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How do you even begin to pick prams and cots and car seats?

41 replies

Marshmallowtoastie · 23/11/2023 21:28

I went to have a little look around this week, and I was so overwhelmed by the choices.
i feel like I may need to dedicate hours of my life to figuring out what kindof pram I need for example. I really thought it was mainly a style choice, but there seems to be a lot more to it?

then cots, I thought it was just a cot, but there’s next to me, there’s ones that grow with them, there’s travel cots and so much else

and car seats? I assumed they’d all be safe so just pick any, but that’s not the case either?

i don’t even know what I need and I don’t want to spend loads of money and then have to buy something new, or regret that what I bought doesn’t have this special feature that would’ve made my life easier.

how did you figure out what you needed? Or just tell me what to buy please

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Mirrormeback · 24/11/2023 13:32

I went to John Lewis on Oxford to have a look

The pram I chose happened to be very popular that year

It was a mama and papas one

I loved it as it converted from a lovely pram to a pushchair

Bugaboos became popular just after that

No idea what's in now

rebecca100 · 24/11/2023 16:47

Marshmallowtoastie · 24/11/2023 12:48

So do I need an infant seat for the first few months and then I change it? I can’t just buy one that will see us through?

There are lots of seats marketed as from birth, however very few are actually suitable from newborn. You could look at the Avionaut Sky 2.0 and Besafe stretch B. These remain fixed in the car and give a great fit from birth.

An infant carrier would last until approx 15 months, less if you have a bigger baby.

Honestly join the 'car seat safety uk' group on Facebook and post your queries there, you will get the very best advise on the safest options for your baby x

Marshmallowtoastie · 07/03/2024 21:35

Sorry everyone, I’m back to ask two more questions since this thread was so useful already
firstly am I going to regret getting a new born car seat that is fixed in the car?
They can’t stay in it long anyway so I assume I’m going to have to take them out the seat either way?

and secondly, will I regret not getting a pram with a bassinet that the baby can move around in, or will a fixed seat (with a lie flat option) be fine?

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Interested in this thread?

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BertieBotts · 08/03/2024 14:53

Totally depends on your lifestyle, how much you're likely to use the pram/car/etc to be honest. Will break up into separate posts, as this is a bit of an info dump.

Fixed seat vs newborn - as another poster has pointed out, not all of the longer-lasting seats do fit newborns well. IMO the ones that do are Axkid One2, Besafe Stretch B, Besafe izi Turn/Twist B, Avionaut Sky.

I also used to get decent results with Joie i-Spin 360, and GB Vaya 2 - GB and Cybex are the same company, and when I was fitting seats, the Cybex inserts were nowhere near as good as the GB ones despite being basically the same seat. But it's possible that the newer Cybex seats have better inserts which do work well for newborns. The Joie seat is not as nice as the ones I listed in the previous paragraph and it does take a fair bit of confidence to achieve a good fit in it for a newborn. So people's experiences with this IRL vary and some say not until more like 3m+.

If you are buying a 0-4y or 0-7y seat (I wouldn't recommend any of the 0-12 year ones for this) for a newborn, bear in mind that many are sold as two versions, with and without newborn insert. The newborn insert version is (usually) more expensive, but you won't get a safe fit for a newborn without it. If it says "From 61cm" that means without insert and it will be suitable for a baby from approx 3-4 months old who is starting to hold their head up and sit, in a semi-reclined position with some support. It's not suitable from newborn.

If you can find a cuddly toy or a doll that can wear a newborn sized vest, you can take this to a car seat shop and try different seats out. You're looking for whether the straps come down far enough to fit snugly over the crotch and shoulders of the newborn-sized vest ✔️, whether the "baby" seems completely swamped in all the straps and padding✖️, or seems to have way too much space✖️, whether their head is pushed forwards✖️, and what the angle is, though this is harder to tell in a shop and is much easier to see when you have the seat installed in your car. Flatter is better, maximum allowed angle is 45 degrees from flat, 30 degrees from flat is ideal, but very rare.

Car seat manufacturers commonly work with a "6 week old" dummy as their smallest model, and if you look at the size of a 6 week old compared with a newborn, you'll see why a lot of car seats don't fit newborns well. (I've just attached a graphic of my youngest in a baby swing at about 2 weeks and 6 weeks to show the difference).

On average, infant carrier seats tend to be better at this - but it's not a given. Plenty of infant carriers also give a poor fit to newborns. So don't believe the blanket "multi age seats are all terrible" - it's not 100% true.

