Are these really suitable for newborns?

[oddsocks123]

Photos have hopefully attached, but are strollers from birth with no carrycot or cocoon really going to be suitable for a newborn? I want one pram from birth to done, so many prams have tiny seats so looking at these.
Thank you.

Those wheels are tiny - all I can think is they’d be a nightmare. In fairness we needed a double buggy and when we were looking shop staff kept asking if we wanted to go “off road” and I said no, that’s not really a factor. But what they meant was “do you want to use this buggy on bumpy pavements, use kerbs, up steps etc”

Tiny wheels like this would not really be ideal for a baby as they’d be so bumpy. We wanted one buggy start to finish too but it’s just not feasible - we got a baby jogger double travel system which is fine but weighs an absolute ton and was awful to steer. Once they were bigger it just wasn’t practical any more.

I wish I’d got a really small lightweight travel system second hand like the Oyster ones, and then a more robust, lightweight larger buggy that will last longer.

I had something very similar for my ds from newborn (although we are going back 8 years now). They say suitable from birth but are very different to your traditional pram system. I chose it because I was on a budget and because it folded up simply and easily to go in the back of my then tiny fiesta!

They do recline and you can strap baby in and as they get bigger you can get a foot muff and all the rest. This buggy saw me through from baby to toddler and I never needed another. Never had any issues at all with it.

Most babies 15 years ago went into a bog standard travel system- car seat that clipped to pushchair, only a carrycot for the parents lucky enough to afford them.

What a load of crap. Travel systems were the 'in' thing so lots of people used them however many were also really expensive, ridiculously unsuitable and loads of people still used traditional carrycot prams. Yes you could get those cheapie rickety ones from Argos but I don't recall many people using them. It was all giant Graco or Mamas and Papas tank like ones, or Bugaboo Frogs.
I can fully recall the assistants in Mamas and Papas and Mothercare trying to upsell me travel systems for DC2 when all I wanted was a proper lie flat pram.

No, absolutely not!

Buy a pram with a proper part for small babies. The seats for older ones should be big enough to last a while - it shouldn't be necessary to buy a second one, unless you want a smaller and simpler version later on.

Concerning car seats attached to strollers: It's not recommended to leave babies in seats like that longer than necessary, since the position isn't good for their backs.

If money is the reason for wanting to buy a simple stroller, go for second hand! I bought 2 (wasn't happy with the first one) for 1/5 or possibly even less of what they'd have cost new. And I re-sold the first one for the same price I bought it and will do that with the current one as well.

I'm confused by all the aghast people saying they are absolutely not suitable. If something is advertised as being suitable from birth then presumably there have been tests/research carried out on it to confirm this? So while it might not be to your personal taste there's nothing unsafe or unsuitable about it as such?

This always puzzled me. How come it's fine to have them not strapped in, in a carry cot?

We bought an expensive travel system and would have been fine with a pram like in the OP! Also - they're so much easier for getting in and out of the boot than something that has to be taken down into two parts etc.

Having said that...the carry cot was v useful for sleeping indoors!

Concerning car seats attached to strollers: It's not recommended to leave babies in seats like that longer than necessary, since the position isn't good for their backs.

There are quite a few lie-flat car seats now that remove that issue. They're well worth buying if you plan to be in the car a lot too, as they shouldn't be in car seats when tiny for very long at all. Ours was reasonably pricey but we've done several 3+ hour journeys and not had to worry about positioning, so definitely worth looking at if you plan to either drive a lot, or use it on a pram a lot (or a combo of both).

MariaVonBratt I think there's a lot of pram snobbery on MN. Absolutely nothing wrong with a lie flat, suitable from birth lightweight stroller. When you have spent £200+ on a pram people will of course want to justify that by saying it's better.

Those ones in the OP don't look right from newborn to me, but if they lie flat then there's nothing wrong with them. I just wouldn't personally use one so low to the ground and exposed. I would prefer to have a hood around the back like you get with a parent facing one, to keep the incoming air off the baby (which sounds a bit silly now I think about it, but it would bother me.) Of course you could always get a soft carrycot/cocoon thing from another brand and place it in there.

You can get a pushchair which doesn't need a carrycot, faces the parent, has a hood and does a proper lie flat. I think that's absolutely fine for a newborn, I totally disagree with this idea that everyone needs to spend £500+ on a pram, it's stupid money.

