To purchase a buggy that doesn’t parent face

There are tonnes of all-terrain buggies that aren't Thule. It's not "this all-terrain running buggy or an urban buggy with some off road capabilities", is it?

How have you arrived at these two, quite different options? Not that it matters as you seem to have come to a decision, but you'll generally get better advice of you can explain your needs and thought process.

Oh and don’t compromise on a car seat jf you are looking at those ‘travel systems’ bearing in mind thst babies should not be in car seats unless travelling in a car; it’s a bad position for them to spend too long in - they need space to move, and have their head flat.

Definitely see if you can look at it, as I really liked it online but in the shop it looked so bulky with the carry cot added on; and the whole thing felt very heavy; and didnt fold up that small. We Have a Mountain Buggy Swift it’s pretty light and compact for an outdoorsy type buggy. I ended up using the carrier mostly for the first few months anyway; I’d really recommend researching those to, our Ergobaby has been great and you can get decent ones on Vinted. Mine hated parent facing once she was a few months old anyway.

In your situation I'd prioritise the all terrain aspect and not worry too much about the other stuff. If you find you need or want a parent facing one you can get one later. Second hand is fine, and you'll know what you want more after actually having the baby.

IME the proper all terrain ones from manufacturers based in outdoorsy countries like Sweden or Germany tend to have big carrycots that you can use for ages. Here in Germany carrycots often have an openable section at the front like a plastic or mesh window, so once the baby is about 6 months old you can open this up and put them on their front in the buggy to look out. It's like tummy time every time they're in the buggy! German midwives are quite obsessed with not sitting the baby up until they can sit up by themselves unaided and I think that's also a recommendation which is present in much of Northern Europe.

One which was quite good that I liked was TFK Mono, which has a reversible seat for younger children which could be converted fully into a carrycot, and then a seat for older children you bought separately which was much bigger but didn't reverse.

We live semi-rural and looked at the Thule and the the Mountain buggy but got the Uppababy Vista V2 in the end, which is definitely not as all-terrain as the others, but can handle gravel, woodland, footpaths etc quite well. We are not runners but wanted the option to take it on dog walks.

It can be parent facing or world facing, and I regularly switch my 15m around in it depending on his mood, or if I'm trying to get him to nap etc. I would recommend it, but it's definitely not a running buggy, and probably quite expensive for a town buggy if you're looking to get 2. But just my 2p worth!

Back in the dark ages DS had a pushchair that could face either way. Once he could sit up he developed an alarming habit of leaning forward and lurching round so he could see where he was going, which wasn’t the safest option in a crowded place or a narrow path, so I flipped the seat to face forward thereafter.

Didn’t stop him developing language and social skills… 🙄

dd1 screamed facing me but was fine as soon as I turned it around, I never bothered having it parent facing for dd2. Get the pushchair that suits your lifestyle eg fits in your car if applicable, can be folded if applicable, think about rough terrain, running, public transport, but don’t worry about being reversible

I think you probably have a similar lifestyle to me, OP, in that I live in a village surrounded by fields, and rarely walk with my babies in the city. I also like to run, though don't usually do so with DC2 (DC1 would only nap in motion, so it was a great time to squeeze some exercise in, DC2 only naps in the cot). So I would ignore posters saying 'you won't be doing rough terrain walks' - most buggy wheels are shit on gravel, mud, sand and snow, and you already know you need multi terrain for where you live. In my village, the pavements are also a bit shit, and we found the running buggy with its huge wheels much easier for getting on and off kerbs, with minimal bumping for the baby. In fact, taking c-section recovery into account, that was one of the main things that made us switch to the running buggy as our main pram.

PP who says the Thule is very big and (esp) long is right though. If money had been no object, and based on our experience with DC1, I'd still have chosen it for DC2. But it would be hard to take into eg a small cafe, or fit through a kissing gate. You may still end up getting more than one, possibly the Thule and something more compact, in which case I recommend the Mountain Buggy Swift.

But you have absolutely no idea if the person on their phone pushing a buggy is a "phone addict". You've no idea about the rest of a person's interaction throughout the day with their child.

Whether we like it or not, most moden life is conducted through a phone. Emails, speaking to friends and family, banking, paying bills. Sometimes you have to get these done while in the presence of your child. Sometimes parents absolutely exhaust themselves to this modern idea that we have to be perfect parents and narrating and entertaining our children 24/7 a day that maybe a five minute scroll is what they need to stay sane.

I would get both or one with the option to do both. Realistically, you will not be doing rough terrain walks or jogging with a tiny baby with no head support, so that’s going to be 6 months out anyway.

