Since when did a pushchair become 'a travel system'?

[AlphaBravoHenryFoxtons]

This morning I heard someone talk about the travel system she wants to buy. She already has a travel system but not the travel system she should have got. The new travel system is amazing. Apparently.

In my day we just had pushchairs, mostly Maclaren. Since when did pushing a baby around on wheels become so complicated and expensive? Am I mission something? Do travel systems land on comets or something?

My ds is nearly 15 and I had a travel system (although I didn't call it that, that was what it was advertised as)

Travel systems were just coming out when my eldest was born 20 years ago. I didn't get one I had a big pram then a small buggy. Never even heard of slings then.

I had a travel system for DS he's 24

With my youngest I had this which although it is removable and can face either way is not a travel system

www.pramworld.co.uk/jane-rider-coffee#.VGukzPmsV7I

This is the same basic pram but with the additional items that makes it a travel system

www.pramworld.co.uk/jane-rider-matrix-travel-system-cream#.VGulAvmsV7I

I was given a travel system when dd1 was born (2006) it was used by her cousin who was born in 2001.

I just have a buggy (and a sling for when I can't be bothered with the buggy!). The seat lies flat for when baby is tiny, then sits up in increments. I can fit my newborn in it, or put her in the sling and pop my toddler in the buggy if he gets tired. It's umbrella fold so fits easily in the car boot, and not too wide to fit down aisles in shops. I can walk the dog with it, go shopping with it, get it on and off buses and trains if I wish. It cost £50 new and is on its second child. I do appreciate that you can spend several thousand on a 'travel system' (for which you could buy a decent second hand car!!). I wouldn't though, even if I had that much to spend on a non-essential item.

Alpha you seem insistent on talking about what you had. Which was a pushchair. That's fine, some people choose pushchairs, some choose travel systems . As many PP's have stated, a travel system is different to a pushchair. It is a frame with wheels on which you can carry either a car seat, a pram/carrycot and a pushchair. They're not a new invention.

Why does it matter?

Mine was a Maclaren Superdreamer with a reversible seat, carrycot and car seat :)

Travel systems were around when I was pg with DD nearly 15. Prams have always been expensive too. I remember a colleague pg the same time as me paying £1000 for a Mamas and Papas pram.

I'm not sure why this is in AIBU, but since you asked YABU.

You've had many replies telling you what a travel system is, but you seem intent on telling us what you have used with your DC.

My eldest is 13 at the end of the month. I bought a travel system when I was pregnant with her. It was a pushchair and baby car seat and you could use either the pushchair alone or clip the car seat on top of it and put the baby in that (which I did when DD was tiny).

That was a travel system at its most basic, I think, but still a travel system. A pushchair is just a pushchair with no other attachments.

I'm also unsure why this is an AIBU question

Really? You think nothing has changed in baby equipment in 23 years? Have you looked online/ in a shop/ on the streets recently?

There is 18 years between myself and youngest sibling, my mother always talks about how stuff changed for the better between each child (5 of us)

Artandco - Well yes, it's changed beyond belief in the sense that so much stuff is available. But the fundamental requirements remain the same: a moses basket, cot, pushchair and carseat. Nothing has really changed beyond that. The washing basket lined with an old duvet and blankets to house a sitting child with toys, is the same as an inflatable ring or a Bumbo.

You don't have to buy it though. But the stuff you do buy is no doubt better. Car seats safer, prams lighter etc

We barely brought any baby/ child stuff. But the odd bits we did are much better than what was available 5/10/20 years ago.

Times change you know - look at the difference in cars in 20 years, or the developments in the internet.

Why is that a bad thing? We used to live in stone cottages thousands of years ago.

OP, come on over to the Pushchair forum. We shall educate you on the glories of prams, pushchairs, buggies, strollers and travel systems.

My ds is 25 and I had a pram that was a carry cot and a pushchair with covers etc. nothing new.

As long as she doesn't take it in a bus unfolded and used a disabled space then up to her.

I got rid as soon as possible.

Alpha agree the essentials are just the same. Cot, pushchair/pram/car seat/

We have a big gap between first and last 2 and there wasn't much difference really.

I read Dr Spocks baby book, and a drawer was suggested as a cot. They also suggested having baby in a window box on the outside sill, to sleep in fresh air.

So yes, the requirements remain the same, the gadgets a bit different.

Though I'd love to see a "tenth floor baby pod" to attach to your window sill for outdoors safe sleeping.

I had a travel system for my 13 year old so they aren't new was from mothercare though which prob wouldn't be trendy now

I had my Ds in 1997 and I really wish I had owned a 'travel system'! Instead I had a pushchair and a separate carseat. I used to hate moving a sleeping baby from pram to carseat as he never stayed asleep. I think the current systems are a huge benefit.

A pushchair has never become a travel system.

A pushchair has existed for decades.

A travel system has existed for decades.

They're different. Easy.

I had a pram with a foldable frame and a detachable carrycot when my dc were little, then they graduated to an umbrella fold pushchair. All very straightforward, I got the pram second hand, the whole lot cost me the equivalent of around £50.

Didn't bother with an expensive baby bath either: when they were tiny I washed them in the basin, then we graduated to the ordinary bath.

They seem to have survived their deprived childhood without any ill effects.

Jeez...what is with this thread? Its like one of those 'in our day we climbed trees' facebook posts.

Some people have pushchairs, others have travel systems. Nobody is forced to buy either and can consider their options based on their own lifestyle and budget. Its called choice.

A car is a means of getting from A to B yet some drive brand new range rovers whilst others have 20yr old fiestas. This is no different and there is no need for the 'well I managed with....'. Advice is one thing if someone is weighing up options but this just feels unnecessarily gloaty IMO.

I think it happened at the same time as shelves and cupboards became storage solutions.