To wish I’d bought an expensive pram?

[pramenvy20]

Before I had my baby I looked at the price of prams and thought how silly it was to spend that amount, and I bought a second hand one.

I regret it now so much. I saw a woman yesterday just park, get the frame from the boot and attach her car seat to it without disturbing her baby. No fuss or faff!

Mine is fine so I’ll probably vote that I am BU because I am ... but I wish I’d bought a really lovely pram!

@pramenvy20

It was definitely hormones for me wombat, I just said to someone in a PM I think a lockdown baby plus for me a difficult birth and problems breastfeeding meant my hormones were crazy and I felt very much like I hadn’t done it “right.” Which is stupid as there’s no way of doing it right and some four months later I know that. I still have pram envy though!

@pramenvy20 I had a very similar experience. My planned home birth and ebf was a total 180 and was crash section and baby hospitalised through bfing (and it gave me sepsis - nightmare frankly!)

My pram obsession was trying to do my absolute best for baby and I hated feeling like I wasn’t getting it right (especially as the one thing I should have been able to get right was the bloody pram, considering my job!)

I did have PTS, severe PNA and PND though and the prams were a coping mechanism for me.

@FuckyouBrennan love the username. Mine is the Peach but thank you!

@WombatChocolate that was 50’odd pushchairs whispers for one child 🙈🙈🙈

Flappity....that’s hysterical......or maybe not, now you’ve mentioned how much much you were struggling and that prams were your way of coping.

Go on....give us an estimate of how much you spend on prams.

You should write a blog called the PramLady and do online pram consultations. People would pay. You could get endorsements from the pram companies or be a true independent neutral expert.

Hope the prams did help make things feel better for you and you are well now.

@WombatChocolate I’m much better now, thank you 🙏

The only pram we bought brand new was £700, I got £280 for it when I sold it on. I generally spent £70 or less, and often swapped them for others. I always made sure I sold on at same price, so always got my money back, and only ever sold for more if I’d spent out replacing parts (like I had a bugaboo bee that I’d replaced some parts on and added a matching footmuff)

So many people say that, I did actually start a business doing just that (though mostly car seats, as that’s my area of expertise, but long term plan was to include pushchairs) but sadly COVID put paid to it 😔

Never doent lots of money on a pram or anything like that for my children. I put the money away and that’s why the ones that are over 17 both had money for nice cars. I’d rather had a great holiday than a pram for other people to admire. Second hand for me.

Never doent 🙈

Never spent (bloody phone ) 😂😂

@pramenvy20

Nooo there would be a huge price disparity. Plus I don’t think you’re supposed to have second hand car seats which is what it would mean. And part of my regret is not just allowing myself to splash out, I think. Although I think a lot of expensive prams are gifted by grandparents.

Mines fine to be fair. It’s just very stiff so I struggle with it a little bit. And if baby falls asleep in the car I have to wake her up to put her in the pram which makes me feel bad.

I’ve had two lovely prams that were quite expensive neither were bought by ‘grandparents’ I’d never dream of asking them to provide this

I do think a good pram is a good investment, but it doesn't have to be new. We were considering two different prams when I was pregnant, and bought the one that would be most economical in the long run, but I've now bought the other second hand to keep at grandparents house (they look after LO whilst we're at work). I paid £100 for it but new it would have been around £800. It's still in pretty good condition too.

As far as the car seat goes, I definitely wouldn't use a second hand car seat unless you 100% trust whoever you got it from. However most infant car seats fit on most prams so you may well be able to use your existing seat on a pram. Bear in mind though that babies shouldn't be in the car seat for more than about 2 hours (or around 30 minutes for very young babies), so it might not actually be as useful as you thought anyway.

Expensive doesn’t always equal good. It’s better to actually test them before buying. The best pushchair I had was a 2nd hand Mothercare 3 wheeler and then I had several expensive strollers that were shite. I bought a 2nd hand Mothercare stroller for £20 and it was the dogs bollocks, which then lasted until it was no longer required.

You joined the thread for that, family?

It’s better to recycle. You did the right thing. You don’t need the expensive pram. Your child won’t need any pram soon. Maybe then you can give it to someone who can’t even afford second hand

A good quality pram is worth its weight in gold. Never had an issue with mine and it's had 18 months of use almost every day with hopefully years more to come. Easy to push, good on all ground, pushchair attachment folds on one piece.

There is nothing wrong with secondhand in general but I am in a Facebook cleaning group and it's opened my eyes. The amount of people who clean old mouldy prams with a bit of Dettol and then pass on. Not something I'd risk with a newborn, I'd buy a cheaper new model first.

YADNU. A pram is one of the few baby things worth spending top dollar on, if you can. I had a rubbish one with my first and it made my life so much harder, I didn't even realise how much it had hindered me until I sold it and bought a second hand bugaboo. This time around I bought the best I could find.

Aw mine was a rubbish hand me down one, the wheels were constantly flat on it! I still get annoyed about it looking back lol but you only use them for a short time, or I did - I switched to a lightweight stroller ASAP because the big pram is such a faff.

They are out of those car seats in no time anyway.

Have sent you a PM.

I would get a second hand one.
But what would you use it for?

It's not just the look. I spent more than £1000 on my latest travel system and it was worth every penny. You could push it with a finger, it went everywhere: mud/sand/snow, it was amazing. You could turn the carrycot and the baby seat either way, so never had to bother with sun in the eye, the whole thing was the best thing I spent. You could shop, walk, jog, it was fab.

I borrowed a few from friends or family on holiday, and the difference was ridiculous.

You don't know how practical a good travel system really is until you use a cheap one.

So what do YOU use your pram for, what are you missing?

Agree it’s definitely worth getting a fab pram, as it makes life so much easier when it ticks all the boxes. First pram for first DC looked great but was impractical in several ways. Ended up accepting my mistake with the first pram, and buying a new pram for second DC and what a difference it makes day to day - never looked back

I spent £800 on a fancy pram and definitely regret it.

My two both preferred carriers/slings and HATED the pram from as soon as they could walk around age 1. By age 2 DS rode a balance bike every where and now DD is 18m I'm already finding I hardly use the pram again. Living rurally I have to drive most places (supermarkets, doctors etc) but school is only a 5 min walk, so I don't use a pram for "transport" where its useful for carrying shopping etc. I order most things online too so rarely go shopping.

I bought the expensive easy prom system you describe. Only got used for about a year or so even with buggy attachments. Person who bought that pre-owned got a steal!

Both my prams were 2nd hand freebies, no way I was wasting money on something I didn’t need to. What I did buy was a click and go frame, it was the best thing I spent money on. You just clicked the baby capsule to it. I also found it was better for shopping than the prams. I didn’t buy it in the uk, so not sure if they are available there. I paid about $100 at the time which would have been around £40.

Here is a pic of what mind looked like.

I had one of those clip on car seat buggy’s with my second child, the car seat flipped off while he was strapped in it and he flipped into the road. Luckily he was fine, but I’d not recommend those car seat clip on buggy’s for anyone now. Could’ve ended a lot differently.

@Blackdog19

I thought it was much better for your baby to sleep in a pram than stay in a car seat though.

It is. Increased risk of sids in a car seat.