Best travel system, not just paying for name.

[Rochdalian]

Hi, Myself and wife are soon to be parents and are looking around at the myriad of travel systems out there. I'm not swayed by brand names and resent paying for a name on top of the price for a quality product. I want something that is safe for my child and is practical. My wife wants something that is safe and looks good. Can anyone recommend a good quality travel system that will not break the bank, is practical, which also looks good?

[Ihateparties]

The joie chrome is lovely, the graco evo and mutsy evo also great.

[Rooners]

It can be hard to tell what is good quality and what is just branding iyswim.

I have had some shocking pushchairs that were at the cheaper end of the market, but also some that were meant to be astonishingly expensive, and were reduced to very cheap, and also have not been that great.

If I were you I'd look at some Bebecar stuff - try Winstanleys prams, they have a lot in their sale section for around £200 and the RRP is about £600. Not fashionable but nicely made - for the money anyway they are pretty nice.

[Tiggywunkle]

Baby Jogger Versa, Mutsy Evo, Graco Evo, iCandy Cherry, MyChld Floe, Kiddy Click 'n Move, Babystyle Oyster / Gem.

To be honest, you can get an expensive pushchair which is made by a good company and you may just get one which for whatever reason develops a fault, or you could buy a really cheap pushchair and it could be great. You really dont know - buy new, with a warranty from a reputable shop and hopefully you wont go wrong.

[Rochdalian]

thank you for the replies..

[AmIGoingMad]

We had icandy apple with maxi cosi carseat.

They weren't cheap but have been amazing and are now serving dc2 very well too.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

You have to remember that it is bad for the baby's spine development to be in a car seat for very long so you need to keep this to an absolutely minimum, and for essential car journey mostly.

[K8eee]

Starlight is there any medical advice where this has been proven? Why would pushchair companies be happy to sell you a pushchair with just the chassis and the travel seat? I have been pushchair shopping today and at no point was I told its bad for the babies spine. I'm off to a baby and toddler exhibition at Bluewater Friday and shall bring this up with each company I come across.

Shall be watching this thread for some pushchair advice anyway. I have had a look at the Joie ones in mothercare and they have a HUGE saving at the moment I was very reluctant to spending a fair amount on a pushchair but since playing and trying them I am swaying towards the slightly higher end of the scale. 1. Because the plastic that is used o the cheaper ones doesn't look particular sturdy and that it could snap if dropped when getting out the car, and 2. The more expensive ones seems to have a better warranty and are easier to adapt with the different seats you can use.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

It's been 7 years since I read any medical advice but this is the first thing that came up in google:

www.babycentre.co.uk/x554834/is-it-safe-to-let-my-baby-sleep-in-his-car-seat

It was widely known by my NCT group at the time that car seats were a compromise for safety whilst driving, but that the position was bad for development and breathing so I think at that time there must have been a lot of advice about it.

If I have time I'll see if I can track down the sources.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

I'm fairly sure car seat manufacturers advise minimum amount of time in car seats and no longer than 2 hours in any one go.

I have found reference to two studies, though not certain of the source.

In 1995, a study was done on infants’ oxygenation levels in their car seats. Normal oxygenation levels – that is, the amount of oxygen circulating in the blood stream attached to red blood cells – range between 97-99% in a healthy term infant in optimal positioning. Any oxygenation level below about 90% is considered “hypoxia” – the baby is not receiving enough oxygen, and brain damage can result if that level is sustained. Healthy, full-term newborns placed in correctly positioned car seats had oxygen levels that went as low as 83.7%.

While not all infants’ oxygenation levels reached such depths, there was a consistent finding that the longer the baby spent in the car seat, the lower their oxygen levels would go, until the baby was removed from the seat.

The study was repeated in 2005, with the same results. The conclusion in both studies was that babies should spend the least amount of time possible in a car seat, and they recommended that car trips with new babies be kept to an hour or less, and that infant car seats be used only in the car, and not beyond that.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

Okay some published research:

pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/108/3/647.abstract

pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/124/3/e396.abstract

pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/96/2/288.abstract

[StarlightMcKenzie]

Though they are mainly about breathing and risk of SIDS.

I'll search for spine ones as well if I get the time.

[K8eee]

The only time I will use a car seat is for transporting my child about in the car and pushchair. I can understand that it isn't healthy to leave them in it all day to sleep whilst they're little

[Tiggywunkle]

Just to add to the OP. Look at the Britax Affinity too.

[christilass]

Op .. i have a jane pram that has a lie flat transporter which it worth its weight in gold ... have a look at it :-)