Twin prams?

[NeverAShadowOfDoubt]

I'm 21 weeks pregnant with b/g twins and we have been trying to find a suitable pram. Ideally we think we would like a 3 in 1 travel system where two car seats fit on the pram chassis. Can anyone please recommend any? The only one we have found so far is the Bugaboo Donkey, which is rather expensive! Are there any slightly cheaper options I am missing? Do any of you parents of twins use separate pram/car seat/pushchair combination? If so, which have you found to be best? We are first time parents so welcome any ideas, advice or suggestions! Thank you.

[Mol1628]

I would say the donkey is the best bet. Expensive but you'll regret buying a cheaper one. And they have good resale value.

[Joinourclub]

I found that I used my car seat on the chassis a lot less than I thought I would. I didn't really use the car during the week, o walked everywhere. And the car seat had no raincover or footmuff or sun shade. And although they look all lovely and snug in their arsenals it isn't good for their backs to be I there too long. So I don't think that's the most important criteria.

[Joinourclub]

Arsenals? Car seats

[Artandco]

Mountain buggy duet

[NeverAShadowOfDoubt]

Thank you for your helpful replies! join that's an interesting point about the car seats on pram not having footmuff or rain cover or sunshade, we hadn't thought of that. We will be out in the car regularly as one twin is going to need hospital treatment weekly for quite a while and the hospital isnt within walking distance (25 min car ride each way) so thats why we wondered if the car seat compatible travel system would be best as we will normally have to take both babies. But perhaps not then. Would you go for separate car seats then and take your pram as well?

[GlitteryFluff]

I didn't have twins, but I loved the car seat that would go on the pram. Made life so much easier but I didn't keep him in there for longer than I should have. Mainly if he fell asleep in the car, I could just whip the seat out and not disturb him.
A friend had a DS who couldn't be transferred from car to home whilst asleep. He'd wake up and be grumpy for ages. So she'd sit in the car til he woke because her car seat didn't come out of car. So wether he'd sleep for 5 mins or an hour she'd sit and wait in the car.
I really liked having it as an option.
No footmuff didn't matter, just used a blanket. You can buy rain covers separately, I bought a universal one for £10. Our car seat had a hood for sun protection.

[NeverAShadowOfDoubt]

Aaaah thanks Glittery (love your name by the way! ,) that's helpful to know too. Crikey, it's a minefield isn't it!! That was our initial thinking about being able to transfer them both if sleeping without waking them up from the car to the pram and vice versa. Hmmmmmmmmm, decisions decisions. What brand car seat fitted on your pram, if you dont mind me asking? Do they have to be a certain one or do you get a choice?

[Artandco]

TBH I wouldn't take the car seats into hospitals. What I suggest is looking at extended rear facing car seats, they stay in car but last newborn -4/5 years, saves buying new car seats every 2 years. Such as cybex sirona

I would be tempted to use just slings at hospital if possible, or look at getting a small single as well so you can sling one and one in pram. That way you can easily get into small lifts or consult rooms at hospitals and not have to park huge pram all the time.

The mountain buggy duet is good though as only the same width as a single, and main seats can be used from birth so pram folded in one piece. The bugaboo donkey requires both the carrycots to be taken off seperatly before you can fold pram.

[NeverAShadowOfDoubt]

Thanks Art. Can you use slings from newborn? That might be a good option actually, especially for the regular hospital visits like you say. Out of the car seats and one straight into sling and the other into the pram The width of double prams is a concern I had been thinking about actually. They do look huge!

We are first time parents so very grateful for everyone's suggestions, opinions and advice. Thank you.

[Artandco]

Yes slings can be used from newborn. Don't get babybjorn type

A soft structures sling like boba 4g can be used from birth until toddlers

If you look online you should find a sling group near maybe you can go and try various ones on and see what you like

[MyMrKnightley]

You can get a footmuff for the maxi-cosi car seats and they fit onto bugaboo. I haven't bought footmuff or car seat adapter for my soon to be dc1 because I live in the middle of nowhere so will have to transfer baby when we get anywhere to follow guidelines.

