pram, buggy or travel system - confused 1st time dad

[iamthedaddy]

so my beautiful wife [add brownie points] has decided on an Obaby travel system - buggy with a car seat that clips on .. but I am a man confused - for a newborn don't we need a pram as well as the buggy or have i just spent too much time watching old movies with the big wheeled prams and we leave junior (sex unknown) in the clipped on car seat until big enough to face forwards?

p.s. are dads even allowed on here

[aswellasyou]

Is it an Obaby Zezu? If it is, it has the carrycot built in and the Dotty is so pretty! You can just use a car seat on a pushchair from newborn but it's better for them to be in a pram lying completely flat. Car seats are only supposed to be used for 1-2 hours maximum at a time. Having said that, loads of people do it.

[iamthedaddy]

its the obaby monty

[aswellasyou]

Well you can actually use the monty from birth as the seat lies flat. You just can't see the baby as they're facing the other way. Has your wife done much research on pushchairs. It is cheap (have you seen the older black version at Tesco for £85 or at Bambino Direct for £130?) which I can see must be appealing but it wouldn't be most people's first choice I don't think. There are many people who think it is essential to be able to clip your car seat onto your pushchair. I'm not one of them.

[Guildfordnanny]

Lol I am the opposite. I wouldn't buy a pushchair if a car seat wouldn't fit on. It's essential for our lifestyle where we have to drive a lot of the time for appointments or running into a bank, shop, chemist etc and I don't want to disturb the baby before going straight back home. I had a C-Section plus back issues so it was far easier for me to open a pushchair and drop the car seat on that to carry my baby. Also he is now eleven months old and is over 20lbs and is heavy to carry. Several of my friends went and bought either a Quinny Zapp chassis or City Mini chassis just to walk their babies into playgroup or a cafe from the car. Think critically about where you live, what you do and whether your walk from the house, use the car to get to places etc.

[Guildfordnanny]

Just to add if I am going to be more than a couple of hours, or walk straight from the house, or am say shopping in town then I would swap / use the pushchair not the car seat.

[aswellasyou]

I do understand why people would want a pushchair with car seat attachment but I wouldn't have it as the only newborn option, as you say Guildford. I had every reason to need this option (C-section, major back issues, moving from car to car all the time including two 3 door cars) but I've never actually done it.
I would be looking at something more like the OBaby ZeZu which can face either way, has a built in pram and can have a car seat attached. It's a good £280 for the package though so may be out of your price range.

[DingleDangleDiva]

Hi and congratulatiosn on Junior :o

As others have said a travel system can be handy but it's not really supposed to be used as a rear facing option because it puts stress on babies windpipe when they can't hold their necks up and it's also bad for their backs which have to straighten out after birth so really they should be lying flat.

Lots of people buy a travel system and just use the seat when needed which is fine and also there is nothing wrong with having baby lying flat in a nommral pushchair facing away from you. It's not ideal but it's better than a car seat and most pushchairs have a window to look onto baby anyway.

May I ask what type of budget you have? I only ask because the Obaby is £85 at Tesco Direct but it does not have good reviews so maybe spending a little more or getting something seperate would be an option.

Also please be sure that you are buying a car seat that will fit in the car you will use most rather than the [ram as it can be unsafe if it does'nt.