19/04/2026
🌷 Mamas and Papas kudo carrier review🌷
So whilst in Belfast yesterday I nipped into Mamas and Papas to try on the new to the market Kudo.
This review will cover the carrier itself and I’ll write one at a later point to cover my experience of trying it in the shop with assistance from staff. As always all views are my own based on my experience.
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The carrier was hung up on a chunky wooden hanger, available in three lovely colours. I choose the sage green one to try on. The reason for the wooden hangers is that the carrier is so heavy to actually broke the standard hangers. My first impression was- lovely colours, super soft by my gosh it is heavy and bukly. It weights in at nearly 1.3kg that is a whopping weight for a carrier, almost a kilo heavier than some of the other carriers I have tried.
It is 100% polyester which is super duper soft and so lovely and snuggly. However I am not a fan of man made fabrics against my babies skin. I also got very hot whilst wearing it but that could of been down to the bulk of the carrier.
I had plenty of room on the waist bad which was great to see from a high street brand, the lumbar support was lovely and soft and moulded wonderfully to my back. So definitely plus points there from me.
I’m not going to lie- the carrier was down right confusing. It had three different types of closing (buckles) plus the new “innovative” adjustment for the back strap. I don’t believe it had a safety elastic on the waistband either which is something I always like to see. I would also add that the shoulder adjustment was pull backwards and it forwards as advertised. I suspect it had been rethreaded.
Upon putting the carrier on like a t-shirt i immediately felt the weight of it pulling on my shoulders it was very noticeable and to be honest a bit uncomfortable (worth noting I was out for the day and had taken pain relief so I do question what it would of felt like without the pain relief at play) due to putting the carrier on like that I was doing up the waistband behind my back and it was a struggle. More on that in my later review.
Once the carrier was on it was time to play with the new “innovative” back tightening jobby which they had called “positive align dial.” Whilst it is great to see innovation within the industry I’m not exactly blown away by this, adjusting a back strap is simple and often needs done once. Therefore I feel this is a bit of a gimmick. It also makes the back strap unable to move which for me makes this carrier uncomfortable. I over tightened the wee twisty button and it was agony. It really pulled on my shoulders and neck and was very painful. I have never had this with any other back strap, I feel the button adjustment takes away from the limit at which the strap stops adjusting. You can’t pull a back strap that tight by hand with the resistance you get when it’s tight but the button mechanism makes it possible. It may just be me but it’s something to watch out for.
The shoulder straps had a little bit of adjustment left when I tried it on myself (more on that in the follow up review on my experience) but I struggled to get the buckles done up and un done due to several factors.
The head flap, is frankly a useless addition to the carrier and if it was removable I’d be removing it. As nothing should come up past babies lower ear it’s not needed for a young baby, it also leans away from you slightly so offers no support for any carryee. If operating a front carry it needs folded down, so again pointless.
According to the jargon the kudo has “a particle-filtering, pull-out privacy hood to cover baby’s head, minimising exposure to sun, dust, fuel emissions and viruses.” This is attached by fiddly little fabric loops that are very close to the panel on the shoulder straps, it was difficult to locate them and get the hood secured. Again I’m not a fan of hoods full stop but this one is designed to cover babies head which we know safety wise is a no no. Again I feel this is a gimmick full of buzz words and playing on fear of viruses after Covid, a bit of a low blow. New mums are vulnerable and will do anything to protect their precious babies so this massive marketing point may well sway them when reality is the hood of being used to cover baby is unsafe and putting baby at a greater risk.
Having a look online at the M&P website the page for the carrier shows less than ideal fitting, dipping waistbands, panels coming up past a safe height and a shot of a forward facing baby who’s chin doesn’t look to be clearing the panel putting bay at risk of positional asphyxiation. The website also starts than the pelvic support is perfect for post c-section. Interestingly my first thought when putting on this carrier was that it was very heavy and less that ideal for a parent who experienced a c-section or other form of abdominal surgery.
Instructions also aren’t available online that I can see which is an issue. It would have been interesting to have a look at those. I do know that they had input from a chiropractor in designing the kudo but I am curious as to weather any trained babywearing experts were consulted with b
Another consideration for this carrier is the number of adjustments. I am large, my older kids and husband are not. There would be a lot of adjusting going on if we were to swap who was using the carrier, it also takes significantly more time to put on and adjust than other carriers available. I also question what would happen if the adjustment dial for the back strap broke, is it well built to last several kids and how easy it it to fix. Also could a child being carried play with this and adjust your settings? The carrier is marketed as up to 36 months, I know my little man could have sussed it out and if he over tightened it would cause pain as previously experienced. Just random thoughts.
As mentioned it is before it’s bulky not a throw in the pram basket or changing bag type of carrier which for many I suspect will be an issue. These days parents are after smaller compact options that are quick and easy.
The fact you can only front carry with thinking is a massive draw back for me. I like my options thank you very much and a back carry should be available as standard with a carrier in my humble opinion. I don’t know many parents who use a sling on the front at the 36 month that carrier is aimed at lasting to, at least not all the time, the odd front carry maybe.
My wee man is very small for his age and I wouldn’t be wanting to try him in this carrier for my own comfort level.
The carrier has an RRP of £149 which I’ll be honest I wouldn’t be willing to pay for it, if you could back carry easily in it then yes but the design prohibits that.
All in all in my opinion, it’s a nice soft carrier. I can see its attraction being sold on the high street with excellent marketing, but it’s heavy, clunky, awkward and full of gimmicks and buzz words. That said I do know that with all carriers there are some that it will work for.
If you want to try a one of these on you’ll have to head to your nearest mamas and papas or find a sling library that has one (tag yourselves below guys if that’s you) as I doubt I’ll be adding it to my library any time soon.
Check out the comments for fit video