Really don't think single pram and twins would work long term, what happens if they're both grumpy at the same time which one do you cuddle in sling and which one do you leave to scream in the pram? Friend has twins and between 18-24 months they have been going in opposite directions at the same time. I would want security of pram to walk anywhere near roads at that age, but maybe that's just me.

[Diddlydokey]

Baby jogger city select
Baby jogger city mini double

[mellysam]

Don't forget the bugaboo donkey can be converted into a single pushchair too, I have twins and sometimes take just one baby out with me and leave other at home with DH.
We also have baby bjorn carriers but they are supposed to be only used from 8lb. We are only just using ours now and twins are almost 6 weeks old we've had to wait for them to be big enough

[NeverAShadowOfDoubt]

Thank you all. We are going pram shopping today so will see all the options. Aww melly how much did your twins weigh?

[mellysam]

They were born at 38+2 and were 5lb and 5lb 7oz
Have fun at the shops, wishing you all the best

[Artandco]

Slings I like are:

Baby Ktan - good for indoor use as soft

Boba 4g - can be used from birth then onto back later. Adjusts for different parent sizes.

[NeverAShadowOfDoubt]

Aaaaah beautiful thank you again every one

[Tiggywunkle]

There's a lot of pushchairs where you can use 2 car seats on the chassis.
iCandy Peach Blossom; iCandy Apple2Pear; the new iCandy Orange will take 2 car seats although you probably don't have time to wait; the Donkey; Mountain Buggy Duet (both these two have low weight limits for car seat use - I think around 9kg so watch this! plus the Donkey with car seats is wider than a standard sized door); Babystyle Oyster Max; Babystyle Hybrid; ABC Zoom; Joolz Geo; Silvercross Wave; Mee-Go Du-o; Baby Jogger City Select.

If you think your twins could be preemies then do consider a lie flat car seat. This new research has been in the news this week:
www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2016/october/child-car-seats.html

You can also get special premature inserts to ensure a proper fit in car seats. Kiddy make one which adjusts as your baby grows.

[MrsSnow]

Not pram related but sling related, but check the weight suitability of a sling before you buy. Something like the ergo is only suitable from 7lbs up, ds was low birth weight so we bought a wrap sling until he finally reached the min weight of our chosen sling.

[CalleighDoodle]

I loved my baby jogger city select

[user1476799835]

I have the Peach and am currently expecting my second child, i love this pushchair and its also able to convert into a double. Very useful, as baby number two was not planned but i wont have to go and get a new pushchair now :)

[Redkite10a]

My friend with twins used the car seats she could take out of the car loads. If you go to playgroups etc, you usually can't take the pushchair into the room itself. With one baby you just hold it, with two she needed somewhere to put at least one down! She carried on using then for ages, as when they started crawling it meant she could contain them when needed. She has the Donkey and it has worked really well for her - although particularly with two car seats on it is really wide. It is lovely to push though.

We've just looked at double buggies as we'll have a 21 month ish age gap. The biggest issue we found is that the seats are smaller than on a single. putting my 21 month old in the Mountain Buggy Duet the seats are just too small for him (he's tall but skinny), so while I think it'd be great with two tinies I think you'd end up having to buy something bigger later . The Donkey was just about OK, the Baby jogger city mini double was better - but it's even wider and doesn't take car seats. Whatever you get will end up being some sort of compromise I'm afraid!

[Kaz18]

My twins are now 10 months old and we bought a cheap second hand icandy chassis for the car which we used just for their car seats. I then sold it on and bought a baby jogger city select once they were into the seats but the select can also take two car seats. We've got a baby jogger city mini gt as our main buggy which I love! We looked at the donkey but couldn't justify the cost just to be able to put car seats on it for such a short time.