Can I get away with not getting a pushchair???

[nervousyoungmum]

I have been doing some research and pushchairs are so expensive!!! I wonder if I can get away with a sling and a car seat carrier?? At least while my baby is a baby, when it gets older and too big to carry I can get one of those basic cheap pushchairs. I don't have any room to put a big pushchair.

Has anyone tried this method? Or am I being completely stupid and a pushchair is an essential item?

Look on Freecycle.

Babies do get heavy and if you've got shopping to carry you might be glad of a pushchair. And if you feel like going for a long walk. And, to be honest, it's sometimes absolute heaven to PUT THEM DOWN!!!

Also, while my dd loved the sling and I carried her everywhere, ds would never sleep in a sling once he was a month old or so, and loved to stretch out flat in his pushchair.

You can survive for the first few months with a good wrap - but don't buy a cheap and nasty push chair, I had a hand me down push chair and it is rubbish, so bad that I hardly used it. You know the type that you can't push with one hand only and you can't put shopping bags on the handles as it will topple over backwards - horrible!

I would suggest that you do get a decent quality second hand push chair. Maybe even ask on your local freecycle.

What about asking on your local Freecycle? There are always buggies being offered on ours.

I only had a kari-me (stretchy fabric sling) for the first year. I found it so convenient, and have never had any back problems. The only difficulty was transferring a sleeping baby to a cot, but when he was really sleepy he stayed asleep whatever I did! I really liked the freedom and simplicity of it and also when he was first born, putting him in a pram would have felt weird as he would have seemed so far away! It was like a gradual adjustment to not being pregnant I suppose.
I was given a maclaren stroller when DS was a year old and found that useful for around a year, as he could sleep when I went to the shops, but continued to use the Kari-me, also used a mei-tai type thing and then until age three used a fabulous carrier a bit like an ergo, but cheeper. I can't remember what it was called, but it was brilliant.

We did first 5 or so months pushchair free, then got an umbrella type folding buggy but even then it didn't get a lot of use.

I don't think it's particularly hard to do without a pram/travel system in the early months

I bought a big travel system. Got a sling from Freecycle as an afterthought.

Then I had a C section and could not use the pram for 4 weeks.

By the time I could push the pram I was so used to using the sling I didn't really use the pram.

I sold the travel system when DS was 6 months old and bought a back carrier and a stroller.

Yes, most definitely. Research a decent sling, i.e. a stretchy/woven wrap, mei tai or soft structured carrier, rather than a high street style one. I barely used my pram with my last dc as I really got into slinging and there is a whole community out there of parents that use it. A good sling will last you well into toddlerhood. I still wear my 20mo on my back several times a week :)

ok moby's are thin - but thats because they are folded in half and wrapped around you... baby will actually have a fair few layers of that over them and your body heat on the other side - I took DS out in the snow last jan as a 2 week old baby without a snowsuit on as he got too hot - my mum was horrified until I took him out at hers and he was all cozy and pink

oh and someone commented on c-sections... I have had no problems carrying DS from just a few days old after my second c-section, so wasn't a problem for me

I personally far prefer the sling, may end up using the pushchair more once he's wanting to walk more or upgrade to a soft structured carrier for quick and easy on / off

i had a mamas and papas beat buggy, it was really small umbrella fold, lightweight suitable from birth and only about 80 quid it was my favourite and lasted ages, i use buses all the time so it was the best poption for me x

If space is the issue, just store it in the boot of your car (assuming you can park outside your house).

You can use a Maxi cosi car seat as a pushchair from birth on a chassis (Quinny prob the smallest chassis but they also fit on Bugaboo and some others- check the website). You might be able to get a Quinny chassis second hand on ebay. I dont think you can buy them separately new though.

Other issue is they say dont use carseats for more than a few hours at a time without getting the baby out as otherwise not good for their backs.

Hi Nervous. I was in your shoes once - very young, very nervous and very, very skint!

I would say that a pushchair is essential. There's so much choice on somewhere like ebay. You can search according to where you live so you won't have to travel far to pick up.

If space is an issue then I can recommend the Loola (not made new anymore), Mamas and Papas Pliko pramette or a Silver Cross 3d pramette. They're all good and fairly small.

I am a big carrier have carried all 3 of mine and would recommend investing in a decent sling wraps are good but it also might be worth going to s sling meet or something to try out different ones...if you want to carry long term avoid the baby bjorn type things they will put you off carrying long term.

From my experience there really isn't such a thing as a ay to heavy to carry if you carry from birth then your muscles grow with the aby and you get used to it.

I do find a pushchair very useful as well though, if you are going shopping and need to try on clothes then a sling is useless, if you are going to the shops and want a few bags of shopping then a buggy is handy to load up with it.

I had a Maclaren Techno bought it 7 years ago for dd and have recently had to chuck it out as it was totally past it but I did work it hard during that 7 years.
It lies flat from birth and is great for a toddler too.

Like others have said a decent pushchair can be an investment and you only ever need one if you get the right one that will grow with your baby. Especially if you are planning more children you can use it for the next one as well. I have had cheap strollers and often they are false economy as some of them really are rubis and don't last long so you have to replace it.