We had a ‘town’ pushchair that parent faced and an all terrain running buggy for everything else. In the early months, maybe til 7-9 months, we used a carrier or sling for walks anyway. I would prioritise what you need for now and change/upgrade as baby grows.

Rubbish !!
phone addiction has majorly affected how parents and children interact and how kids develop -
the phone helps the parent’s mental health is a poor excuse and sounds like the addict saying about the bottle “but it helps me cope”

I vote for reversible handles. Dd would love to face outward but if she got tired or overwhelmed on a long day out, facing Mummy and seeing only me was a comfort to her poor little brain and relaxed her.

It is very hard making decisions at this point because the little bugger isn’t here to tell you it’s likes and dislikes. You only find out after you have spent good money in the good faith you have done the right thing …

Personally I wouldn't have wanted one that didn't parent-face. It's not just the ability to easily chat and play with them, and point things out to them as you go, though that is lovely too - it was the small practical details like being able to see when their hat has slipped right down over their eyes and needs adjusting, or when they've successfully pulled a mitten off and are about to drop it under the wheels.

As an aside, I've never understood why people talk about the baby wanting to see the world as opposed to only seeing your face. It's like sitting backwards on a train - they still get a perfectly good view of what's going on around them and are able to have their curiosity satisfied, even if they are sitting backwards. Ime it's not sitting parent-facing that annoys most babies, it's that tricky period around 4-6 months or so when it's ideally better for them to lie flat still but they hate it and want to see out/be close to you. We resorted to slings for that stage as much as possible!

Parent-facing in the buggy is far, far better for children than world facing. It encourages conversation as you can both hear and see each other and you can share interests (e.g pointing). My 2yr old is in a world facing stroller now because it's so much lighter to push up and down hills but we both get frustrated when he's trying to tell me something and I have to stop and walk around to understand him.

There's so suggestion that babies are exposed to less pollution when parent facing (they tend to sit higher up and are not facing directly into car exhausts) and that stress levels are lower (based on indicators like being more likely to fall asleep).

I don't know why you'd base your decision around the running element when you don't even know if you want to take the buggy with you.

by 8 months only potato babies aren't desperate to see what's happening

@Paaseitjes unneccessarily rude and dumb comment. One of my children didn’t like forward facing and certainly wasn’t a “potato baby”. A baby preferring to see their parent (while also being able to see what’s happening) has no bearing on their intelligence or personality.

I forgot to add, both the yoyo & thule have extra maxi cosi/cybex car seat adaptors, so you can use the same car seat with both if you need a travel system. The adaptors are extortionate though!

It's great to have the parent facing option if you can. I'd only go for one that isn't parent facing if you have absolutely no other option i.e. if the only suitable all terrain buggy faces out then go for that because it's what you need. If you can possibly get one that is all terrain AND parent faces (which I think you can) then go for that.

It really isn't out of the shop, sorry! See my previous post. I do love it though

I had muppet friends who tried to use a thule chariot as their only pram though, so everything's relative!

We have the urban glide. It's brilliant, I love it. It dealt with the snow wonderfully and it's so stable I once ran home 5km with a tripp trapp high chair from Facebook balanced on the handle bars!

However, do you have a lot of storage space? It barely folds and I wouldn't want to try to get it in the boot, especially muddy. It's a nightmare in shops. It may have a free wheel but it's long, wide and steers like a pig. Forget about buses. It can't do stiles or very rough or steep offroad, so we have a back pack for walking. We actually have 2 end member prams: the thule adventure pram and a yoyo that we use everyday. The yoyo is way better in shops, cars, trains, buses, houses and planes. Neither are rear facing but you really don't need it. By 8 months only potato babies aren't desperate to see what's happening. You can still see and talk to them easily.

I used the Nipper with my eldest and he was child facing from 4m as he outgrew the carrycot. With my 2nd I've ended up getting a 2nd hand stroller which does parent facing as baby wasn't enjoying world facing and found it too overwhelming. I'll go back to the Nipper when she's a bit bigger

Once they are out of the bassinet at about 6 months old and have reasonable head control, they are ready to be world-facing.

Having said that, I wasn't ready for my little one to be world-facing that young 😅I wanted to be able to see and check on him.

You might surprise yourself by how important that feels to you, or you might not mind. A friend from my NCT group was world-facing from 6 months, but her baby was quite advanced and already able to sit up independently by then!

Personally, I found it quite nice to have one that I could just detach and turn around when we felt ready.

You could always compromise by getting a cheap, second-hand one from FB marketplace that is parent-facing, and then get the one you really want for when they are a bit older.

We loved our parent facing pushchair with DC 2&3, wasn't a thing when we had DC1. I'm surprised so few here see it as a valuable thing.