AND - arguably - if you're likely to use the car very little within the first 6-12 weeks - it doesn't matter a huge amount if the fit is not ideal, as long as it's not so disastrous the baby would fly out. Up to 4 weeks old, they recommend you try to keep stretches in the car seat no longer than 30 minutes anyway. After this, it's up to 2 hours at a time. Which brings us to the next post...

How do you even begin to pick prams and cots and car seats?
MixedCouple · 08/03/2024 15:13

Snap I was the same. I spent days worrying about it and feeling overwhelmed.

Write down your needs. Where you live. Will you be traveling a lot. Do you go outdoors a lot etc.

For example we live rural - we love to hike and go off road etc. We invested in a pram that would suit rough terrain but still fit into my boot. We then googled this and found a few options and then narrowed it down by price. We then had a shortlist and picked a day to go see prams. The shop we went to was amazing the expert there knew so much and helped us narrow down what we wanted. There is nothing wrong with an older model it will be much much cheaper.
We ended up picking the Joie XL (2017) on offer with a bundle as old stock. But 2 wyars later still love using it. The bundle was £499. Infant seat compatible with pram. Carry cot. 0- 4year old seat. Then on top of that it included the i-seat 0-4years of age and the i-base. So all of that for £499 as it was an older model.
No issues at all.

We didn't do a cot as we do montessori DS sleeps on a floor bed. We just had a Moses basket.
We used Which? And found the best rated travel cot was the Redkite only £28! We still use it and suits our needs. Basic no frills.

So look at your lifestyle. Set a realistic budget. Nothing wrong with 2nd hand with cots and prams etc. Which? Is good for shortlists and helped us set an initial list of items you look into. Youtube reviews.

The only thing I wish I had thought of Is getting a 180°-360° car seat as our car is smaller and bit of a faff getting DS in and out.

BertieBotts · 08/03/2024 15:16

2 hours is a decent stretch of time, and if you do a lot of outings where you're in and out of the car several times, it's nice if you don't have to keep taking the baby in and out of different things. They tend to hate being moved around, but be happy once they are settled somewhere.

If you're due in winter, it is much nicer to be able to get them all snug in the seat within the house and then just click them into the car rather than wrap them up to take them to the car, unwrap them because they can't wear coats in car seats, strap into seat and tuck blanket over all with an arctic wind blowing in.

If you get on well with baby slings, arguably these have many of the benefits of the infant carrier seat (obviously for outside the car!) and you might need the carry function of the seat less. But if you don't get on with slings, it can be awkward to carry a little, floppy, not-standing-or-sitting-yet baby in one arm while doing things with the other arm and you can't put them down on the floor for a moment like you can with a toddler. You can just transfer them directly into the pushchair of course but that means you have to have the pushchair for every situation which is not always practical. For example, it's difficult to push a pushchair and shopping trolley, pushchairs don't work over all terrains (stairs, sand, gravel, mud) etc.

Think about where you normally park and how far you'll walk to get from home to car, how sheltered it is from elements, how you'd manage if you had a lot of things to carry, do you need to manage steps, will you bring the buggy in vs leave it in the car.

IME if you move them from car seat to buggy and then start moving, they settle down quickly, but then you do have to keep going for a little while. So if you tend to drive to one place and stay there a while then the fixed car seat is less of an issue than if you have shorter stops/in and out of the car.

stargirl1701 · 08/03/2024 15:18

Pram was easy - parent facing for max communication.

Car seat - we went with Cybex. Tried to reduce the number of seats needed over the 12 years they were required.

We were given a cot for DD1. Bedshared with DD2 until she was 2 so no need for a nursery for her.

snisuoc · 08/03/2024 15:21

Choose either icandy or bugaboo for the pram, and BeSafe for the car seats

Merrow · 08/03/2024 15:32

Slings are great, and worth finding your local sling library as individual fit really matters. It really frees things up if you live rurally. I really like the out n about prams for the fact they can handle every terrain while still being manoeuvrable, we had the baby pram addition so I could see DS2 better, but I think they're suitable from birth.

I rarely use the car seat outside of the car, but I believe the infant specific ones are a bit better for young babies in terms of positioning.

Marshmallowtoastie · 08/03/2024 15:36

Thank you so much everyone! It’s so intense!!

any opinions or experiences of the maxi cosi cabriofix I size?

