Carrycot - is it necessary?

[RozzyIsAMum]

Hello everyone I am new to mumsnet and just wanted to ask some advice!
I am interested in buying the Mamas & Papas Sola buggy. However for a newborn you are supposed to get the Carrycot for £100 so that the baby can lie totally flat as is recommended.
I am just wondering, is it necessary for me to buy this Carrycot? The baby would lie nearly flat in the buggy without it. If the baby wasn't lying in the buggy for long periods of time do you think I could manage without the Carrycot?
I've noticed a lot of brands want you to buy an extra Carrycot-type thing for the baby's first 3 months. £100 just seems like an awful lot of money to spend but I would spend it if it meant that the baby's back would not be properly supported without it.
Advice would be much appreciated, thank you! :)

Well, I'm very glad I bought the carrycot for my pram for ds2 because he had silent reflux and would only ever sleep/lie on his tummy. He wouldn't have been as to do that in the pram seat.

As it happens he grew out of the carrycot around the same time as his silent reflux stopped (bout 5months) so for us it was very much needed.

It all depends though. It is important for babies to lie as flat as possible in the early days but if you think the pram lies flat enough then don't worry about the carrycot.

Yes, you do need the baby to lie flat - otherwise their body weight puts pressure on the hip joints and pelvis. If you don't want to buy a carrycot, then how about just using a sling (not the Baby Bjorn type, but one in which the baby can lie in fetal position - ask for recommendations on here). Then you can buy the buggy when the baby is 5/6 months. Alternatively buy a second-hand buggy - friday ad or ebay or at an nct sale.

we bought the carry cot for our pram and used it instead of a moses basket at night. It also cost about £100 and DS grew out of it at 3.5 months. I totaly sympathise with the dilema because if we hadn't doubled it up as a crib at night i'm not sure i would have bothered. Especially as our buggy also took a car seat which we ended up using a lot anyway.

Hiya

We have the Sola and we got the carrycot, but only because DH's mum bought it for us. As DS was a winter baby (and it's been a horrible one!) I was very pleased we had it, but he was out of it and into the pram base at just before 4 months. He probably could have gone longer in it, but he's a nosey parker so I moved him into the seat unit where he could see out! The Sola seat does lie flat, but not completely flat. Like monkoray we thought about using the carrycot as a moses basket at night, but because we're on a second floor flat I didn't want to be hefting it up and down the stairs everytime we went out, but if you're on the ground floor it might be something to consider? M&P sell a different mattress to make it suitable for overnight sleeping and I believe their moses basket stands are suitable for the Sola carrycot too.

HTH!

(Ooh, bit of advice, I would bypass the Sola footmuff and just get a universal one - it's wildly overpriced and is a very odd fit - unless I yank it up, it sits around DS's hips.. Otherwise, it's a fab pram and I'm very pleased with it!)

I bought the £100 carrycot for my travel system - and it's been invaluable. I go into town with it everyday (easier than sling, as any shopping can go in under it too, and you don't need to carry the changing bag too. Also use it as a moses basket for naps, and overnight sleeping as it's ok for that. Don't like using carseat as a substitute as less support/funny position to be in for a long time (when tiny), so carrycot works for me. Hope it lasts til 6 mths, but dc is very long, so not convinced it will!

I bought the carry cot and we used to for both babies to sleep in for 8 months each [embarrassed] DD bawled and bawled th night I tried to put her in the proper cot and had to put the carrycot in the cot for her to sleep.
We didn't have a moses basket and the carrycot was much more solid and easier to wash.

Sold the pram at a NCT sale for a good return a few years later.

I do think it's very I important.. And if you divide the 100£ over the 4, 5 or more months, then it's not that much..

Another argument: if it's a Winter baby they are warmer in there and for a Summer baby, as mine were, they're much fresher in there with the air circulating around them than stapped into a buggy

Everything you do with a baby comes with a scare story as to how you should be doing it better/ spending more money/ working a lot harder and if you don't (insert awful outcome here) will happen. Some of us really can't afford this level of stuff.

I couldn't afford anything for DD2, I had a budget of £500 to entirely kit her out from scratch pre-birth. I did it, with a lot of freecycling and severely adjusted expectations and am now in a position to be replacing the things I want to replace (she is 6 months).

You need to put baby into something that is approved from birth, but if you honestly haven't got the money then you have no choice. Do the best you can and don't kick yourself over what you can't do. What about a second hand carrycot? eBay is bound to have some listed.

With DD1 we had a pushchair which was suitable from birth with a lie flat mode. With the hood and apron, it looked a bit like a pram/carry cot and I had no qualms about taking her out in it for long walks.

A carry cot would probably look better and might be more comfortable for the baby, and is probably best if you intend him/her sleeping in it for any length of time, but I don't think it's necessary with the right pushchair. I don't know much about the Sola though.

You could probably get a carrycot/lie flat pram to use for the first couple of months second hand very cheaply or free and then move to the Sola when baby is ready. Freecycle and Gumtree are both overflowing with baby stuff for sale or to give away.
We only used our carrycot for 2 months before it's bulk and the fact that they are not allowed on buses (in Edinburgh) forced us to use the pushchair bit. It lay flat enough for DS to be comfortable and safe.