Prams - what will I need?

[Overwhelmedmumtobe]

Hello parents!

My partner and I need to buy our first pram for our baby coming in February. The choices out there are overwhelming and expensive! We need some tips from parents who've gone through all of this already. Do we buy a bundle (cot and pram and car seat)? Will we actually use the whole bundle regularly? We'll be living in a flat. Will it not be too cumbersome to have the bundle whilst in the flat? Should we buy second-hand? Is buying second hand safe ? I'm wondering if we won't be using the sling more than the cot/pram.
Thanks everyone!

Do you have a lift to your flat?

We lived in a flat with our DD and we got a bundle so the pram frame, carry cot and pushchair attachments as well as the car seat. Loved it and used it all the time and it also meant that we weren't forking out for another pram when she got bigger (check the weight that prams go up to). One thing to look out for with the bundles is to make sure the car seat fits in your car as not all of them are suitable and some won't fit properly. A friend of mine got a bundle where the car seat clipped onto the pram frame too which I was quite jealous of so that's another feature worth looking into if you don't want to lug a ridiculously heavy carseat and baby around!

Also, you'll want a cosy toes and a rain cover.

I’m someone (and I know I’m not alone) who spent a fortune on a beautiful pram and found that both my children were not fans and I used sling 90% of the time. Looking back I would have got a cheaper pram and booked a 1on 1 sling consult.

Some people seem to use the car seat adapters on the pram a lot. I never had one and never considered getting it because my children also hated the car seat so there was never any issue of not wanting to wake them up. I also never drove frequently and then wanted to wheel them around in the pram. We tended to only drive on weekends, and then not much, and most trips just me and baby didn’t include the car at all. So I guess that depends on what your lifestyle looks like.

Lots of things to consider! I'd start with:

Do you have a car/travel regularly in a car?
Do you use a lot of public transport?
Does your flat have a lift or will buggy need to be carried up the stairs?
Will you be mainly taking the buggy on pavements/in town or on muddy dog walks off road? Or a combination?

The above will start to give an indication of the type of prams it would be worth looking at.

Start with these questions

1. do you drive
2. will the pram fit in the car
3. where will you store the pram
4. what's the access to your flat
5. do you walk lots
6. type of place you live (city vs country)
7. public transport use
8. will you be planning another within 2.5 years?

That will help narrow the field a lot!

I got a second hand pram for our second and it's been amazing. It's an uppababy vista and I WISH we'd got this first time round. We spent a lot of money on a pram that was good, but didn't work as a double.

I bought expensive stuff (well mum did) and ditched it for a cheaper umbrella buggy that actually fitted in the car.

It's perfectly safe to buy the pushchair/cot bundle second hand but do not ever buy a car seat second hand as you don't know it's history.

Whether you need to buy a car seat which is compatible depends on whether you will need to attach it for short term use to the pushchair frame. We decided to buy everything that was compatible and we did occasionally attach the car seat rather than faff with transferring into the cot attachment.

We bought the joie chrome dlx and the i-gemm car seat which was middle of the range at the time and it was perfect for us. We've kept it to reuse again with our second.

Have you got any stores nearby where they have them on display? We were fortunate to have a really helpful guy in babies r us show us a few from the different price ranges and that's when we decided on the joie. I've also purchased one for my sister second hand as the whole family thought it was such a lovely set x

We got a babyzen yo yo - we live in a flat in London and we are down a few steps !

The yo yo is manageable to carry down the steps by myself with baby in it and it’s easy to lift on and off the bus myself too

I use the baby carrier most of the time these days though to be honest

Also we’ve no space so couldn’t handle a bit Pram needed something small

We don’t have a car - but ended up getting a deal in John Lewis that the car seat was only a tenner when you bought a buggy - we’ve used the car seat twice 😂 she’s 7 months now

Happy I have it though just in case - I worry if we were to need to get a taxi to hospital or something like that in emergency id need it

We booked a baby appointment at John Lewis and one at Mamas and Papas and got them to talk us through their whole ranges before we made a decision. We dont have a car but still bought a car seat that clips onto the pram chassis (uppababy vista) and it has been really useful - my baby was early and very poorly. It's allowed us to take taxis to her (many) follow up appointments without taking the whole pram on public transport. Absolute lifesaver when she was feeding every 2 hrs to get us home quickly, rather than spending 45mins on public transport.

I love my vista - its a bit of a tank in the city (and not great on the tube) but its brilliant rurally / in the countryside and converts to a double in the event of no 2 in the future!

As others suggested, you need to do a list of how you think you’re going to use your pram.

Are you walking lots?
Public transport?
Car?
Stairs/lift?

When my kids were small, we lived in the ‘burbs and rarely used public transport. We had a big car and lived in a house with a spacious hall. I walked a lot and needed something I could load baby/shopping into.

