Embodiments disclosed herein provide hip seat devices and systems for carrying a child in a position that is ergonomically beneficial for the child and comfortable for the wearer. A hip seat device may comprise a seating platform attached to a wearer engagement surface. The wearer engagement surface is held against the body of a wearer, such as by a waist belt encircling the wearer. The seating platform has a bucket shape for promoting a child seated thereon to assume an ergonomic spread-squat position (“M” position). The bucket shape may have the additional benefit of bringing the child closer to the wearer, reducing the moment on the carrier and thus the resulting force on the wearer.