pushchairs for newborns - help me!

[Nancy54]

Hi everyone,

just looking into buying my pushchair for my twins (26 weeks preg at the mo). i've had a look through the old threads and found
firstwheels city twin
and
mountain buggy duet side by side which both look quite nice but to be honest i really have no idea! any experience of these?

has any got any other recommendations?

do you think that it is essential to buy one that you can attach the car seat to?

am hoping to be able to buy whatever i choose second hand as it all seems seriously expensive!!! arg......

thanks for any advice, experiences

Hi and congratulations!

Its such a minefield but personally I would say yes, its good to have a travel system for the car seats if you drive a fair bit. You don't have to transfer a sleeping baby, you can just move the seat.

You then need to decide if you want a tandem or side by side, and the ability to parent face or not.

Also if you have a narrow front door, it's helpful to have one that will fit through.

I eventually went for the Bugaboo Donkey which has been brilliant for the first year but I am planning on selling it when they grow out of the first stage car seats because the chassis is massive and it's a PITA to take the seats off when you want to fold it. We also had to change our car as there was no way we could fit the chassis, seats / carry cots and dog in the back of our Peugeot 307!

Jane have released a new double pram its called a Twone. Looks awesome, not sure how much it will be though but folds seriously small and has 80 different configurations!!!

Can't comment on the twins bit, but we had a Jane system which I seriously loved - only now DS is 20mo have we gone to a stick pushchair.

We had the lie flat carseat - it was brilliant and doubled as a travel cot when DS was little.

Can't recommend the products enough.

I'm 14weeks and torn between the icandy pear and the bugaboo donkey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=k3xOrYi_HAU

I think the pear is exactly what i'm looking for, stream lined and allows for car seats. Which as someone else said, means you haven't got to move the babies individually. I've look on ebay and you can get them for about £400 - £500 second hand.

hey mrs daisaku!! we were on the small bump thread too weren't we! sorry i forgot to reply to you! i am really excited about having twins but rather daunted at the same time! TWO BABIES!!!! arg!!! Are you going to find out the sex? i'm having a boy and a girl!

re the buggies, i'm having a bit of a nightmare choosing to be honest. I really like the look of the donkey! not so sure about the pear, im not sure i like the fact that one baby is underneath but it does look compact and easy to use.

the real problem is that i live in france and having investigated this week i have discovered that all their double buggies are the size of army tanks!!! don't know why!! so i'm considering getting my parents to buy me one in england and bring it out when they come in august!!!

Awwwww nancy a boy and girl, that's lovely. I must say that I'm a little jealous. The consultant recons we're having indentical twin boys (which is fantastic to know at only 14weeks) and especially as my Husband and I have three girls between us, (two are his, one is mine). And sorry for not recognising you were on the small bump thread.

I do love the look of the donkey, but for me it would be getting around shops with it being so wide, which is why the icandy seems like the only option. But I do agree about the babies being at different heights, its such a difficult decision to make.... :oS

Definitely see your predicament with living in france, will you not have an opportunity to get over to the UK to test out a few doubles? And then get your parents to bring it out to you?

wow, 5 kids!!! that's great that you're having boys then if you've already got three girls! It's amazing to have identicals!! Mine are my first which adds to my total cluelessness!!

i was supposed to be going to the uk next week but i've had some complications with the pregnancy (nothing too serious, we hope) so i'm not allowed to travel.

I'm actually thinking of going for the mountain buggy duet - it's less expensive and narrower than the donkey. it does actually exist in france but more expensive than in uk . i've got my mum on the case!!!

I don't think having one so car seats can go on is a huge priority to be honest. Ive got 2 sets of twins and always just moved them about and out in the buggy. I think the huge thing if you walk is making sure it fits through your door! I loved my buggy from the girls and they were still in it when I had the boys but had a new back door fitted and the buggy didn't fit through it so had to get a tandem to get me through winter and putting them in the buggy inside in the warm and for if they fell asleep on the school run. They went back in my preferred buggy once they stopped sleeping as much so I'm back to my side by side :-) I recommend pump up wheels as well as when 2 get bigger and heavier it is easier :-)

Hi I'm 23 wks with twins and considering the baby jogger city select as it is tandem, parent facing and takes car seats. I have a mountain buggy urban that I bought 2nd hand but it doesn't fit through my front door, i have patio doors i can get it through but then it doesnt fit through the side gate so all in all a bit impractical really. I think the duet is a lot narrower though and may take car seats. I've tried the iCandy pear and found it really heavy with 2 seats on, and that was empty! The iCandy peach blossom seemed much better but I think there are problems getting hold of them due to a break in at an iCandy warehouse (so I was told). Good luck! It's a bloody minefield!

