December 2010 - good-bye flat tummies (as if I had one... ha ha ha)

[Persnickety]

Right, I've done the honours. This is our new thread.

And don't forget the stats thread

Hi GCat1982!

Strix - I would definitely go and check it out properly in a store. The joggers tend to be really big and can be cumbersome in town. They're also often heavy, so if you had to fold it up to get it on a train, it might be hard to handle.

I haven't found anything to make me think that I won't get a Mothercare MyChoice3. I like that you don't need adaptors to use the car seat on the chassis. As you can only use the car seat for short trips of no more than an hour or so, I think I'll end up swapping between using the car seat and the carrycot on the chassis quite a bit.

I want a 3-wheeler but I don't like the way the joggers lie flat with the seat back reclined.

My niece had a my3 Japhrimel. SHe offered to me a while back for only £130, but I won't be getting anything until later on as I simply don't have the space & she wouldn't hang on to it for me. She only used it for a few months too, car seat was only used a handful of times. It's nice and I would have got the carrycot that I wanted, but would have had to put my hatred of 3-wheelers aside. (or got dp to make an adaption to fit a 4th wheel!) I think I ust be quite old fashioned as I'm turning into my mum and don't like any of these modern new-fangled thingamijigs!

Hi all - hope everyone had a good weekend. My two cents' worth on the pram issue - do not spend a lot of money on a travel system unless you are sure that you are 100% happy with the buggy part of it. It is easy to focus on the carrycot bit when in actual fact you don't use that for very long at all. Most people I know (including myself) ditched the travel system pretty much as soon as baby could sit up (which is earlier than you might think) and moved to a lightweight Maclaren. For us this meant wasting about £100 as although we sold the thing on ebay we didn't get as much as we paid for it.

Of course, it depends on your lifestyle - if you are at all in and out of the car, a travel system can be nightmarish. They take up so much room and can be so cumbersome to fold up and put together. Make sure you try doing that in the shop and imagine doing it while a baby screams and the parking meter ticks. If you travel at all you will probably find you get a Maclaren or similar pretty quickly as they are easier to deal with in airports.

But if you live in town and have a hall big enough to wheel in a pram and leave it there fully assembled, a travel system with carry cot etc would probably be fine.

As I live in the country I have a Maclaren kept in the car for town trips, and a fabulous Out'n'About offroad Nipper for local walks.

Lecture over, class dismissed.

Morning

Ok, you have all got me worried over the whole pram thing now...I bought mine ages ago as I knew I would waste the money if I didn't spend it on something valuable there and then, it's Graco (has car seat included) and was probably more of an impulse buy.

I never knew there was so much to consider when picking a pram so now I'm completely freaking out that I have bought this without even thinking and that it's going to be a complete waste of money

Oh well guess I'm stuck with it now, will make sure to consult you all before buying anything else lol

I have already bought a baby wrap so hoping to wear my baby a lot but interesting to read the carrycot part probably won't be used for long

I skip the carrycot altogether. It's expensive and hardly used. There are non-carrycot prams suitable from birth. But, if I did get a carrycot, it would double as my moses basket at home. But since I aldreasy have an ambicot, neith moses basket nor carrycot will be on my shopping list.

NickiSue, Chooster and Mumatron thank you for letting me know that I am not the only one with muscle cramps. I haven?t been able to sleep well since as I am all the time worried to get another one.
So now to the topic of prams! Everyone in my area seems to have a Bugaboo. I stopped couple of mums in M&S and restaurants and asked if they are happy with their Bugaboo and they are all raving. The bugaboo bee is small and I find the Bugaboo Camelon a bit too big and expensive. Any negative things anyone has heard about bugaboo prams?

Japhrimel, where did you hear that you can only use a car seat for "an hour or so". That sounds excessively OTT. Any chance you heard that from someone wanting to sell you a carrycot?

