Pushchairs

[willow3006]

Hi

I'm having twins in a couple of months and have been researching pushchairs. The whole thing confuses me. I like the look of the Bugaboo donkey but it's too wide for my front door so was looking at icandy pear for twins. Does anyone have any views on whether this is a good pushchair for newborns. The man in the shop collpased it and it did look quite easy. It seems to come with everything apart from adaptors for car seats and the carseats themselves so we'd have to buy those separately.

Any other similar types people like?

Also, with car seats we will be using 2 cars and I think it will be really expensive to get the base 'fixes' x 2 for each car. Can you just use the seatbelts on the car seats so that I can just move the car seats from one car to the other depending on which car we're using or do you have to buy the base unit clip-in things for the cars? It's a bit confusing. I think the icandy pear takes maxicosi car seats only from one the guy said.

Any recommendations/advice appreciated!

Willow x

Hi,

Congratulations! I have an iCandy Pear and it was great when our twins were newborns, we used the carrycot fabrics in lieu of a Moses basket, using them around the house and on the buggy, this might not be for everyone but it worked for us.

The buggy itself is good and I was glad we went with it particularly as it gives you the car seat option and will grow as the twins do and you change the fabrics to the regular seats. The one downside is that as the babies grow it becomes heavier to push and more cumbersome. My twins are 7 months now and whilst I still use it I also bought a nipper 360 which is so much more lighter to push and folds down smaller in the boot (although no problems with folding the pear, it does take up a fair amount of room). I will admit buying ours secondhand, after reading reviews similar to our experience thinking I would only use for 6 months or so but I will definitely keep it for a while yet as both buggies have their advantages depending on where we go.

With the car seats I bought the bases as it seemed quicker, and it is, but a friend has the cabriofix too and she doesn't have a base and is almost as speedy!

Good luck with your choices.

Have you considered an iCandy Peach? I have this and so far (5.5 months) think it's brilliant and would highly recommend it. As Pilipala said, we used the carrycots in the early days instead of moses baskets, and they are still in them now for going out and about. Soon we'll need to progress to the seats which look to be fine until 18 months old from what I've seen.

As with the Pear, the Peach is only compatible with maxicosi seats. It seems a faff buying all the adaptors but they are very, very quick and easy to put on and off. And you can definitely fit the car seats without having the fixed base, you just thread the seatbelt around some plastic handles on the seat. But the fixed bases are used for the first and second stage car seats, so they can be used for a fair while and therefore might be more justifiable on cost. The ability to just click the seat into place when you've got two to get in is really useful, especially in bad weather. Fiddling with a seatbelt could be hard work in that scenario.

The Peach is very easy to manoeuvre (really tight turning circle), fine to get up and down kerbs, it's not light to lift but I can get the chassis in and out of the boot easily enough. It's only as wide as a single pushchair which is enormously useful to get around shops and through doorways, and last but not least it looks very attractive. If you're like me then as a new mum of twins you will be glad of all the times it catches people's eyes and they come up to you for a chat! A plain black pushchair just wouldn't get the same attention but you feel really good pushing one of these, and the babies look hugely cute in their carrycots. Plus I'm told they hold their value quite well, so you can sell it on when yours have outgrown it.

Thanks guys. Is there any difference between pear and peach? I didn't realise there were 2 different types?

I'm not sure of the specifics, the iCandy site is pretty good to look at. The peach is lovely to look at and I prefer it visually for it's colours etc but we went for the pear in the end, partly budget I think given that we needed a new house and car too. Whatever you choose you will still get stopped, everyone loves twins!

I'm having twins in 3 weeks and we're hoping to get a Mountain Buggy Duet as it's a side by side but fits through doors. It also fits two maxi cosi car seats.

I had an iCandy Cherry with dd1 and loved it so looked at the iCandy doubles but they look a faff to get in and out of the car and the back seat is squashed so once the babies are bigger you'll need a new pushchair (IMO).

We have got the bases for the car seats as I didn't with dd1 and was fine but trying to strap 2 car seats in plus dd1 in her toddler seat was going to be a nightmare and we felt it was important to make life easier for ourselves - but it's perfectly fine to buckle them in with a seatbelt.

Congratulations on your twins xx

I have the firstwheels city twin and I love it

It has carrycots, seats and with car adaptors can take the maxicosi seats. Each type of seat just slits on and off, and you can have different types on each side and each side facing either way independently.

It is light, though the footprint of the chassis is quite large when folded.

It is side by side, which was important to me as I didn't want one twin stuck behind the other if I could avoid it.

It looks fab I kind of feel like I should have a nanny uniform on and be pushing it round Chelsea, not taking it off road over to the farm shop! It copes with the off road stuff well though (though perhaps not as well as one with large front weeks would).

It is narrower than a standard disabled access door, so I can plan days out by asking about disabled facilities

I really love it. I'm not sure many people stock it (though I've no idea why!), but it is available online. I got mine from the kiddicare store, but it was the stock model as they were discontinuing to make room for out and about nippers. They do come up regularly on eBay though.

Good luck picking one - I would advise really taking your time. It is one of te most expensive items you need to buy, and I think it is the one that will affect your life the most. If you choose a cot and then regret your choice, it will be far easier to live with than referring your pushchair choice. So take your time, borrow things to try if you can (TBH I'd take an empty borrowed pushchair round town for an hour if you can - will help you see what is important to you!)

Good luck and enjoy your twins It really is a fabulous adventure every day

Oops, lots of typos ... most important one is perhaps 'referring', which should be 'regretting' .....

I have the Baby Jogger City Select, as do many other twin mums around here. And also others w a baby and a toddler. It is amazing. For starters, its bigger than the iCandy (a twin mum w 14 mth old boys is changing to the BJCS for this reason) and the seats go in any number of combinations: carry cots, car seats, normal seats and in any arrangement you like. We currently have the girls facing each other (only pram I know that can do that). It steers really well, is v sturdy, the hoods provide excellent protection and the brake is v effective. That it all pulls apart means you can store / transport it easily. As it is a tandem, it goes everywhere (its roughly the same size as the Phil & Teds). I have had mine for 7 months now and can't praise it highly enough.