Prams - would you have bought something different?

[SunSparkle]

Hi

First time mum here. I’ve heard a lot of people say they bought huge travel systems with car seats, carrycots and big seats spending £££ to then switch to a lighter stroller type within 6-12 months.

If you were buying a pram again to last from newborn, what would you buy now? Would you go with a lie flat stroller with no travel system?

Tell me what you think before I go and buy something.

I love my travel system. It's just a Joie chrome, wasn't at all expensive (about £350 for chassis, car seat, carrycot and pushchair). I've used it for over 4 years, and for much of that time I've had no car so it has done THOUSANDS (not exaggerating) of miles, carried tons of shopping, been over all kinds of terrain and is still going strong, currently doing 5 miles a day back and forth on the school run.

^For clarity, I'm taking the baby on the school run to pick up my older child, he's not still using the pushchair to get to school.

Actually, now you've said about the steps, I reckon you'll want one of the microfolds which can do the properly one handed fold. They are quite impressive actually. I wouldn't be afraid to spend a bit more on one to get a decent one either. You can find loads of comparisons by googling microfold buggies - youtube good for this too - and go to shops and try them out. Take a heavy bag and carry that in one hand while you pick up the collapsed buggy.

You won't be able to bump up 15 steps. Anything big enough to do that will weigh a ton and you just won't do it - also baby would likely fall out/get an injury. You'll need to either carry them up in the car seat, leave buggy on the street and carry sleeping toddler into the house, or carry baby and bring pram up one handed. A soft carrycot you can put into any lie flat pram is also a good idea.

And a decent sling. I recommend a stretchy wrap from newborn - 9 months ish and then a buckle carrier with a nice long back and wide leg support.

@SunSparkle

My lifestyle and needs are:

• don't drive but do need pram to go on buses, long pavement walks and fit in the cars of people who pick me up for trips out e.g. grandparents
• I have 15 or so steps up to my front door so I either need to be able to collapse it and carry buggy and baby, or it have robust suspension and big wheels so I can pull it backwards up the steps (without giving baby an injury)
• the local parks have lots of woodland so needs to cope with paths made up of dirt, sticks and stones

Because we don't drive, I doubt we will have a infant car seat - will get a fixed 0-4 years one for grandparents car.

Looking at maybe the Baby Jogger City Mini or GT from what some people are recommending on here, or maybe a Mountain Buggy. I loved the idea of a YoYo because it's so small but it just won't cope with stones and sticks with it's tiny wheels I don't think.

Definitely the babyjogger city mini GT. I was same as you don't drive went on public transport a lot and loads of walking in country paths etc. Well worth every penny

I'd buy a second hand bugaboo buffalo like I did. I've got a almost 4 year old an almost 2 year old. It's still in use. I did use a joie pushchair for the very end of the second pregnancy because I had bad spd and the buffalo is heavy to lift out of the car. Hated it, nowhere to put shopping especially if seat reclined and nowhere for nappy bag especially once the child gets out as it just tips.

Brilliant to push, great on uneven paths/grass/sand, handle adjustable (dh tall me short both comfortable) love the extending hood. It's big and heavy but I don't take the bus (as they're so bad here)

If I could do it again, I'd buy second hand. I have had a lot of use from my travel system, but could have saved myself a fortune if Id gone for a used one.

I bought bugaboo bee.

My criteria was light enough to carry up 7 steps (though I have carried it up 30 steps a few times) with a detachable bassinet to lift up more stairs (first floor flat with 3 flights of stairs)

Facing me was important

And something that wasn't super flimsy but not a huge pram either!

I was really really happy. Still use daily with 19m old he has always loved it.

I had an amazing deal on an icandy travel system and was over the moon, 3 months of use and I hated it. Was just slightly too big for the car, bulky and awkward and my son grew out of the carrycot way before he was old enough to not be in it anymore. I coped for another few months but when his head was touching the hood at 9 months I gave up and bought a 2nd hand bugaboo bee. Another good deal as it was pristine but so much cheaper than new.
I absolutely love it (it’s similar to the yo-yo I would say)

Does everything a travel system does but is also as small as a stroller and my son still fits with plenty of space at nearly 3.

I’m due a new baby so have replaced a few parts (the handlebar mechanism and foam) and you can buy all the bits you’d need.

I can’t wait to use it with my 2nd and I will definitely not need to swap to a stroller down the line.

To everyone who has the Baby Jogger city mini (sorry to derail thread) do you find the cosy toes difficult to keep on? Mine doesn't attach to the actual stroller seat other than having the straps threaded through (it is an official one) but I find it slips down and then I struggle to get DD into the straps properly. Did anyone else have this problem or is it just me?

With DD1 I had an iCandy (forget which model) I used through to toddlerhood.

With DD2 I ditched the iCandy when she was c. 8 months and bought a Quinny Xapp.

It was amazing and I wish I'd bought one to use for DD1 rather then lugging round a heavy buggy for almost 2 years!

We have a mountain buggy swift that gets bumped up and down our from 15 steps daily. It’s relatively light at 9kg, and works well on general off road

I wouldn't get a different pram as such but I'd buy secondhand. Things like an icandy peach are great with a baby (icandy bassinet is suitable for overnight sleeping so used as the cot too) but become so heavy with a toddler.

Everybody’s lifestyle is different which leads to different wants and needs from a pram.

I live in the country and made frequent trips to town so my travel system lived in the car. I loved the versatility of it, car seat, bassinet, rear/forward facing seat. We are still using it at age 2. We have an umbrella fold buggy for travel and it’s like going from driving a 4x4 to a rickshaw!

