To insist on a parent facing pram with carrycots.

[user1487755366]

I am prepared for you all to tell me that I'm being unreasonable. Currently pregnant with twins - a few weeks ago DP started looking at pram options and measured up the boots of our cars. I have a Nissan Micra (new style) he has a Mini Cooper (ridiculously small boot size).
He found a pram he thinks will fit. Today I said I've been thinking and like a different brand because I want them to be parent facing and also in carrycots when they're tiny. He asked 'can you have it without carry cots' and I said no because they're part of the model and I'd want the other model with optional carrycots he said it categorically won't fit in his car and we'd just have to accept that we couldn't drive the babies anywhere....

I'm really upset about this. Does anyone have either of these cars and have a double buggy with carrycots? How important is parent facing - it's something I really want when they're tiny.

I have a massive Land Rover and only just fit in a pram with one carrycot... the carrycots, because they also function as Moses baskets, are massive.

Time for the people carrier!!!

I had baby jogger city mini with twins, facing carrycots. I think it was the smallest. At the time I had a freelander but have eventually caved and now have a Citroen c4 Picasso.

That's just life, growing up and getting a sensible car. It's not forever just while they're small.

I personally felt I needed parent facing carrycots for the twins development. Newborns have to lie flat. In a carry cot they can move and sleep comfortably and are not fastened in. I could keep an eye on them when out for a walk. Then when they were older it had all different configurations so they could face each other or forwards or me in the seat attachments.

Have you thought about car seats? A higher up car would make getting them in and out easier. For short trips I would transfer the car seats to the pram and not take the carrycots.

You need a pram where you can have facing you car seats and carrycots.

Also the carrycots were very useful for putting them to sleep for their naps downstairs in the house.

Slings are all well and good if you're always with someone else to take the second twin!

And think about fitting the car seats in the car because that really is the main thing!

We used a pushchair that went flat enough to be used to newborns. So no carry cot. Also it faced away. It was lightweight and fit in our small car boot. Parent facing would have been nice but it isnt everything

You will need at least one bigger car. A Mini Cooper is not a baby friendly car. Fine for a couple of Sainsbury’s shopping bags. Even folded, double buggies are huge and awkward-even if it technically fits it would likely be a challenge (I say this as a Mini driver and someone who used a double buggy). The other thing is that the buggy is only one element. You also need to fit in changes of clothing, food/bottles if using, nappies, wipes, toys, etc. etc. If your going anywhere overnight you may need travel cots, bedding, more changes of clothing - the list is endless. Every time we went somewhere it felt like we were moving house.

@kenandbarbie... a sling and a single pram?

Twin mum here!

I had a parent facing buggy, with carry cots, sort of stacked on top of each other. Sort of like this:

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With the frame and everything, honestly, it's a massive bitch. As soon as we humanly good, we transfered to a buggy we could use car seats with and got rid of the beast. I think we only had it about 4 months in the end, and only used it half a dozen times if that. Because by the time we wanted to take the twins out in the buggy, they were too big for carry cots! Mine were born in January though, and a month early.

Honestly, just get whatever will fit in your car, and doesn't way 10 million tons. Twin-mum-life is a constant series of small compromises for the sake of "slightly easier".

A double buggy for parent facing carry cots was a massive expense, and a massive waste of time, considering how little we actually used it.

Sorry haven't read last the first page but I had twins when I had a Nissan note, got the mountain buggy duet with carrycots.... £260 extra for both carrycots and we used them for 9 months..... Not worth it if money was tight but we were fortunate enough to be able to afford it so was a nice to have.

The note is a small car but the rear seats slid forward. Had to put the chassis of the pram in the boot at a very specific angle for it all to fit which was a nightmare post c section.

"Luckily" someone smashed into me and wrote off my Nissan Note on my way to work not long after I'd gone back from maternity leave (awful experience but was only me in the car and luckily no lasting damage), and the insurance payout was actually very reasonable so we were able to put that money towards getting a bigger car for me, got a Qashqai which was so much better space wise.

Measure boot space, but Mountain buggy nano twin could work well (maybe the duet would also fit) . You can buy soft parent facing insert carrycots for it.

The fully size non soft carrycots wont fit. We have the mountain buggy swift with carrycot in small corsa. it fits, but double with the carrycots x2 def wouldn't.