Like another poster, I had an Uppababy Vista. It was epic - could load a weeks worth of groceries, a baby and a toddler into it.

If I lived in an apartment and used the subway, I’d have considered one of those natty little strollers than folded to nada.

You don’t need a bassinet, MN will disagree, but your unlikely to deform your baby. Bassinets aren’t considered a requirement elsewhere in the developed world!

So many answers! Thank you everyone so much! We are both learning to drive so I suppose the car seat is to plan for the future. We'll be living in a city and we walk a lot to shops and everywhere else. I suppose I'll get tired of walking around all the time with the baby in the sling and need support with shopping bags. The flat will be too small to have a whole bundle around I think. So now I'm leaning towards a pram that I can put flat but that folds nicely! And a sling!
Thanks everyone!!!! It was my first time communicating with the online community!

We have the silver Cross pioneer. Brought new but used for 2 dcs.
Got the bundle.
We lived a second floor flat no lift. Wasn't too bad to hoist up to be honest. But did try to leave it in the car when I could and just carry baby seat up.

The pram was brilliant for town or woods walking.

I don't plan any more dcs but if it ever happened I'd buy the same again.. But 2nd hand.

We nearly got divorced when we went pram shopping😂
The shop assistant barked questions at us none stop.
2 bloody hours we were in her shop. In the end, DH told me through gritted teeth to buy a pram, any bloody pram😂
It cost nearly a grand🙈🙈. She wasn't in it a year and I'd bought 2 more buggies.
Good luck.

For compact prams you could look at the baby zen yo-yo, bugaboo bee, M&P have a new-ish one, the Strada I think, also Cybex easy-twist.

In a small space you ideally want one that will fold as a one piece as space saving.

I recommend Jane with lie flat car seat - better for baby in car and can put straight into pram frame and bring into flat. Frame can then be used as buggy when older. We had the same pram/buggy for two children from birth to age 4 so they last well and do everything.

Second hand.
In fact most items for a baby/toddler can be found second hand and hardly used! (save those pennies - u will need them!
Personally you will want to see babies lovely face as u walk - so a pram that's facing you

We live in a flat too and never bothered with a travel system with our first. We used the pram I had when I was a baby (my mum kept it) but found it too big and bulky. It sat in the car 99% of the time and we didn't use it often - we used a pushchair buggy instead. I'm due our second in January and we bought the ickle bubba 2-in-1 system (pushchair & bassinet style) from aldi. Its been a godsend although it also lives in the car for easiness (not having to humf it up and down stairs) but we've used it so much already for our 1 year old. Will be well used when our little one comes too!

I went in store and found it really helpful.
Basically I wanted a few features including something that i could fold up easily.

Nuna was the one for me...

I plan to get a yoyo baby zen when the baby is bigger

Look for a good size basket on the pram too for when you buy bits out. Some prams have better suspension then others. Rockier the pram when out less the baby sleeps.

Also our pram had an approved bassinet for over night sleeping so we could is it instead of buying a Moses basket.

My baby hated the sling. So didn't use one. I walk and get the bus most places.

I brought an expensive pram and don't regret it as I felt really special pushing my new baby around in it (sad I know). However by about 9 months I could of just used a cheap pushchair so looking back I would of brought second hand but the same pram.

Can I just add - when your child/children get past age 8 for example it becomes very difficult to buy anything second hand (they get fussy/second hand clothes toys seem harder to come by). My children cost me a fortune in school clothes etc etc, Make the most of the trillions of baby products available second hand that you can then sell on!!!!!

Second hand Uppababy vista. They are cheap as chips right now and you’ll find one in really good condition. Then buy a brand new car seat if you need one later.

2nd time mum here. Went all out the first time and bought an Icandy with whole travel system. Both babies didn’t like carrycot, so that’s been a waste of money. The rest of it is a bit of a pain to keep putting up and taking down, and DD1 grew out of the buggy seat quickly too. This time (I have a 6 month old), I’ve used our Out ‘N’ About buggy more- you can lie it flat for newborns, and get an insert to support them. It fold completely flat for the car/a cupboard. It was about £800 less too! If I was to give advice to first time mum me, I’d say save your money and get the Out ‘N’ About from the off, and then just buy a car seat separately.

Definitely the Out n About nipper Not a mark 1 but after that, they go through doorways, are light, fold up small or even teeny tiny if you take the wheels off, amazing for countryside, can fix the wheel if you want to run. If I had my time again I would have bought adapters for the car seat so I could use it instead of the travel system.

You'll be amazed at what you can manage to carry with a well fitting carrier or sling.
I lived in central London up until they were just over 1. Bought the obligatory travel system initially but ditched that quite quickly for a manduca carrier and babyjogger city mini.
I definitely shed a tear when I sold the carrier after 3 years!

I'd recommend going for a backpack style change bag too.