What the heck pram or buggy do I buy for a newborn?

[Paranoid1stTimer]

Hello - sorry if this question has been answered a billion times before but I can't quite find what I need....

We are expecting our 1st baby in March 2008 and the prospective Grandparents kindly want to buy us a pram/buggy. I've started looking and am totally overwhelmed with the amount of choice out there.... Bugaboos (!?!) Micralites Travel systems Buggy boards.... I am totally lost.

We need to know, what do we ask for - pram, buggy, travel system? I've heard you only use a pram for 6 months then onto a buggy but you can't use a buggy for a newborn... Help please! Thanks soooooooo much in advance for your advice.. I am a complete newbie to all this maternal stuff but I am quite happy to learn the lingo

Whether you use it for more than the first 6 months will depend on whether you make the right choice in the first place. I took ages choosing ours and I still use mainly that at 16 months for shopping and walks, although I do have a cheapy stroller for nipping to the doctors/corner shop etc.

We chose a travel system with a lie flat carrycot. I adored this because baby was facing me like a pram but I could put the seat straight in to the car. He could be sitting up or lying down dependent on whether he was asleep/awake. He used this till 5 months. Then he went in to it as a pushchair forward facing, which is how it still is.

Things to look for:

manoeverability - ous is a 3 wheeler with a swivel front wheel - you can turn it one handed on the spot something I've never managed with a 4-wheeler.

height of the bar - if you are tall this will really matter for your back

shopping basket - how big and accessible it is - we had to compromise on this and I hang stuff off the sides instead

can you wash it? colour matters here as you may have a sicky baby, or once they are older food and mud become issues.

accessories available and cost of these - accessoies for ours cost a small fortune but you can use generic ones

how easy it is to put up and down when you are standing in the rain

does it fit easily in your car and the weight for lifting it in to the boot.

where are you going to keep it in the house.

Take your time. Go to somewhere like John Lewis and try loads out. Get a feel for what you like. Then go home and google for reviews on the ones you like and compare features.

I would find the infant car seat that suits your car best and only then decide whether to bother with a pram to which it can fit or not rather than as a travel system which may well not meets all your needs.

Whatever pram/pushchair/buggy you choose should lie flat for a newborn and you may want a carrycot which baby can sleep in overnight and be snug for daytime outings, as it could still be chilly in March. By about 4 months many babies want to be propped up for part of the time but may prefer to face the pusher than forwards , not all allow you to do that, even the more expensive ones. Some have to come apart to be put in a car boot - ICandy, Bugaboos etc which can be a pita.

You want to catch Lady Victoria of Cake ,as resident expert !

Oh and try and hold out until January to get what you choose as they will likely be in the sale.

look at your lifestyle.

and its always better top get a good car seat that fits yor car correctly than compromise on safety in getting a cheaper travel system IMO.

do you use public transport at all? how much storage space do you have? do you do much walking? around town or off road?

and whats your budget?

Depends on how you mean to travel. For instance, you might want to go for one from mamas & papas that looks like a lay down pram to start with, but then you can change the seat unit around to look more like a buggy when they are older.
Alternatively, there are prams that you can just have the basic chassis and then add on the separate car seat or carrycot, finally ending with the seat unit.
If you travel mostly on public transport, then you have to consider that you will need to fold up the pram so something like above will not do.
If you mainly travel by car, how big is your car boot space? Do you have room for a chassis and a carrycot?
I personally had a Graco car seat for both of mine together with a in car base which was great as you didn't have to mess around with the seatbelt every time you put the car seat in/took it out. The Hauck Infinity pram is excellent to use with this as I bought it with extra adapters so that I could use it with a Graco car seat. Basically, baby in car seat - in car onto base - out of car in car seat - clipped onto pram - off we go.

and remember babies shouldnt really be in car seats for more than 2.5hours, and that includes travelling times.

personally found the travel sytem thing a bit of a red herring. the number of times i needed/wanted to transfer the sleeping baby from pram to car or vice versa without waking was actually less than i thought. and half the time the lugging and clicking woke him anyway. and when theyre really little they fall back to sleep in no time even if you do lift them from one place to another. and when they rea anything over 3 months the carseat is nighon impossible to lift anyhow!
plus, the travle system we bought (for first baby) was the heaviest buggy on the market as it turned out!
is still in the barn - you can have it if you want!
for latest baby i got safest carseat on which? ,which was a click-on thing to an isofix base in the car (fab) and just used a lightweight, almost flat buggy sort of thing for walking. you can wrap them up and make em comfy with fleeces etc.

hi all,

Thank you ladyvictoria for posting me on this site....

I have just been looking at prams all day long and am so baffled as to what to buy!! There is almost too much choice. I am liking the Icandy cherry at the moment as not only does it have a carry cot for the arly month but then has a seat which can face me as I push the pram or face forward as baby gets a bit older. Not many of the prams seem to offer this. The only downside is that the seat comes off the chassis which looks a bit fiddly BUT the whole thing seems much lighter than a standard mamas and papas pliko or silvercross 3D pram. Anyone bought one or tried them?

icandy cherry arent doing well, as there are a lot of teething problems with them as tyhey are relatively new to the market.

whats your budget?

can you answer the questions posted below and wil ltry and see if i can help later o nthis evening.

Oh thats dissapointing to hear. Its not really about budget, it's about finding the right pram rather than having one pram, then finding its not fitting the bill then buying another ....and then another.

