First time pushchair purchase questions

[QueenOfThePumpkins]

Hi everyone,

All being well, I will be having twins around February time
I am just starting to think about equipment I will need. I've done lots of research and think I've decided what to get, but I have found it a bit mind-boggling so want to make sure I haven't got anything wrong.

First question - to go for a "travel system" or keep things separate? We do drive around a lot. But it seems like the car seats that can be used with pushchairs only go up to a few months, and then a new car seat would be needed? So the "travel system" setup is no good after a year at most. If that's the case then I'd rather go for a car seat that will last for much longer and just pick the babies straight out and into the pushchair (which is suitable from birth). Having watched videos, travel systems do seem a bit of a faff as well.

Secondly, the pushchair we are looking at is also compatible with a matching carry cot. Would this mainly be used when leaving the house on foot? I don't really get the advantage, other than not waking babies who are sleeping in it to move them into the pushchair. We are planning on having Moses baskets for the house, so thinking we will probably skip the carry cot thing. Have I missed something though?

As you can tell, I am completely inexperienced with this stuff! Have I got the right end of the stick?

The pushchair we've chosen is the new Mountain Buggy duet, as it seems to be well reviewed, is nice and narrow for a double and should handle our regular country walks. Certainly open to other recommendations though :)

A lot of people find it easier to carry the baby in a travel system type car seat rather than take them in and out every time - especially if you have two babies! A car seat can be carried in one hand, put down on the floor to open the front door or car door etc. A baby needs two hands to be carried and you can't just plonk them down! I would definitely get car seats which can be taken in and out for at least the first few months.

Don't underestimate the travel system! As pp said being able to take baby out of the car in the car seat and clip quickly onto the pram when you want to nip into a shop quickly is so so useful! The first car seats we had were used until approx. 10/12 months.

Hmm, food for thought, thanks both! But don't the adaptors take ages to fiddle around with too? It seems to me that it would be no quicker/easier to reassemble the pushchair than to move the baby itself? Or do the adaptors just stay on the pushchair permanently?

I think with twins a travel system may be a big help. You can (although maybe not for long due to weight) carry two car seats out to the car at once. I wouldnt fancy carrying two small babies just in my arms.

The adaptors for my travel system just click on, no fiddling

I never once put my car seat into my travel system, it was a big waste of money. When they're a newborn, they should only be in a car seat for a very short period of time, so you're better transferring them into the pram anyway. Mine grew out of his stage 0+ car seat at a year.

Unless your chosen pram has a lie flat mode, you will need to use the carrycot until they're 6 months old.

If I was to choose with hindsight, I would have chosen something that's easy to fold up like the out and about nipper - it's a pain taking the pram to bits to put it in the car.

Friend with twins carries them in/ out of house in car seats if going in the car. But they were in the pram part of the carrycot otherwise (not sure it fitted the car seats) and now they're 6 mo (4 and a bit corrected), they're in the pushchair things.

Still need a huge car though for it

I used the option to put the car seat on the frame once ever across two babies. Have never got the advantage of that at all.

There are pushchairs that lie flat so are suitable from birth but carrycots look much more comfortable. And if they are sleeping you can slid the cot out from the MB Duet easily and carry them in to keep sleeping if wheeling buggy in isn't an option.

I had the Duet for a 22 month gap and it was really good.

Generally a carrycot is going to be better for a tiny babies back than a pushchair seat, as they are very definitely flat, and supportive. If the pushchair lays completely flat then it will be fine for them from birth, but if you’ve the space for the carrycot then ideally it would be better.

Could you skip getting Moses baskets and just use the carrycot? This is what we did with DS2. Had the next2me crib upstairs and the pushchair carrycot downstairs.

Regarding the car seats, the 0size seats definitely make the whole seat set up that bit more expensive as you do need the second seat later on as you say, and this was a serious consideration, but we decided (and this was just with one babe) that there would likely be times when you just needed to carry them in on the seat.
For example having done some shopping, I would carry a sleeping DS2 in in the seat, then unpack the car. Had I had to lift in him out the seat, he would always wake up, which would then make unpacking the car a whole lot more challenging.
Again, let’s say your nipping into Asda for some milk, most of the adapters take seconds to put on, then click the seat on, if you had to get the baby’s out the seat and disturb them, you could easily make a quick nip in and out, take a lot longer and feed like a massive task.