There is a limit due to a semi upright position putting more stress on a developing spine (ie muscles are not yet developed to help hold head up so the bone structure takes the weight). But, I believe the limit is several hours. So, if you set on off on an eight hour drive, you would want to stop and get the baby out of the car seat probably twice on the way there. But, you will surely have to do that to feed/change nappy/entertain them anyway.

I'm with you Strix. I think one of the things that manufacturers use to pull on the old heartstrings and get you to buy an expensive carrycot based system is this idea that babies should face their mothers for the first few months for their development. While I think it is lovely for them to look at you while you are pushing them around, I do not think it is worth spending all that money if you don't want to or can't afford to, just to achieve that goal. Firstly, if you want to have face to face time with your baby - and of course we all should! - take them out of the pram and give them a cuddle once in while, or use a sling - and secondly, very, very soon they will not want to look at you anymore and will much prefer watching the world go by!

If you do want the mummy facing thing then I am pretty sure there is a model of Maclaren that allows you to attach a carseat. And, if you do opt for a carrycot on the basis that it can be used as a moses basket, check the spec, as not all of them are suitable for overnight use.

strix and slightly I am with you 100% on the manufacturers praying on the old heartstrings, especially with first timers!! I was actually not as naive as most but looking back I still bought loads of stuff that I really didn't need! The whole car seat issue really irritates me, we used to drive all the time, and even drove to france and DS was in the car seat for maybe 4 hours, then out for 20-30 mins then back in, and he has suffered no ill effects! So long as they aren't in there all day everyday it really isn't a problem.

However...I will be spending the money on a carry cot! Not because of all that babys development spiel, I had one with DS an just cannot imagine not having one, walking along looking at your little smudgey newborn all spark out with their hand by their ears, I just love it. I used to crash into people I was so busy staring at DS.

Maclaren XLR takes a carseat. This is probably what I will end of getting in the end. DH pointed out that you can't take a three wheeler on an escalator. Oh I know, you are not supposed to take any pram on an escalator. But, try and stop me if you think I am going to stand around and wait for all the able bodied lazy people get on an elevator before me.

oh my god strix I have the same gripe! Well I have many, but that really irks me! I once got super stroppy and told a group of teenagers to take the stairs as they were totally capable. I was on my own with a pram, newborn, changing bag and loads of shopping! I had seen the lift doors open 3 times already only to be confronted by plenty of fully fit and able people so I had had enough by that point!

Yeah, or a family of 8 adults which has one elderly less able memeber ALL get on the elevator together. Surely say 5 of them could use the escalator an meet at the next floor. I once had an old man tell me escalators weren't safe for my maclaren volo. I gave him a stern evil look. I think he was of the generation that thinks women have nothing better to do then than travel up and down in elevators.

okay, I think I have talked myself back round to the maclaren. Although someone mentioned Bugaboo Bee and I'm now thinging about that... althoug it just doesn't look as durable as the Maclaren.

well bugaboo bee can take a car seat and also can face you or the world... Is small and compact. The only downside I have read so far is that they are too small for the toddler and for bigger kids (18 months and over) they are not big enough. Please let me know if there are other negatives before I commit myself to 500 pounds!

Just noticed that Bugaboo bee 2010 has added extra length to it's chair for taller toddlers.
See for yourself:

I think I am buying this unless somebody here convince me otherwise...

What do you get for £500?

chasis?
seat?
car seat?
rain cover?
Footmuff?

You can get (online) Bugaboo bee plus with newborn cocoon for 489, which is great deal as the pushchair alone is 459. I don't need the Maxi cosi car seat as my best girl friend is giving me one. But if you want the car seat, it adds another 100. The rain cover is included for free as far as I know.

www.peppermint.co.uk/nursery_department/shop-by-brand/bugaboo/bugaboo-bee.html?p=4

When I said pushchair alone, I meant the base + Sun Canopy.

