner of Metro Minis. “You had to find these work-at-home moms who made them and go on a waiting list for weeks or even months to get a carrier.” Before opening the store, she started an Internet community called Slings in the City that held regular baby carrier demonstrations around town. But as carriers have grown more popular, their safety has been questioned, with particular alarm about bag-style slings, which have contributed to the suffocation deaths of several infants. On Tuesday, Inez M. Tenenbaum, the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, announced a forthcoming warning about slings, saying that “we know now the hazard scenarios for very small babies” carried in them.

Original Source of Strollers Take a Backseat to Slings Despite Safety Concerns