I dislike the way a lot of (often expensive) pushchairs these days have a moulded seat which only tips back rather than a hinged one. It doesn't seem comfortable to me even for a toddler, and it makes me think they do it just to sell the carrycot as an expensive add on.

Maria what makes you say that? There's no "newborn pushchair test" that I'm aware of

They sell baby food as being suitable "from 4 months" when the recommendation is 6 months, and those baby nest cushion things as suitable from birth when cot death recommendations say that babies must sleep on a firm, flat, clear surface. So you can't necessarily trust that just because a product says something on the packaging it implies something else. They are rather clever with their wording.

No, I have one of these for DS and wouldn't have used it before 10 months or so. They're a bit flimsy and not particularly comfortable even for a toddler let alone a newborn. I was never a fan of the big pram and hated lugging it about but lightweight strollers aren't the answer at that age.

'Absolutely nothing wrong with a lie flat, suitable from birth lightweight stroller. When you have spent £200+ on a pram people will of course want to justify that by saying it's better.'

My (used) pram was given to me and I paid for my lightweight stroller. Still think a baby needs a proper pram.

@BertieBotts I'm not saying there's a test. It's a genuine question. Surely for something to be advocated for use 'from newborn' it has to be proven to be safe, suitable and fit for purpose. I could be wrong, though?

As someone who had one very similar I can see why people may not like it for the comfort factor but I never had any issues safety wise or other.

I used my maclaren from 4 months as well as my monster bugaboo. I think it looks fine but maybe check for a 2nd hand one for the first few months ?

I bought Joie one recently and it does lie as good as flat and you can get a head support thing for a newborn.

If they lie flat then they are 'suitable'. But that's about it. I think parent facing has a lot of advantages for the baby in the first 6 months, bonding, eye contact, smiling, talking to them etc, as well as just being able to keep a check on them is so much easier when parent facing. Plus, I have an irrational hatred of 2 handle strollers, horrid things.

My pram carrycot had a strap to secure baby. It was a fabric wrap strap. Don’t have them now?

Prams ,I think are much like cars.
People get very into them.

My youngest wouldn’t go in the carrycot. Hated it. Loved being strapped into the Maclaren in his cosy toes, it was the only place other than the sling where he would nap. Plus as others have said a slight recline is good for reflux.

I'd look at things like the iCandy Raspberry, Bugaboo Bee (probably second hand for the latter) and Armadillo Flip. There are a fair few on the market like these depending on budget but these would be a good starting point.

Look for ones that allow you to buy newborn cocoons or carrycots - we had the iCandy Raspberry which did have a cocoon. I can't fully recommend this one, although I think we were unlucky with the issues we had - but some of the lie-flat from birth ones are quite small and might be outgrown by a larger toddler.

We now have an Armadillo Flip and that has a very generous seat and still fits my almost four year old in comfort - but it is heavier than I would like with an older toddler in, and definitely less manoeuvrable than the Bee and the Raspberry.

Wanting a lie-flat stroller from birth is normal, although in my experience most people end up with a smaller and lighter stroller at least for holiday purposes. Look for a good-sized basket, the option to use a car seat with adapters, and the option to parent-face and recline the seat in different positions.

The problem is, what you tend to need from a pushchair varies according to the age of your child, your lifestyle, how many children you have, etc. So finding one pushchair that sees you through from birth to "done" can be quite an ask.

notso my DCs are 17 and 15 and I don't recall ever seeing a carrycot type pram when they were small. Everyone had either a travel system which was a pushchair like the ones in the OPs picture which had a cataract to attach, or fold up buggy. No one had a pram.

The best pram ive had was a chicco urban (think they are called a trio now) the seat turned from a carry cot into a seat and i think ds would prob still fit in it now if we still had it. You can attach a car seat but i bought it 2nd hand so never did.

Wouldnt bother with a moveable car seat again tbh my joie stages is great and is from newborn to about 7 i think.

What you could do OP is use a sling until baby is old enough for the lightweight stroller if you don't want a pram. This is probably what I will do if I end up having another child.

A friend of mine puts her ds in one and he’s nearly 5 months but still looks too young for it. He slips to one side. If you got it I think you’d have to keep completely flat till they’re 6 months. They just don’t have the strength to hold themselves up properly. If I had my time over again I’d buy second hand silver cross travel system.

I’m getting a stroller soon but my dd is 8 months and can properly sit up unaided. X