However, I’m saying this having only had to buy 1 extra seat, not 2, so double the cost.

One of the mums at baby sensory uses a sling to carry the two babies inside, because you can’t lift them both out/into the car on your own otherwise, I can see in this sort of situation, being able to put them onto the pushchair would be helpful, but equally the sling set up works well for her.

It probably is 6 of one, half a dozen of the other on this one. It’s trying to balance up whether the extra cost is going to be worth the convenience it’ll allow you at times.

Don't forget to look at the guidelines for how long a baby should be in a car seat for. It's a surprisingly short time, although as my son is nearly 4 I can't remember the exact guidelines and they may have changed.
I do remember that it's very hard to get very much use out of the concept of moving the car seat from car to buggy within the safe guidelines.

No faff taking car seat in and out- one button to unlock it from the isofix base and click onto the pushchair. Then one button to remove from pushchair and click into isofix base. Far easier than umbuckling and maneuvering a baby.

Will you be parking your car on a covered area (garage or covered drive) or on the street? It would be a pain to have to strap two babies into their car seats in the rain. Much easier to pop the seats into the frame and dash to/from the house, and do the faffing inside.

With two lift out car seats could be a blessing in disguise.. you need two hands for tiny babies and a lot of the trolley seats aren’t supportive if it’s a quick run in for milk popping two seats on could be a lot smoother.

As for carry cots we used ds’s until he was 6 months, it’s completely flat and safe for overnight sleep so technically if we were out late and he was asleep we didn’t need to wake him on return to put him to bed. He did have a Moses basket too.. he was a pukey baby so options were good. If the carrycots got a mattress or would take one it’s handy for pukers too since you can change a sheet (Moses basket sizes fit so no extra cost) on the go rather than trying to dry a pram up quickly.

We’re going to have a gap of less than a year so I’ve got my double already. And we went with a carry cot, no travel system (we don’t drive and we already have ds’s infant seat which he’ll just be out of). One thing a sales rep pointed out to us was seat recline options, this isn’t an issue with side by sides but a lot of the tandems were funny buggers like if top baby lay back bottom had to or they lost all of their head room, or one seat only went so far back. And then I’m a short arse so a lot of them were too high for me to be comfortable with. We’ve got the mountain buggy duet in waiting.

With twins it's really useful to be able to carry them in from the car in their seats, especially when they start crawling/moving around. Our double buggy didn't take car seats (baby jogger city mini) but never missed this option. We also just used the main seats from birth so didn't have carrycots.

I have a mountain buggy. Although single not double

I would advise getting the carrycot plus. You want newborns to be laid flat for their spines and their breathing. It also isn't parent facing without the carrycot and then the parents facing seat it changes into

The travel system.... well.... I bought a car seat that the mountain buggy has adapters for. A cybex. (Which also lays flat when outside the car so meets current recommendations of newborns only being in carseats for 30 mins because it restricts their airways). The adapters are easy to take on and off. But I have only used that set up
once in 7 weeks! I always use the carrycot.

I usually say this on parenting groups/pages:

You will never regret choosing to have an infant carrier** car seat. They are brilliant things.

A travel system is still essentially a pram and pushchair which you will need. You don't HAVE to put the car seat on the frame. That said, it's handy if you just have to nip into a shop.

Also -

Infant carriers are suitable for all babies and usually last a fair while! My nearly 2yo would still fit in his. It's a good chance to track the height and weight of your child to determine whether you need a height or weight based seat for after to get the most for your money and the safest option.

Ahh... I had no idea about the 30 minute thing. We live a 30 minute drive from everywhere anyway, so that's no good!! It doesn't sound like the travel system would work for us, though the advantages sound really good :(
Thanks so much for all the feedback everyone!

Car seats that last longer than the infant baby seats are a compromise for small babies. Infant carseats are safer as they fit better. Especially as you're having twins and there is more chance of smaller newborns.

I never put my car seat on the pram but it is useful having a seat that comes out. Able to strap baby in the house and then quickly get in the car in bad weather. Weigh clinic has a no pram policy so being able to carry seat in and hold toddlers hand was safer.

Carrycot on pram, I used mine and loved it, I liked blankets rather than coats on tiny baby and therefore you could remove blankets when you go into a shop easily.