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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Really stupid question about pram...

21 replies

AvoFriday · 02/11/2018 06:16

When you put your baby in his pram (carrycot), do they need to be fastened in? It seems weird that they're just in the pram with nothing to hold them in in case of an accident. Or maybe I'm being ridiculous... mothercare instructions are pretty awful and can't work it out...
My have this pram:

OP posts:

MummaGiles · 02/11/2018 06:20

No, they don’t need to be strapped in. And not a silly question - I found it strange at first too.

MaryShelley1818 · 02/11/2018 06:20

I used the carrycot part of my pram for the first 3-4mths.
They don’t need to be fastened in because they can’t roll/sit up. Once they’re big enough to do that you need to use the pushchair part.

Original poster

AvoFriday · 02/11/2018 06:22

I just find it odd and a bit unnerving. I have this horrid image of being hit by a rogue car or having some sort of accident and baby being flung from the cot! Awful thought I know.

OP posts:

Ohheyyy · 02/11/2018 06:24

Once you get out and about with the pram you'll realise the likelihood of an accident that would fling your baby anywhere is extremely minimal.

Original poster

AvoFriday · 02/11/2018 06:25

@Ohheyyy I'm sure you're right. I'm probably catastrophising a little...

OP posts:

OutComeTheWolves · 02/11/2018 06:29

If it would put your mind at rest some travel systems have a sort of lying down car seat that can strap them in.

I had one with a Jane slalom buggy. I never used it though so I don't know if they're any good or if they attach to the chassis but it might be worth looking in to if you're feeling anxious.

Ohheyyy · 02/11/2018 06:33

Oh, I've done it myself. I think of all the dangers and accidents that could happen but then I kind of have to talk myself down and realise how unlikely it is that they'll occur. Like mini risk assessments through life.

I figure if anything was a real danger then the product would have been adapted (in this case with a harness).

canihaveanap · 02/11/2018 06:59

I had this exact pram with ds1 who is now 5. It came with straps for the carrycot part at the time but I didn't use them.
When he was about 2 weeks old somebody was helping me lift him down a step and tipped the pram before I got hold of the other side.
Ds fell out of the pram but I dived and caught him
I always used the straps after that but very fiddly with a tiny baby.
I don't really understand what they recommend

BurningGubbins · 02/11/2018 07:08

We always had prams that lay flat but had sides that raised to form the carrycot shape, if you see what I mean. They had straps, which we used from day 1. Lots of friends had similar experiences to the pp going up and down stairs with strangers “helping” but not realising that you have to keep the pram flat or the baby will fall out!
Once when I was going down a kerb the wheel stuck in a drain and the pram tipped forward - baby would definitely have ended up in the road had he not been strapped in.

Plus I didn’t want a carrycot attachment cluttering up the house once they’d grown out of it...

Original poster

AvoFriday · 02/11/2018 08:19

Oh man, so maybe straps are a good idea! Our pram doesn't have the best reviews but we absolutely love it!

OP posts:

OpinionCat · 02/11/2018 08:23

No you don't need to as they're laying flat

RainbowsArePretty · 02/11/2018 08:26

I had the Jane travel cot/pram in one described above. Although it felt safe it was incredibly heavy due to also being a car seat. So as I had a CS I wasn't able to lift in for the first 6 weeks as it was too heavy! The downside being I had to leave it built as a pram all the time unless DH was there to fold it all down for me

ScarsAndAll · 02/11/2018 08:27

Not silly at all. I remember when ds was little and worrying that he wasn't 'feet to foot' in the pram because if he was I wouldn't be able to see him under the cover. Then I realised that in the pram I would always be right there watching him so it really didn't matter!!

Original poster

AvoFriday · 02/11/2018 08:30

I do have a lay flat car seat that fits on to the pram which is another option...

OP posts:

ClairieD · 02/11/2018 11:53

I had the quinny travel system pram, and whilst it didn't come with straps; there were hoops on either side under the "mattress", I bought a harness (reigns) and attached then to the pram in a back to front fashion so that baby lay on the flats straps and I did the buckle/fastener up over her chest/stomach. As you said I was very nervous about going up and down kerbs and getting tyres caught in drain covers and causing baby to be jerked around in the pram. So this gave me peace of mind, and all my friends who had babies before me wished they'd thought of doing that as they didn't use their pram as much as they could have for that exact reason.

Pizzalover11 · 02/11/2018 22:58

Is this the orb? As its looks the same as ours but it has straps for the carry cot bit which I always used as the carrycot can be tilted. So if baby isn't strapped in they'll obviously slip down.

LinoleumBlownapart · 02/11/2018 23:04

This is actually not a strange question. Most prams come with harness clips on each side. When one of mine was little I was getting off the bus and one of the wheels went off first at a funny angle, the pram tipped sideways and the baby rolled to the side of the carrycot. A man in front of me caught the pram before it tumbled and the baby would have fallen out. After that I got an old fashioned set of reins/harness that can be clipped into almost any pram. It's what they used to use on the old carriage prams.

glueandstick · 02/11/2018 23:42

Not saying your pram is no good... but I had three of them and the brakes were shit. Just keep an eye on it. Hopefully they’ve made them better now.

Gurdyhurdy · 03/11/2018 00:13

I had a pram with carrycot for ds, it didn't have straps and I actually looked online to see if I could buy a 5 point harness for it but the particular brand we had didn't have them and we were told.we didn't.need one. When he was 10 weeks old we were on a bus, the bus suddenly braked hard because he was going too fast and got too close to the vehicle in front, I fell over just as ds was catapulted out of his carrycot and hit the floor of the bus near the driver, he was ok but myself and everybody on the bus were shook up and crying. He had a trip to a&e and then sent home with a lump on his head, but could have been so much worse, the doctor told us that most people don't use them as the carrycot relies on gravity and it has high sides. If you can get a harness I definitely would.

klondike555 · 03/11/2018 05:16

I strapped my babies' in from day one, as have all my friends. It didn't occur to me/us not to.

When I was eight months pregnant with DC1, I was walking diagonally behind a lady pushing her baby in a pram/pushchair. Without warning, the back of the pram just totally gave way and the baby slipped head first back towards the tiled ground. The only thing that saved it from totally smashing its head onto the ground was the quick thinking of the person next to the mother. I was horrified and extremely upset at witnessing this (though I'm sure not as upset as the mother), and felt like vomiting. I couldn't believe someone had been so careless with their baby's safety as to not strap them into the pram.

That was 20 years ago and I still remember it as clear as day. Horrifying.

memememe · 03/11/2018 09:06

those type of carrycots normally have D rings under the mattress part where you can attach a set of reins if you are worried about baby falling out x

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