Car travel with newborn - boot space

[Sxp842]

Hi all

we are due to have our first child in a few months, and we are looking at getting a new car. We live in a first floor flat with no lift, so planning to keep the pram in the boot. We will probably get some sort of travel system. Aside from the pram, do we need to keep a carry cot in the car? I’ve read that kids shouldn’t be in car seats for too long, so what do you do if take your child out for a few hours during the day, presumably you have to take a carry cot in the car?

I’m just a bit confused about the logistics of it all! We are thinking about a car that has a boot space of 450litres, so trying to work out if that will be enough

are there any other bulky items we would need to take in the car when travelling with a newborn?

Will keeping it in the car work, what if one of you takes the car for the day? Then you'd not have the pram.

Lots of babies like slings, could be worth looking at them. Plenty of people do keep babies in car seats a long time and clip them onto a pram chassis but it was something I was always very against. DD hated the pram so we used slings a lot. Some prams (like the mama and papa's ocarro) fold down in one piece which is handy if you do want to carry it up to the flat or squash it into the car. I have an icandy peach which I love, but it does take up more space.

My SIL lived in a second floor flat when my niece was a baby. They just had a light pram (a yoyo) which they carried up the stairs. They used a sling/carrier a lot too.

Just googled and my boot space is 375l and I can get the icandy in that so I would think 450l is plenty. You can always tuck a chassis in a footwell in the back too, I did that sometimes if I had lots of shopping for the boot.

I'd go to a John Lewis to try out lots of prams and see if you're particularly taken with anything and then look at whether it fits. I HATED Bugaboo but lots of people love them. If you're in a city babyzen yo-yo are very popular, lightweight and fold up super small.

Most travel systems come with two seats, the carrycot for the newborn stage and a toddler seat. So when baby is tiny, keep the seat in the house, in a cupboard or something, and just transport the chassis and carrycot until they outgrow the carrycot (think most of them are 6 months). Alternatively, if you don't want two different "seat" parts you need to buy a lie flat pram which is suitable from birth

Get a lie flat pram or a newborn attachment to a stroller will save you lots of space.

Definitely recommend getting a pushchair where the seat unit can lie flat to save you needing multiple parts (no need for a carrycot).

For my second DC I really wanted the Micralite GetGo as it's got loads of great features and can lie flat but I already had a pushchair from DC1 so couldn't justify getting another new one.

If you're leaving it in the car please check it's insured and if not then insure it separately, ensuring theft from car is included. Unfortunately pushchairs are popular for being stolen from cars.

If I were you I'd get an Ergobaby or similar, and a Babyzen Yoyo with newborn attachment.

In terms of boot space, you don't need too much for a newborn, apart from the pushchair, but if you want to do overnight stays and take things like travel cot, high chair etc, it all stacks up... most places provide them, though, and if staying with family regularly it might be helpful if they could have things like that for you to use.

Not sure which cars you're considering but Skodas tend to have spacious boots relative to the size and cost of the car.

I had a yoyo in a flat because it’s so easy with the stairs- weighs nothing and it has a shoulder strap so you have hands free for baby. Get the newborn pack and not the bassinet/carrycot option so it all folds. I never felt the need for a travel system- when they’re tiny they shouldn’t be in the car seat for too long and when they’re beyond that stage then baby + seat is just too heavy. Handy if you drive to places where you might do a quick nip in/out I suppose - like school for an older sibling or supermarket but I don’t do either of those. And on the odd occasion I did attempt to take them out of the car in the seat they woke up anyway!

You can get a Cybex cloud z car seat which clips onto your pram and unfolds to lay flat so safe for as long as you need. Or you can get tiny prams from birth, someone already said the yo-yo which wouldn't take up much boot space and doesn't need a carry cot as it's from birth. I've not had a carry cot with either of mine, there's loads of ways round it. Plus don't forget they grow so quick it will only last months anyway.

We got a travel system where the car seat would go flat, both when in the car (isofixed) and when attached to the pram frame. It could turn into a normal car seat too. By the time he was too big for it lying down, he was old enough to sit in it as a car seat. It was bloody expensive and weighed a ton though.

We really struggled for boot space with a newborn

Remember though, that stage only
Lasts a few months. By 5ish months, baby wont want to be in a carrycot but upright in the big seat

Also, they're not supposed to be in the car seat but our baby hated the carry cot so we alternated car seat and sling

Get a Yoyo and just carry it into the flat. It’ll be really annoying taking the baby out of the pram and folding it up into the boot in the rain, with shopping, if they’re crying etc. Also some babies (looking at you DS) only nap in the pram and if you’re lucky you can sometimes wheel them inside without them realising they’ve been duped.

If you're looking at cars, both the skoda suberb and the VW passat have extremely generous boots, if they are in your price range.
We regularly stay with family and kids take up a lot of boot space!! We take pram, carseat, ikea highchair if they dont have one of their own, travel cot if they've outgrown their carrycot (make sure your prams carrycot is ok for overnight sleeps. Some aren't), then you've got the changing bag and enough nappies to last however long.
Beware of leaving your pram in the car overnight however. I did that and when our cars were stolen, the pram and isofix car seat base was too. Very expensive to replace! Or you could up the contents cover on your car insurance if you've not got space to store indoors.

We have an Octavia and the boot is plenty big enough for 2 young kids! We can fit a huge pushchair and bags of shopping and still have room to spare. With 1 child you could get away with smaller, definitely. The Scala is probably big enough.

Another vote for the yo-yo. Got a used one with the newborn pack rather than the bassinet and it was small and light enough to carry up to our flat unfolded with DS sleeping in it!

The only downside is that the toddler seat is world facing only and DS got bored of lying flat at about 3 months, so it's currently getting limited use until he's big enough for the world -facing set-up.