Is a carrycot without straps or a harness safe?

[mersmam]

My new pushchair has a carrycot attachment (which I really wanted so the baby could lie flat and face me) but I was a bit shocked to find there are no straps to keep the baby in. Is this normal and safe?

I was expecting it to have a three or five point harness, but there is nothing even to attach one to. I'm a bit worried that my baby (not born yet by the way!) will slide up and down (as where I walk is quite hilly) and get bounced about too much (I normally just 'bounce' my buggy down our front steps but will be a bit scared of doing this now!!)

Sorry if I sound like a complete nutcase (!) but I obviously want my baby to be safe and thoughts of him/her flying out of the carrycot are infiltrating my mind (third trimester of pregnancy though!!!)

Does anyone have any experience of using a carrycot without any safety straps? Is there anything you can buy to make them safer?
Thank you for your help!

My Bugaboo has no straps or harness; it really is fine as the sides are so deep.

I felt the same the first time I used our carrycot (I had a bug). Posted here and someone told me to remove the mattress and lo and behold there were D rings underneath. I then bought a harness for about 10 pounds from mothercare and strapped DS in. Might be worth looking to see if there is something similar. Otherwise most people just add lots of blankets etc which seem to wedge the baby in...

That's good to know! The sides are not actually that deep on mine though... does your baby seem to slide about much when you're going down hills etc...?

No there is def no harness attachment (it's the carrycot for an icandy pear) and it's very shallow so there is no room for a proper mattress - just a blanket underneath. Wedging the baby in with blankets is a great idea though

no, she was fine, but it really was very deep carrycot. Are there no rings anywhere? under mattress? lift it up and look in base

mersmam does it not even come with a thin padded mattress?/ how strange.
anyway, I agree, most carrycots don't have harnesses, there is no need.

i am off to google it now though so i can get a better idea of what it looks like lol

the only thing I can find about a carrycot for the pear is that you have to buy a 2carrycot fabrics set" that converts one of the seats into a carrycot... so surely it then has a harness???

the carrycots for the apple and cherry look fairly deep, but it says won't fit on the pear chassis?

We bought ours 2nd hand, but the instructions say it has no mattress and if you put a mattress in it must be less than 1cm deep (!!) so I was planning on just using a blanket folded over.
The seat unit fabric comes out completely (along with the harness) to convert it to a carrycot, and as far as I can see there is no way at all of attaching straps (but I'll be v.happy if someone can tell me otherwise!)

The apple and cherry carrycots are much bigger and deeper (it says in the instructions that they are suitable for overnight sleeping but the pear one is not).

It does have an 'apron' cover zipped on so I'm thinking that in reality that will keep the baby in... I just have a tendancy to imagine worst case scenarios (particularly when I'm in late stage pregnancy!!) I'm reassured to hear that many carrycots don't have straps anyway, and i presume they must be tested for safety.

ahh yes, i think i jut found a pic of the one you have got on the icandy site. i agree it doesn't look very deep. am sure a blanket in the bottom would be fine.
you;ll def be ok if you have the apron on i'm sure.
liek you say it must have been tested??

Yes it says it does conform to safety standards. I may have a practise wheeling it around and going down the steps with dd1's baby annabel doll inside it - just to be sure...

In all honesty, it never even occurred to me. I mean by the time they can get out, you've moved them to the pushchair bit, surely? My 3 month old is in the chair now, albeit laid flat & with baby insert, because he likes to look around. I don't think my Xplory even has straps in the carrycot.

I considered it - I had one with d-rings under the mattress

I looked at the harness

and I looked at newborn dd all snuggly in her blankets
and I thought of threading her little arms through the webbing and tightening it all up and clipping it into the pram
and unclipping it all every time she howled and I had to pick her up
and clipping it all back up again afterwards

and I didn't bother

MrsBadger I'm convinced
It wasn't so much the baby 'jumping' out that I was worried about - more being 'bounced' when we go down steps and kerbs and things (please bear in mind that I am pregnant - dh thinks I am mental!)

tuck blanket firmly under mattress

you will be fine

(I did find dd would slide towards the top of the carrycot if I was walking down a long hill though...)