I was between that and the joie 360 but I heard the 360 isn’t great for newborns - probably as you say @BertieBotts its hard to get a good fit!

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 08/03/2024 15:51

Lastly with the lie flat seat vs carrycot, again depends on a few things.

First of all some of the pushchairs on the market don't have a proper lie flat recline, they just have this sort of moulded seat which tilts back. I wouldn't let this kind of seat replace a carrycot. You can sometimes get an insert which flattens it out more for newborns.

Some pushchairs have a clever thing where they have one frame and either two sets of fabric that strap to it or one piece that opens out into a carrycot vs a more moulded seat. These are good if it's space/cost saving you want but you do want the benefits of a carrycot.

Then some have the kind of seat where there's a hinged bit in the seat itself so the backrest can be moved up and down. These can be used in place of a carrycot.

A proper carrycot will generally have a mattress and no straps so the baby is free to move/roll around. This is good for development, but not great if you need to bump the pram up/down steps or steep slopes because they slide around in it.

Some of them are also certified for overnight sleep which can be useful for peace of mind if they nap in it (if it's not certified, then you should supervise them if they nap in it).

They often have more "contained" sides so the baby is a bit more protected from wind, noise etc. Whereas the hinged type or the moulded seat with newborn flattening insert often just has the hood for protection and might be less cosy. If you have the chance to try the pram out in all different modes before buying it's worth doing. Even if you decide to buy online or second hand, it's worth having a play with some different models in a local shop to see what they are like.

Some carrycots are big and roomy, so you can keep using them up to about 9 months first with baby in a sitting position and second with them lying on their front. (I've only seen people doing this in Germany though, never in the UK - big prams like Gesslein or Emmaljunga). Most of them are small and only accommodate babies up to about 3 months old. If you have a very long baby or one that likes to fling their arms out and gets angry at being contained, it might not last long at all.

You can wash the sheet of a carrycot mattress easily (a pillowcase also fits) whereas sometimes the fabrics on pushchair seats are sponge clean only, so they can be more practical for reflux babies. However OTOH reflux babies commonly hate lying flat.

With the hinged type, you usually have the option to tilt it up a little bit to a similar angle like a car seat. I quite liked doing this with DS1 when he got to about 3-4 months old. When he fell asleep, I'd lie it flat again. The downside of the "one frame two seats" type is that you often don't have this in between option, they are either flat in the carrycot, or very upright in the main seat.

If you're having them in the main seat part laid flat with straps on, then you should make sure they do have some chance to lie flat and unrestricted every day. Of course their night time sleep space should be like that, but they need some daytime play in that position too to help them learn to roll, sit, lift their heads up etc. So if you're likely to spend a lot of time with them in the pram, a carrycot might be more necessary vs if you see yourself spending more time at home.

BertieBotts · 08/03/2024 16:00

MC Cabriofix is a classic - good seat, only lasts to 75cm though which is quite a short limit compared with the older Cabriofix - about 9-10 months on average.

I would much prefer Cabriofix over Joie spin for a newborn. And if you want the Joie spin for a newborn, the i-Spin has better inserts and more recline. It is more expensive though. Maybe compare the i-Spin and Cybex Sirona Gi i-size.

Alternatives to the Cabriofix which last a bit longer would be Cybex Aton B2 or Britax Babysafe Core.

baileybrosbuildingandloan · 08/03/2024 18:52

My DIL felt like that. In the end going to a smaller shop with helpful staff helped a lot.

LateNightReads · 08/03/2024 19:25

When you say small car, how small? I have a small car and there are only about 4 prams I could fit in my boot!

Seagrassbasket · 08/03/2024 19:29

Be aware you can get ex display prams/travel systems from places like mamas and papas, once you’ve figured out what you want. We got ours about half price saved us about £800!

oop · 09/03/2024 08:19

Loads of great advice on here already but just to say I would always recommend an infant car seat that you can take out of the car. My baby would always fall asleep in the car, usually minutes before arriving home and I would take the seat into the house so he could stay in it to nap for a while. Getting him out of the seat would have 100% woken him up. Also nice to get them in the seat and comfy/secure in the seat inside the warmth of your house before just carrying them out to the car and clipping it in. Especially if you have a winter baby!

I have the older cabriofix and it was fine (nice and light), although I struggled to get baby's position right when he was very tiny. He outgrew it around 10 months as very tall and I've had an extended rear facing seat since so only 2 seats needed!

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