Forgot to add, being able to put car seats on was a godsend with my first baby as he would not lie flat in the carrycot so it really helped me get out of the house plus if we'd been out in the car and he was asleep I didn't have to disturb him to put him in the buggy. Really handy if your just popping to the shops or something.

Hiya. We have a mountain buggy (the newest one, think it's the duet not the duo) and it's brilliant. When ds and dd were little we used the carrycots (which you have to buy separately) or you can also attach the car seats. Being able to attach the car seats was an absolute godsend - it only takes about 30 seconds to get the buggy up and the kids in, and if you're not going far it's fantastic. Now they're a bit bigger we've ditched the carrycots and are using it as a pushchair instead. It's really manoevreable (sp?) and isn't that much wider than normal pushchairs - I haven't yet found a door it can't get through!! Only downsides are that it's expensive, and with the car seats on it is quite wide. I know other twin mums who have front and back systems instead of a side by side, and they don't find them very stable and have to have a separate pushchair for rougher walks, but with this one you don't need to do that.

The Emmaljunga Twin Nitro looks wonderful, I'd pick it over a Bugaboo donkey! Reversible seats, separate reclining footrests, sturdy frame.

I think they are one of the few makes that do a double carrycot too so the babies can lie next to each other - how adorable!

thanks everyone!

twinniemum - yeah i think i'm prob gonna go for the mb duet, thanks for confirming what i hoped!! can you put ANY maxicosi car seat on it?

barleysugar - have just had a look at emmaljunga - it looks really nice, i really like the way they're together rather than two separate single parts put together. however, it's 79 cm wide at widest point and just measured my front door - wouldn't fit through!

Hi Nancy, I'm 21 weeks pg with twins (non-ID boys) in France. Whereabouts are you? Fwiw I am planning to get the Mountain Buggy Duet in the UK in a few weeks' time.

hey thereisttheball, i live in Nancy (hence the name!). Where are you? How long have you been here? How is your pregnancy going?

My mum is hopefully buying me the mb duet in uk on wednesday, i think it's the best option for me. Have you noticed too that all the double buggies in france are HUGE?

hi all, we have the duet, it's really manouverable and gets through most doors, fairly light too. Only niggle is that the carricots are a bit of a faff to get on and off - only an issue if you use them off the pram (we use them instead of moses baskets with our 11-weekers).

hmm yes beyoglu i was planning on using them off the pram too. how much of a faff are we talking?

HI Nancy - I'm just outside Paris. Pg going OK so far. Am 21 weeks and starting to feel less mobile. I have a few complications that require constant monitoring, including gestational diabetes, so I am in and out of the local laboratoire d'analyses medicales. They know me well now! I've been here 3 years now but this is my first pregnancy here so I'm still figuring out the system. You?

Yeah me too, been here nearly 8 years but it's my first pregnancy. I've been "en arret" for the past 7 weeks, had to stay on bedrest for the first month because i'd been having contractions and my cervix had shortened. Things are better now so i'm still 'en repos' but not on bedrest anymore thank god because i was starting to go slightly mad! Still quite annoying as i can't really move anywhere, have to take it easy, etc. But as long as the little ones arrive well and not too early it'll all be worth it!

Are you still working?

still figuring out system too, i've been pretty impressed with it so far to be honest, i think they're very thorough.

My midwife did however tell me yesterday that apparently if you have a CS, they don't let your partner come in with you (don't know if this is just in Nancy), even if it's a planned CS and they don't give you the baby (well, babies for us!!) while you're in recovery which i think is a bit rubbish.

Hi nancy, I think t takes any maxi cosy, that's what they told us in the shop but I have only used our car seats on it so couldn't confirm. Good luck! Having twins is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me and we are so lucky

that's it, mountain buggy duet bought!! thanks for advice everyone!

ah and that's lovely twinniemum, it does feel rather special!! can't wait to meet them (but hopefully they won't come too early!)

Nancy, not that much of a faff - I can now take them off with baby in without waking them! I'd recommend practising a few times before they arrive though :)