I would look at car seats that swivel, and stay in car lasting 0-3/4 years. you wont be able to carry 2 car seats anyway so removing seems pointless and heavy. Plus shouldnt stay in more than 30 mins when small, poss longer if twins and small.
The maxi cosi micra fits in our small car, but not behind driver (as dh is 6'2), would fit if only I was driving though, so depends on your heights.

Forget the carrycots they can sleep in buggy with insert
Change at least one car

Didn't get carrycot ... and glad I didn't as borrowed one in my quest for him to sleep! And he hated it and the Moses basket... only liked me or voted with decent mattress.. fussy bugger ...
But your car combination won't last would save the cash and focus on that ....

I think cybex do a car seat that lies flat, you could use a car seat for car trips and carry cot for walking. The bugaboo donkey is lovely I had it for my children (14 month gap) the chasse folds relatively small and of course the car seats would be on the back seat.
Although I hate to say this OP but I think your going to need a bigger car, I had a polo when I had first DC and couldn’t even get 1 carry cot in that boot had to have frame in boot (no parcel shelf) and carry cot on back seat with DC. Absolute ballbag it only lasted 6 weeks and I got rid and got a 4x4.

@Miya24

Extremely sensible advice! I wish more people cared about not putting their baby in the car seat/attaching car seat to buggy. So bad for them. I love the sirona.

If they fit in one of the cars, but not the other, that's fine. Whoever is taking the babies takes the Micra. You both need to be insured to drive both cars. Simples.

Also bear in mind that if your buggy fills your whole boot you are unlikely to be able to do a weekend away any where! Go for something easy to fold that lies flat from birth e.g babyjogger.

We have twins and had a city mini jogger. It's not parent facing (I believe there is a new model that has compatible carry cots now though).

We went with what we could afford. There was never an issue with it.

There's going to need to be a compromise somewhere here. Almost certainly with your cars.

@kenandbarbie**
Mini monkeys and twingo are twin slings. You carry both babies together. I carried my twins for two years.

I think slings are great, i use mine probably 80% of the time, and pram 20%. But i wouldn't want to be without a pram option, especially with twins.
Its handy to have a place to put them down in sometimes. My little one is currently napping in his. He wouldn't nap and screamed being put down, but a 10min walk around in pram and he is happily snoozing. Leaving me time to grab a shower and eat breakfast with two free hands, and now a bit of downtime before he spends hours cluster feeding again.

@letallthechildrenboogie mind if I ask you some questions about your slings? (Expecting twins, have one DD who will be 4 when twins arrive, and we used to carry her quite often).
Which one did you use when they were newborns? I wasn’t sure if they have enough head support for tiny (probably slightly preemie) twins.
Is it possible to breastfeed while carrying? My Dd never got the hang of feeding on the go, but I think it would be easier to know there was that option with twins! I have spoken to people previously who fed twins while carrying, but don’t know what sling they had.
Did you front carry both for the whole two years? How did you find the weight?

@crazychemist
I used a stretchy wrap when they were tiny, then a front carrying mini monkey twin past the first year. Stopped that as they were dancing and banging heads! So bought a twingo which is front/back, so spreads the weights a little better once they were bigger. The twin buggy we bought is still in the shed! I just found it so much quicker to get them in the sling and leave, especially with school runs etc to do for older children.I didn't try feeding whilst carrying. Difficult enough breastfeeding twins sitting down! Good luck with your twins. Ours are two and a half now and it's still frantic, but really lovely.

I couldn't manage even one with a sling and the v expensive slings were a total waste of money for me.
I needed the buggy to put them in and hang all their stuff on.

Parent facing is irrelevant, really. Mine were in a maclaren looking at the world from birth and they are fine.

I've had quite a few prams and strollers over the years and they all have annoyances. And you never know what your babies will like and what they will hate.

My advice now to parents it to see what you can get fairly cheaply that seems plausible because there is a reasonable chance it will be fine and a reasonable chance you will end up changing it anyway.

However, with regard to the cars. If you want to avoid replacing one, you may need to let go of the his and hers idea, and have baby car/ not baby car. What that means is that whoever is taking the kids has the larger car and if someone else needs a separate car they take the mini.