Till what age would you say you needed a buggy/pram until?

[1990shopefulftm]

My 3 month old is a very big baby so looking at the percentile graph this morning, he ll be 18 months when he's over the weight limit for his pram that's supposed to last till 4 years old. Do I need to think about putting money aside for a buggy that goes over 15kg, they all seem so pricey

Depends on where you live and what your lifestyle is like.

I do a lot of walking, hopping on trains etc so used DD's up to age 4.

@Itsjustaride8w737 well he's a lockdown baby so all we do is pram walks, so intend to go out to baby and toddler groups on the bus as much as we can really to make up for what we ve been missing

Use the current buggy until he grows out of it. Then you'll likely be facing 8-12 months to take him to 3/3.5 and you can pick up a cheap stroller to use on long days out when he might get tired or for holidays.

@1990shopefulftm It's a Silver Cross one, they do a couple that go to 25kg, I got it secondhand.

About 18 months - 2 years except for the running buggy which also works for occasional other use. I could manage without it as my 2 year old is very active but there's definitely a time and place for something they can be firmly strapped into without co operation being required (as I found to my cost on a little stroll with the Unirider (like a trike but 1 wheel, encourages balance skills and even better off road than the running buggy). When "walk" was decided I had no choice but to go at toddler speed!

We live in the suburbs and I prefer to walk/tube/bus places with kids. My daughter hasn’t used the pram since she was 2 and a half because her little brother was born, but since she was two I’d been increasing the amount of trips we took without the pram to build up her stamina, so you might not need another pram

PP made a good point about the next car seat. That's what you'll need to save up for, as you'll have to buy it new and a good one won't be cheap.

A buggy, OTOH, will be very easy to get hold of on a budget, whether buying second hand or a cheap new one.

You still have plenty of time for both, since baby is only 3 months old, but if baby is still on the higher centiles by the time he outgrows the infant seat, I advise you to look at 25kg ERF car seats, they will last years. We have the Britax Max Way Plus which is often on offer for £215. If you want more advice you could post here or if on FB join the group "Car Seat Advice UK".

I didn't drive when DD was in a buggy so we had one untill she was 4 as we walked ALOT and needed it to carry shopping etc.

When looking for a new pushchair it appeared the 15kg was the standard tested limit in the UK because in other countries the same pushchairs could take 24kg instead. In the end I bought a quinny zapp as it had a padded seat so comfortable, could be parent facing at any age/ size and sat high off the ground so she couldn't put her feet on the floor and drag them like a normal stroller. DD is almost 12 so no idea if they still sell that pushchair.

I should say Dd was/is very tall and when we stopped using the zapp she was the height of a 6 year old.

@NameChange30 if he sticks to his centiles he needs a new car seat come October, I ve seen Joie ones but I don't know how good quality they are. We only need a car seat for weekends with me not driving so I don't know whether to get one that's just group 1 and 2 since DHs car is pretty small and see if he gets a bigger one when baby's older.

I had a 3 wheeler and walked a lot. Mine stopped using it when they were approx 4.6 in the spring before school (both autumn birthdays).
TBH the buggy could have taken a lot more weight. I miss not having it for shopping.

Agree with those who say Baby Jogger City mini, secondhand. DS1 is a tall thin almost 7 year old and it would still fit him now if needed! (It's not, he hasn't used it for years but it's seen us through DD and now on 15 mo DS2 and I'm hoping to sell it on when he gets to 3).

For car seats have a look at the axkid minikid or move, britax maxway or two way elite. They all rear face to 25kg. The car seat advice uk Facebook group has lots of info on there.

The mountain buggy range all go up to 20-25kg and you can get secondhand often

I would also say wait and see though. My baby was 8.8lb (4kg) born which put him in the top weight range. Now almost 10 months he’s only 9kg. So weight slows down.

Take a look at the grace extend car seat. I have just been looking at it as a second seat for when we can finally travel. It’s rear facing up to 18kg and was only around £50 on Amazon.

Really depends on the kid and your circumstances. With DC 1 we used it until 3.5. DS 2 we hadn’t used it since he was 14 months and he’s just over 2 now and we’ve got rid.

[quote 1990shopefulftm]@NameChange30 if he sticks to his centiles he needs a new car seat come October, I ve seen Joie ones but I don't know how good quality they are. We only need a car seat for weekends with me not driving so I don't know whether to get one that's just group 1 and 2 since DHs car is pretty small and see if he gets a bigger one when baby's older.[/quote]
In general the Joie seats are good value as they have decent safety ratings for the price.

It depends how long you want to rear-face your child, as I think the Joie seats only rear face to 18kg, the Joie Stages for example, I believe it's rear-facing to 18kg and then has to be used forward-facing. Also bear in mind that if you are happy to forward-face once he is 18kg, you will need a seat that can be used with a harness up to 25kg. Children are not generally mature enough to use a booster seat with a seat belt until they are 4-5 years old and your son is likely to be more than 18kg before then, hence needing a rear-facing seat or harnessed forward-facing seat up to 25kg.

Group 1 is up to 18kg and group 2 is up to 25kg, so for your next seat you will indeed need group 1-2 (9-25kg) to ensure it can be used until your son is 4-5 and ready for a high-back booster seat.

Also age wise, I would imagine you as a non driver might need a pram until 3/3.5 years. Even if they are a great Walker, if they are sick and need to go to doctors, or it’s raining but you still need to go somewhere, I imagine a pushchair of some sort would be handy even if it’s only used occasionally

@Caspianberg glad to hear he might slow down, he's gone from 4.5kg at birth to 9kg at 15 weeks, he's in 9-12 month clothes mostly so I ve gone through everything very quick.

@1990shopefulftm - yes we sailed through the sizes. Newborn, 0-3, 3-6. But now we are only just outgrowing some 6-12 months and some 9-12 he’s worn for ages and still plenty of room until he need summer bits I think.

A stroller is probably a better option, if dc is big you'll want something lightweight.
My dc1 refused to go in pushchair from 2.5 but was a very good walker.
Dt would have probably walked much more a lot earlier but it was difficult having 3 young children so probably around 3 years old.
My dn/dn were 2.5, 4 & 3.5.
There's a wide spread of ages and I'd say that is partly down to parenting/how much the car is used compared to walking.

@NameChange30 ideally we ll rear face him as long as possible, I m just not certain with him being very tall too how long we ll be able to do it for.

@Caspianberg we didn't even get to use newborn he was too big. We ve got clothes in bigger sizes his grandma got him, I haven't risked getting any summer clothes yet as I don't want them to go unused.

@Maybemay123 he's going to be an only child so once he's confident walking I ll be happy to use a buggy less. There's no chance I ll ever be driving either

Silver Cross pop goes up to 25kg and is fab. I think full price its about 125 so a lot less second hand.

We just got a really cheap second hand push chair off facebook market place when DC1 was 2 and DC2 came along and we wanted the pram system back for newborn.

Also, don't assume he'll stay on the 99th percentile. They tend to go up and down with growth spurts and when they learn to crawl then walk.