Try loads out and think about where and how you will be using it.

Another one here with Baby Jogger envy!

I had a Cosatto Giggle - I had a huge list of criteria (I think reversibility was the main one) and then a beautiful Cosatto came up on sale at a branch of Toys R Us before its closure. Pluses: whole system for £300 including extras, four year warranty from Cosatto, well built and we got loads of compliments on the design wherever we went.

But - it weighed an average amount in itself, and that's before I added in my 75% centile child and a bag of stuff, and the need to go up/down a few steps home. Quite wide/bulky. Can't collapse one-handed. And she was barely in it for the first 8 months as we used slings anyway.

I think in practice something like a YoYo or Bugaboo Bee would've been better for us. And buying second-hand, actually.

City dweller here. Everyone I know did what you describe and ended up with two or even three pushchairs / prams. I had a hand-me-down for my first baby but when I bought new for DC2 I bought the top of the range lay-flat stroller and it did everything I needed it to.
The only thing I do think it's worth forking out for is a reversible option so when they're very tiny you can have them facing you.
If you do a lot of country walking, then of course you need something different, big wheels etc.

I bought a cheaper Hauck travel system (about £300) and regretted it as it was terrible even over short grass. DD1 also wouldn't tolerate going in the bassinet. I sold it and bought a second hand Mountain Buggy Swift and wish I'd just got that from the start. DD1 was also happy in it (no idea why, assuming because she could see more 🤷🏻‍♀️). The MB was fantastic over all kinds of terrain inc steps and was un-killable. When I sold it on it had 4 kids under its belt (2 were mine!) and it had been to multiple festivals, on muddy walks, beaches, massively overloaded etc.
When DD2 arrived I bought a second hand MB double buggy, used it for 6 months (DD1 was fine on a buggy board after that), then sold it on again. All it cost me was the Ebay fees.

In practice, IMO people get it wrong so often and get new ones quickly as until you have the baby and are using it daily you don't necessarily know exactly which features you need, what suits your baby and how well it will perform in real life conditions. Pushing a pram around a shop floor doesn't tell you anything about pushing it along a dirt track (friends bought expensive buggies with 'off road' tyres & capabilities but they were crap in mud and I remember one walk where we spent ages digging mud out of their suspension systems after the wheels gummed up. My MB was fine!) or up a hill fully loaded.

For those that had the Baby Jogger City Mini or another lie flat stroller from birth, did you get a generic cocoon for the lie flat seat? If so, which one? Are there any parent facing soft cocoons?

Is there a cocoon where you still have access to the BJCM fold handle? I don’t want a big carrycot.

I used a Phil &Ted’s Cocoon with my BJCM. The attachment points roughly line up*, but I never used them, the cocoon stayed in place just on friction and gravity. I used the cocoon forward facing and the other way.

If I need to fold the buggy, I just lifted the cocoon out and held that in one hand and folded the BJCM with the other.

We have the bugaboo bee. It's quite light, easy to collapse and it would be really good for public transport. The seat unit folds whilst intact too and it can be used parent facing. I have the car seat adaptors and mainly just use the car seat whilst he's very small (usually no longer than an hour) and will switch to the seat unit in a few months time. I did buy the cocoon which you can get for newborn but I just never used as the car seat was just so much more practical as I drive a lot, so I returned it! The only thing is for going for walks over rougher terrain the wheels just don't seem sturdy enough. But balanced against having something light and portable it's fine.

@SqidgeBum I totally agree about the Adorra , I've just today turned DD outward facing at 15 months (). It's such a versatile system, we had the pram/carrycot for downstairs naps and out and about, the seat we have used since 6 months and still loads of room in it, great that it was parent facing and now world facing. The car seat is one of the best too.

I would absolutely buy the same again, it was very reasonably priced. If we have another DC we will be using a sling, backpack and maybe a boogy board thing but still with the Adorra.

The only fault with it is the wheels aren't good off road but I bought a second hand Mura and they are cross compatible. And the Mura is heavy and takes up loads of room in the boot.

Absolutely!
I brought the silver cross wayfarer. Yes okay it looks nice but so unpractical! X

Forgot to say as well OP that you can use the Adorra from birth as a lie flat if you buy an extra bit (I think it's called a baby cocoon?). I got the carrycot instead of a Moses basket which was great but would have been a pain with your steps. I'm not sure I could carry baby and haul any pushchair up that many so I'd be carrying baby, putting them in playpen or similar and then dashing back out to get the pushchair in.

Yes totally! We bought the Silver Cross Wave as we planned to have 2 children very closely together. Which we did and with all the extras spent a fortune in the end. The pram looked really lovely, but was heavy, especially when set up for the 2 of them and a lot of faffing about, and working out which bits you would need. We also tried a mothercare stroller and a Silver cross pop and I hated both. We discovered Out n About nippers on a Neilson holiday. They were for the nannies to use but you could borrow them (singles and doubles) and they were amazing! We have got rid of the silver cross and have a single and a double and have joie 360 car seats which are amazing and was particularly great when heavily pregnant and putting first child in.
I believe the nipper is suitable from Birth if you put an insert in, it lies flat and you can get a carrycot for it. I was always really jealous of a friends Doona car seat as you just pull the wheels out and off you go so one of those for the first year teamed with the Nipper would have been perfect for us I think!

First time round I bought a lie flat stroller it was brilliant so much lighter /getting around places/in and out the car/on the plane. All my friends seemed to have travel systems then by a year old a stroller.
With dt I had a tandem travel system that was great for getting into shops etc then a light weight double stroller for my parents to use which was OK but not compatible with village shops/buses.