What I'm looking for is a carry cot to start with and then a simple pushchair for when baby is few months older. I like the chairs that face mum and then can be changed around the other way when the child is a little older. Sadly these appear to be limited. I quite like the simplicity of the silvercross 3D and the mamas and papas pliko but just don't like the fact they are forward facing only. I have read about the increasing eye infections with babies/toddlers being pushed into driving wind and rain and also they cannot see you out the front. I also wanted something light which folded away relatively easy and the Icanndy cherry does this but comes apart into seat and chassis which is a bit fiddly but far lighter than the other all in one prams.

Not a fan of the combination sets as I don't like the car seats being used a push chairs for the reasons you already suggested. Plus we already have a good Brittax car seat which I'm happy with so do not need all these extra bobs.

Sooo confusing....

Increasing eye infections from pushing babies into driving wind and rain? No, you put the raincover over them!

Sorry

We have a Silver Cross linear chassis with a sleepover top (carrycot that converts into a pushchair) and the ventura car seat that clips onto the chassis, for our March 2007 baby.

The pushchair faces either way, which was one of the reasons for buying it. BUT it won't fold down in one piece. You have to take the seat unit off the chassis so it is no good for public transport. The chassis is sprung so the baby is cushioned from a bumpy ride.

Stupidly the car seat fits my car (we checked first) but the chassis won't go in the boot. The chassis goes in the back of DH's pickup but the seat doesn't fit inside the cab. (Thus losing the benefit of transferring sleeping baby, and for us that happens a lot)

ig budget isnt an issue, t6hen i can heartily recopmmend, if you like it, a bugaboo. whichever one you like really, of the gecko or cameleon.

its light to push, comes with carrycot and seat. because the frame is the same one for the seat and carrcot, less space is needed to store the part not in use. it can face either way, has a big sun hood, and it comes with everything you need really.

i know its not to everyones taste, it wasnt to mine, untill pushed it, but it really is a good pram. and once you get the hang of it, folding is a piece of pee. it is a two pary fold, but doesnt take up much room in the boot comapred to some.

We have a Bebeconfort Loola; the basic pushchair can be clipped on or off the wheels to be front or rear-facing. Rear-facing is supposed to be suitable from birth... When folded down, the whole thing just fitted in the boot of my Peugeot 206, and i could maybe squeeze a few bags of shopping in too.

You can also unclip the pushchair-y bit from the wheels altogether and replace with a carrycot thing to make a pram, used this for dd for the first 3 months. Oh, she also slept in the carrycot for the first month or so.

I found it pretty good, though the shopping basket underneath doesn't hold a lot, if this is important to you...

The Bebe Confort Loola can be rear or forward facing, and folds up in one piece either way. There is a carrycot option (the Windoo), and a car seat that clips on to the chassis so it is a travel system as well. I found the Loola relatively light and compact as well (have a very small car boot).

x posts with Mrs Depp!

we bough the Mothercare citilite. It was only £90, looks like a stroller and lies downs flat.
Both dcs have used it and now it lives with inlaws as a pushchair for when we go and stay

problem with the loola, is the way it is weighted. it is impossible to get up kerbs rear-facing with a heavier toddler in it. i had one for dd3, lasted one trip out as couldnt get it up kerbs. fortuntaly i bought it 2nd hand, and sold it on easily.

also the basket is pretty poor.

Buy what we had. (or better still, but mine!

We went for the Brita Practicale with carrycot as we knew the baby would be going into a buggy at 6 months so didn't need the pushchair bit.

From what I have seen, the prams are becoming more ridiculous as time goes on. A pram needs to be somewhere for baby to sleep and have walks in laid flat. No need for one that makes you tea!

LadyVictoriaofCake, jumping on the wagon here somewhat, can I ask what you think of the Silver Cross 3D pram system? Buses not an issue, trains more likely (but don't need to fold up), cars an issue. I like the facing both ways thing and also that it is a flat carrycot that converts into a pushchair.

My cousin has a pegperego, but lives abroad and I don't see them here.

TIA for your expert advice!

agree about the Loola shopping basket but have never had a problem with the kerbs - but must admit that ds is still very small for his age at 16 months so it will possibly become too heavy...

if you want/need a 3wheeler, I am rather pleased with the Maclaren MX3 with the carrycot - a more expensive alternative with better suspension would be the Quinny Speedi with the Dreami carrycot (and if you did want a travel system the excellent Maxi Cosi Cabrio carseat fits on to it).

Neither face you in pushchair mode though, and neither fold particularly small.

NB BellaBear, PegPerego are sold as Mamas & Papas in the UK

i would recomend bugaboo, i have a bugaboo frog, and its been an absolute dream sooooooo easy to push and lightweight, i love it and will be using it for no 4 due next feb

i also have a loola, as i wanted something that folded up a bit smaller for the boot, but like the bugaboo i wanted the seat to be able to face both ways, its a nice pushchair, but my god its heavy, esp compared to the frog which is a dream to push.

i still like it tho and use it for ds3 sometimes and he is nearly 3 so a quite a weight himself.

silvercross 3d is lvoely. i much prefer it over the peg/m+p. dsis has a 3d, i did try and take it home with me lol. dd3 who is 2.5yrs old, slept comfortably in it at sis house a month or so ago.