Hip-Healthy Without the Logo: Why hope&plum Baby Carriers Aren’t IHDI Certified (and Why It Doesn’t Matter)

hope&plum designs all its baby carriers with you and your baby’s comfort and safety in mind. For this reason, we only make hip-healthy baby carriers even though the IHDI certification process has been shut down. Read on for more information about hip health and baby carriers.

The short answer? Technically no carrier is certified hip-healthy by the IHDI. But let's get into some history first.

The International Hip Dysplasia Institute or IHDI is a nonprofit organization founded by a mother whose son was diagnosed with hip dysplasia (also called developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH)). Left feeling dissatisfied with the amount of resources and information about this condition and interventions, she wanted to make DDH diagnoses easier for other families. The IHDI states that its mission is to ”reduce the physical, social, and economic burden for children and adults affected by neonatal hip instability and developmental dysplasia of the hip.” At some point since its establishment in 2008, the IHDI began certifying baby carriers and baby carrier brands as being hip-healthy. They also put out guidance, since taken down, that claimed that baby carriers that don’t support the spread-squat position should be considered a potential risk for abnormal hip development. This guidance along with some alarming infographics led to fear-mongering in the babywearing world against narrow-base carriers. In the recent past, IHDI has backpedaled on their certification process, acknowledged they don't perform any safety testing, and taken down any definitive stances for or against specific baby carriers or baby carrier styles. 

Now that the IHDI no longer offers certifications at all, hope&plum baby carriers cannot be certified hip-healthy. In fact, no carriers can be certified hip-healthy. This certification no longer exists. But we can say that every hope&plum carrier is designed to achieve the M-position and spread-squat seat that pediatric hip health experts and the IHDI recommend. As for the IHDI’s new corporate partnership program (more on that later), we have chosen not to participate. We do not believe a paid listing is equivalent to product testing, and we do not think caregivers should have to wonder whether a pricey logo means a product was actually evaluated.

Today all the IHDI logo means is that a company has paid to put it on their marketing materials.

After running a certification process for about a decade, the IHDI paused this process. This means that at least since 2023 newer carriers and brands were prevented from earning their hip-healthy certification while older models and brands held onto their previous IHDI certification. A brand could have some of its carriers certified, but could not claim that same certification on other carriers even if they achieved the same spread-squat, M-position. This left consumers confused. 

Today, the IHDI states that it is not an accrediting body and admit that they do not and have never performed their own safety testing. They maintain that baby carriers can neither cause nor prevent hip dysplasia (Baby Carriers & Related Products - International Hip Dysplasia Institute, 2025). Instead, they offer hip-healthy recommendations and guidance, supported by the research cited below that compare a baby’s positioning in wide-base carriers to that in the Pavlik harness. They also allow corporate partnerships with baby carrier brands and acknowledge that these brands are committed to their organization’s mission. 

The IHDI is not so quick to reveal that the original certification process was pay-to-play: it included a fee, but no safety testing, basically allowing companies to pay to be certified as hip-healthy. In similar fashion, their current corporate partnerships are also paid sponsorships ranging from $25,000 to $500,000 in contributions over five years. Once a company pays, they can then be featured on the IHDI’s website and can use the IHDI logo in places like their website, marketing, and packaging materials (Corporate Partnership - International Hip Dysplasia Institute, 2025). Since many people in the babywearing world still identify the IHDI as an accrediting body, this logo usage misleads consumers to believe that carriers with the IHDI logo on their packaging are certified as hip-healthy.

The only reason hope&plum carriers aren't IHDI certified is that no carrier is IHDI certified. Now that the IHDI has stated that it’s not an accrediting body and that it does not and has never performed safety testing, they have also removed all information from their website about carriers that they previously certified as hip-healthy. This includes hope&plum’s ring sling. In 2018, when ring slings were the only carriers we made, we paid the IHDI’s fee and sent in the required photos for review. We knew that we made a quality product that would support safe and comfortable positioning, and we wanted our customers to feel confident purchasing our ring slings. 

When we came out with our baby wrap, we reflected on the certification process and realized that, although our fabrics set us apart from other baby wraps on the market, our basic design and structure was not fundamentally different than other wraps, which are all modeled after traditional fabric carriers that have been holding babies for thousands of years. It was the same with the ring slings. Our fabrics set us apart, but the basic functionality of our ring slings were the same as other brands and as traditional fabric carriers like rebozos that have been around for thousands of years. We realized the problem inherent with IHDI's certification process: the only difference between a ring sling or wrap that was certified and one that wasn't was that one company paid for the certification and the other did not. The actual hip-healthy form and functionality of these traditionally-designed carriers were all the same. Why all of a sudden should we all have to pay this organization to tell us what we already know? We elected not to apply for our wraps. 

Then, when we came out with the Baby Lark in 2023, the IHDI had paused their certification program. We finally had a product that we had designed. This was truly different from other carriers on the market. This was the type of carrier that should go through a hip-healthy certification process. But that door was closed to us. We were transparent about this and how the Lark supported the M-position recommended by the IHDI even if it didn’t carry the certification that was literally impossible to get. 

Yes! All hope&plum baby carriers are hip-healthy. They are adjustable or fully customizable to support your baby’s legs in a spread-squat, M-position. Our newborn carriers are designed to fit infants from knee pit to knee pit, providing the most support possible in their early days. The rest of our carriers are also designed with your child's development and your comfort in mind.

Hip health is important because it affects gross motor skills like walking, running, jumping, dancing, and basically any movement that involves the legs. “Hip dysplasia is a condition in which a child's upper thighbone is dislocated from the hip socket. It can be present at birth or develop during a child's first year of life” (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2026). Babies in the US are screened for DDH at birth and at subsequent well-baby visits. If DDH is detected, babies can receive interventions to correct any issues, lowering the risk of further hip difficulties into childhood and beyond. Like many interventions, the earlier you can start correcting a problem, the better the outcome. One popular intervention for DDH is the Pavlik harness, a system of straps that resemble suspenders that keep a baby’s hips flexed to about 90°. “Because the Pavlik harness promotes healthy hip development, we consider this position to be ‘hip healthy’” (Siddicky et al., 2023).

Baby carriers are important when considering hip health because many baby carriers keep an infant’s hips and legs in a fixed position. Our educator and OT Jordan Morillo states baby carriers can’t cause hip dysplasia. “But if your infant has any of the risk factors for hip dysplasia, it's incredibly important to achieve that deep M-seat with support through the pelvis to the knees and… [avoid] positioning babies with knees below their bottoms. The reason we want that deep seat is to make the top of their femur interact with the hip joint at a deep angle, better forming the hip socket and lessening the chance of shallow hip sockets or dislocations.” According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (2026), “Hip dysplasia is rare and in spite of careful screening during regular well-child exams, a number of children with hip dysplasia are not diagnosed until after they are 1 year old.” Because of this, it’s important when babywearing infants to position them in the hip-healthy M-shape, remembering that … “the only opportunity to influence [hip development] is during early infancy when the hip is pliable and developing rapidly” (Norholt et al., 2022).

A baby’s leg positioning in a carrier that can achieve an M-shape (also known as wide-base carriers) is very similar to the desired hip flexion angle used in the Pavlik harness. “Our study demonstrates that wide-base baby carriers hold a baby’s hip in a position that is not significantly different than the Pavlik harness, meaning that babywearing in a wide-base carrier likely promotes healthy hip development” (Siddicky et al., 2023). Luckily, all of hope&plum’s carriers can achieve this hip-healthy M-positioning.