I met Rebela this June at the babywearing mega-meet-up in Brno, both the carrier and the lady that stands behind this brand, Lucia Fialová. She is a real V.I.P. among Slovakian babywearers – she is a well known babywearing consultant and the founder of the biggest Slovakian FB group ‘Nosíme naše deti’ (i.e. We wear our children). According to what I read on her website, she used to wear her children mostly in wraps but at the end of her babywearing years her favourite type of a carrier was an onbuhimo (a carrier without a waist belt). According to Lucia, to put a baby in an onbuhimo on your shoulders is, compared to a regular carrier, like taking off a bra at the end of the day. 😉 And because she wanted something she would be able to put in her purse easily, she began to sew onbuhimos she designed herself. 

Another thing that you would not be able to find at the Rebela’s website is something I got to know in Brno from Mrs. Rebela herself. We talked about our mutual problem with most of onbuhimos having too long shoulder straps that cannot be shortened enough so that the baby is high enough in the carrier. So, she said, this was one of the impulses to create her own onbuhimo – that her kids were similarly small as my Emilka and could not see over her shoulder in most of the carriers on the market when worn on her back. I was excited about the Rebela onbuhimo back in Brno because Emilka was seated wonderfully high, so I was looking forward to longer testing very much. I hereby want to thank for this opportunity to the group Nosíme děti (i.e. We wear our children – the Czech one 😉 ).

The Baby size is recommended for children from 6 months to 1,5 to 2,5 years of age. I could agree with the 6 months in case the baby already sits in that age so you could wear him/her on you back in a carrier (philosophically, I am not really sure about buying an onbuhimo for the purpose of carrying a 6-months-old in front, but well, okay then…). The maximum recommended age is probably of an extra-small child – even in June, when Emilka was 13 months old, the Baby size was just enough for her, and during our testing this autumn, in her 17 months, it was already small as to the height and width too, even with her size of clothes of 74/80. For short walks, we could use it without problems, of course, but I cannot imagine to wear a 2,5-years-old in it…

The Maxi size is recommended for children from 1 year until they want to be worn – unfortunately, I could try it only in Brno, because I was not fast enough when signing up for its testing the Nosíme děti group. It fit Emilka much better even back then; however, I was not that happy about her position as to the height that much. But considering that children usually grow, I really have nothing to reproach about the bigger size, either.

The adjusting could not be easier – you just tighten the shoulder straps and that’s it. The position of the baby’s legs is fine and s/he is seated very high as I already mentioned above, because you can shorten the shoulder straps a lot – if you shorten them to maximum, even a very small child will see over your shoulder without problems, as you can see in our photos.

Rebela onbu is, however, intended only for very short walks – its most special feature is that it is super-space-saving. It is stored in teeny-weeny bag which is a true purse-friendly equipment. It is possible to pack the carrier in it thanks to the shoulder straps being (unfortunately?) very little padded. Thus, they are not really supportive. So, if you need an onbuhimo not only for the ˈcrisis managementˈ but for longer walks (for example, for carrying your older child in pregnancy when you cannot wear anything around your waist), I would not recommend Rebela as the first choice. However, its main advantage is, of course, being purse-portable – all thumbs up.

As far as the sewing and appearance go, I really like the carrier – the sewing is meticulous and of good quality and the Rischino wrap… I already wrote an article about my unexpected affection to its blue sibling Blue Starlight – the pink version is equally beautiful and I would like to meet it as a wrap in person, too. 😉

Résumé – a space-saving onbu for occasional carrying in which the child can be seated very high. For me, it is definitely one of the choices for the future for shorter trips with my toddler when I would have no space to spare for a wrap or a carrier. But I would definitely buy the Maxi size.