Travel systems

[WutheringTights]

Sorry if this is the wrong place, but please talk to me about travel systems.

I?m only 21 weeks but we were looking at them today to try to get an idea of what we want and, frankly, I?m bewildered. Are travel systems better than getting the bits separately? I have been reading research about how you shouldn?t have a baby in a car seat for more than 2 hours a day (and ideally 1 hour) so I?m not sure why I need a car seat that clips onto a buggy. Will I ever use it? I can see the benefit of being able to strap him into the car seat inside then carry him out and just pop him into the car, but don?t ordinary car seats allow that? Should I be looking for a lie flat car seat anyway? Any recommendations/ tips?

Laughing at all the Graco posts, we had one for DS and it really is a beast isn't it? We perservered with it til DS was about 18mths though cos of the lovely big basket underneath (tend to walk to get our food shopping). Eventually swapped for a MacLaren and couldn't believe the difference!! Pregnant with DC2 just now and have bought a Joovy Ultralight (single pram but also with bench seat and buggy board built in at the back) and unbelievably it has the same footprint as the Graco and is much lighter, even though you can fit 2 kids on it!!!

As for your original post op, I think travel systems are handy for car errands etc as others have said. Much easier to transfer the baby to and from the car if asleep or you're just on a quick errand if you can just clip your car seat into the pram. I would imagine most people don't have their babies in the car seat for anywhere near the recommended max time when using a travel system that way. If you're going a full day's shopping etc you would transfer the baby to the pram/buggy if it was going to be for a long time. What I would do in your case is just buy a good Group 0+ car seat, such as the Maxi Cosi, which is compatable to clip into a number of different pram models and then you've still got a large choice in terms of which pram you buy. I'd definately recommend something light though, we def learned the hard way on that one!!

P.S. yep itsmylastone, I have the arms of a shotputter!!

WeeLors, the only thing going for the Graco is the ridiculous amount of storage. And the big, strong arms...