Thanks for the link. It does seem to have all features - including the ones Maclaren doesn't. But the price...

But then I think the pram is really the only thing I need to buy. But I'm sure DH will have a heart attack and I sort of need him around.

Wow - you guys are really organised! first time round we bought "travel system" a day before my due date (DD was a week late in end!) Didn't have space or money for it before and took the risk that if we needed a car seat urgently to get home form hospital could borrow one off a friend.

We have got a travel system this time but onnly because we have had it passed on to us froma friend so no cost. We prefer the 3 wheelers as we do a lot of off-roading and they are much better at shows and festivals (except when it is really muddy!)

Strix and Emma - I understand your gripe with "fit and healthy" people using lifts but please don't automatically assume because you can't see a disablity that someone couldn't use the stairs or escalator instead. I guess you probably wouldn't but not all illness is visible!

On a different note, have you all joined NCT classes? I am looking into them now and hoping not to be too late...

Wow. I'm getting whatever pram I can free/cheap on freecycle/ebay/charity shops/from friends, which I'm hoping to do for just about everything. Makes the decisions a whole lot easier. The sheer amount of choice out there is overwhelming, even if I could afford or actually wanted everything new.

Having said that I am already drooling over a toddler buggy that converts into a bike trailer!

Aimee - Seriously don't worry about it. The pram you have will be perfect I'm sure. Babies are a bit like weddings - people get conned into all sorts of stuff they don't really need. It sounds like you did the right thing by grabbing yourself a bargain when it was available.

PJen I've signed up for NCT classes but only just so I'm sure there will be spaces left.

I just phoned the work Creche to register my intent to place my baby there when I go back to work. it's all seeming really grown up. I really need to sort through my finances though!

when it comes to buying a pram i will be going with what i like, i don't need to think too much about space as we have quite alot of room and i don't use public transport much. my specification is based mainly on whether or not i like the colour and if it fits in the boot of my car. i will probably be getting a carrycot as i never had one before and tbh i just want one.

was hoping to get to see the mw today but she was fully booked. im booked in for next monday. feels like an age away. i still haven't heard about 20 week scan so shall be chasing that up tomorrow.

Right, here's my two pennies worth around equipment... sorry it is long!

We had a silvercross 3D with DD but she was a very long baby and only in the pram part of it for about six weeks or so. I then found we needed to use the actual pushchair bit which faces away from you. As she was still quite small, I'd be hanging over it chatting to her as she didn't like not being able to see me. It was also very heavy with the car seat on, so never really used it as travel system. When DD was a bit older we got a lightweight graco stroller. The only good thing about a big, solid, heavy travel system is you can kind of lean on it as you're walking along and hang a lot of shopping on it without worrying about a buggy tip.

We're will use it again and when the baby is out of the pram bit we'll see if we can get something that faces me on freecylce or something.

I used a carrier quite a lot with DD. I have a Kari me sling and a Connecta carrier which was fab. Planning to mainly use sling/carrier this time.I would definitely recommend investing in a good sling or carrier - far, far cheaper than a travel system.

I am ordering a breastfeeding cushion from Amazon soon. I don't know why I never got one with DD, but have used them at BF groups and they are very, very handy. You can use them as back support in pregnancy and to prop the baby up when it's sitting as well.

My other brilliant buy is a bumbo seat. When DD was 6 months or so she loved it, and I'd take it all around the house and garden with me and use it to feed her snacks etc rather than faff with high chair.

Oh yes, and cloth nappies - can recommend terries, totsbots and nippas with wraps as very cheap standbys, but if you want to invest in some all in ones, a friend has bumgenius and they look amazing. We used cloth for a few months with DD, from about 3-10 months, but had abandonned them by the time she was a year as I was back at work full-time by then and not keeping up with the washing. Nightmare trying to wash, dry and fold enough for three consecutive days at nursery! Again, we'll probably use them for a bit with pampers for newborn/meconium stage and at night.