Maclaren Car Seat - any advice?

[ItchyTits]

Dear mumnetters

Trying to negotiate the minefield of prams/car-seats and travel systems, but feeling pressure to buy EVERYTHING and don't have the room for a huge pram.

One alternative seems to be to buy a Maclaren XLR to use from birth - with car-seat, reclining buggy, and possibly a cot too.

Is there any reason why not?

I'm feeling like a bad mother already (and haven't given birth yet) because can't quite see the point of the tank-like Bugaboos/ Quinnys etc.

I do like walking and don't want a 'boneshaker', but surely Maclaren wouldn't be able to sell the XLR as 'from birth' if it wasn't safe.

Trouble is, I'm having the baby on Tuesday and need to choose the car seat now.

Please help!!

MMm not giving yourself long

I have had my fair sare of prams ( 6 to be precise ) and my DD is 15months.

Never had a maclaren so cnt really help you on that, but i personaly hate to see newborns in buggies does this maclaren come as a travel system?

I would strongly reccomend a parent facing pram as its really nice for you and baby i used mine parent facing for at least 11 month.

Do you drive, this makes a diff when buying?
Bugaboos are really lightweigt and do suit for quite a long time ie up to toddler age.

Car seat again depends on what pram you choose, i had a loola and the bebe confort car seat that went streight onto the chassis and this was a godsend.

I did borrow a silvercross carseatfrom my sister or the first 2 wk and hated it it was so heav!!

hope this helps a little

Good luck x

Does the car seat fit your car?

I know you're not really supposed to use the car seat-chassis combination too much but I found it so much easier to manoeuvre around town than a big old pram.

EldonAve makes a v good point about the car seat fitting - my friend had to buy a new car seat that didn't fit on her pram.

I thought the 1st stage car seats ( the rock a tot ) were more or less universal x

My infant car seat didn't fit in my brother's car because the belts were too short.

Hi all

Nicola - I've been thinking about, and researching this for ages which would explain why I've lost sight of the whole rear facing point, but yep, not much time left....

Despite this week's bad publicity on slings, I was hoping that was a good early option, and the babe would then spend most of its pushchair time sleeping

But, Nicola, Your situation is exactly what I want to avoid - 6 buggies in 15 months seems totally over the top!

I hadn't realised some carseats didn't fit the car - which is why I'd like to pay the extra to buy from a shop that'll do the fitting rather than buy online

LOL i do have a bit of a fetish with prams.

Mothercare are really good, do fittings and they usually have loads of good offers on carseats but be mindful anyway that you only use the 1st stage for 8 months or so even thought they tell you 12 months ive yet to meet many people that have been able to use it till then as once baby is starting to sit they try to get out of them!!

I bought a britax 0+ at around 8 months as my DD was to long for the rock a tot 1 but not big enough for a forward facing.
They are suitable from birth and come with newborn inserts, its just if you want to keep taking baby out at the start.

If i was to give you 1 tip it would be the parent facing option x

I have a maclaren XLR.

We have had it from DD's birth (it does recline to flat) and still use it. the only reason we have a second buggy is to have a very lightweight one to take away on holiday. My DD is now 18 months and still using it, i can't see why it won't last as long as she needs it. I think it is a great practical purchase.... it folds away!

The maclaren/recaro car seat fits into an isofix base or can be strapped into your car, and as you know the buggy comes with attachments so you can just slot it onto the buggy too. It lasts longer than the standard car seats because the back extends.

Finally, (they didn't have this for my DD) you can get a carry cot that goes with the XLR now, so if you find that you really want rear facing in the early days (without worrying about long periods in the car seat) you can have it.

can you tell i am pro the maclaren xlr?

mothercare or john lewis will do a fitting... that much i know.

also re the car seat, we used ours until DD was a year, and she's a tall baby

hi, have you thought of a teutonia pram? i have one i got for ds and still use it daily nearly 2 years later. i have used loads childminding and this is by far the best i've had. you can add all sorts of attachments and it is rf, has a lie flat bed and you can add 3 different types of car seats to it-maxi cosi, britax or teutonia.

have a look on ping pong online, it's a german site that we ordered from. they have massive ones and smaller ones too depending on the chasis. we have the spirit s3 which is pretty big.

for car seats i would recommend the in car safety centre if you are anywhere near either belfast or milton keynes and they are very helpful fitting and giving advice or if you're not too fussed about one that fits your pram then i can recommend the KISS, the klippan isofix safety system. it is suitable from birth and lasts to 4 years. it is isofix and very easy to install.

good luck with your decision...it took me almost 16 weeks to decide on a pram lol and even then i drove over 100 miles to see then teutonia so i know how hard it is!

ItchyTits - We have the Mac XLR and used it from birth, it really isn't a boneshaker! DD slept in it peacefully no problem. Have just bought a new buggy but only because we need a double, I'll go back to using the XLR as soon as we only need a single because I love it so much.

We knew that after about 10 months almost all of our friends who had bought gorgeous, expensive travel systems (quinny, bugaboo etc) ended up with a lightweight, umbrella fold buggy so we just wanted to avoid the extra cost of the initial travel system.

I have used the baby seat until now too and DS is 18 months old and not particularly small for his age - his head is right at the top now though so will be switching to a Group 1 seat.

If they are trying to climb out I would suggest that the straps are not done up tight enough! DS is NOT a child who likes to be restrained and haven't had any problems - I would rather he was safe and would not have put him FF before a year.

The Maclaren has a carrycot, doesn't it? So that should be fine.

Dear all, Thank you all so much for your comments and ideas. I am now the proud mother of a beautiful girl, and the owner of a Maclaren: the pram, car seat and carry cot.

We haven't actually used it yet, but I wonder if anyone has experience of the carrycot. It seems as though it could get pretty warm in there - and if we'll restrict use, it doesn't seem any better than a car seat after all.

Any ideas?