How much did you pay for your pram?

[Ladypug]

I know it's a bit of a personal thing but I'm trying to find out how much a typical pram costs and what other people are paying? We've seen some we like at £400, some at £600 and one at £1,000. What were other people happy to pay?

£450 for first travel system (it included a 0+ car seat), £550 for a Phil and Teds tandem when it was on sale. I've tried cheaper but you get what you pay for with prams, I find.

Silver cross wayfarer and car seat package £500

We got lent a Landrover pram and carrycot thing but it was too big for the car so we bought a Petite Star Zia to chuck in the boot, I think it was just under £100 and I'm so glad we didn't fork out £££ for a travel system as Dd has preferred to walk ever since she learned how! But we'll be getting a buggy board for her once dc2 arrives.

DS (2003) about £400
DD (2007) about £300
DS2(2015) £89

You can see a pattern emerging here!

We spent £400 on a Jane epic with carrycot, care seat, changing bag and raincovers. It should have been £600 but it was reduced as the new colours (but identical model) are due out soon.
I shouldn't have bought it yet because I'm not due until October but I couldn't help myself as I really wanted this pushchair and it was a bargain.

I'm with Mamushka. We had a hand-me-down three wheeler and a cheapish buggy for when they were bigger. Used for both dc. Perfectly comfy to push, dc seemed perfectly comfy too. I doubt that most £££ buggies are bought through need.

Yeah, I have to agree with holmes and Mamushka. People really spend £2000 on prams?? I have friends who've spent nearly a whole month's salary on the latest Bugaboo or iCandy and then had to scrimp for the rest of the month. I really can't believe they couldn't have bought something decent for half that price. But that's just me!

Mine wasn't bought just because of the way it looks. I bought mine based on my previous experience of prams to decide what was important to me when choosing a pram.
I wanted a travel system where the carrycot and car seat could fit straight onto the chassis without the need for additional adaptors.
I wanted the car seat to be lightweight as I realised 12 years ago that some are incredibly heavy with a baby in.
I wanted a chassis that wasn't too heavy and could fold to a very small size.
I wanted a pushchair with a decent suspension to provide comfort for baby.
I wanted something that could be used from birth as I won't be (can't) using a sling.
The Jane epic with carrycot and car seat fitted all of those requirements and I thought £400 was a very decent price.
I wasn't prepared to compromise and get a different pram which didn't really meet my requirements just because one might be available dirt cheap and second hand.
You don't see many second hand Janes around as it has only increased in popularity in the UK within the last few years so a discounted new one was the most cost effective option.

Of course it's not reasonable to spend what you can't afford. For many people, the £100 pram would be a bigger chunk of their monthly income than the Bugaboo was for me though, so no problems there.

I'm pregnant with dc3. I'm not buying a pram. First time parents think it's the be all and end all to get some super pram especially one that's sold as 'lasting 3 years'.

They are good for long walks in the park and putting your shopping in. That's it. Worth hundreds of pounds they are not.

Most get used for 6 months then parents switch to a lightweight buggy you can flick up or down with one hand while holding a wriggly baby/toddler in the other. This is what you want for the vast majority of the pre-walking years. Slings are also better for most at the beginning so the time window when a pram is useful rather than burdonsome is very very short.

Wait til the baby's here, see what kind of lifestyle you have then if you feel like you really really need it get someone to lend you one for 3 months.

"I'm so glad you bought me a fancy pram" was said by no dc ever.

Again Jackie, each to their own. DD is 18 months and our Vista gets used every day. I have a lightweight stroller and that was a bigger waste of money in terms of cost per use.

Depends on your needs, surely? Ours is used daily for long dog walks on country paths. A lightweight small-wheeled stroller would be a total pain there.

Slings are also better for most at the beginning so the time window when a pram is useful rather than burdonsome is very very short

I agree. We had a bulky 2nd hand silver cross pram which was given to us for free, it got used for precisely one 5 minute walk around the block before I decided that we'd be better off sticking with the sling. Ultra portable, baby isn't particularly heavy for first 3 months, plus its lovely and snuggly for baby. Moved straight to a normal stroller after that.

jackie I'm not a first time mum. I have two older children but gave their prams away years ago. dC1 had a fairly inexpensive pram which turned out to be a pile of rubbish and had a safety recall when DC1 was sixth months old so we had to get a new puschair.
Dc2 had a decent travel system which cost £400 (which was quite a lot 12 years ago) and it DID last 3 years as it was lightweight without the carrycot attached.
if you buy the right pram system then it can last 3 years.
I haven't had a sling with any of my children and won't be having one this time either.

My parents really wanted to pay for my pram

We chose a Stokke in the sale got a fab deal and told them it was 400 pounds.

I'd just recommend not bankrupting yourself for it. You can buy an amazingly recommended, all singing all dancing travel system and it just doesn't suit, or doesn't suit your needs for as long as you like. I know a lot of people who changed to a stroller around 8m-1y as they needed something that folded up for storage at nursery, for example. Or something lighter because their DC loved to walk and they need to push the chair one handed.

It's impossible to really know what you will like and need, so buy something that you really like and you can quite easily afford, and which won't make you weep at the lost money if you realise you need something different a bit later on.

£309 baby jogger city mini GT - new + deluxe carrycot £160

should last from newborn to age 3+

In 2007, £199 for a Graco travel system.

In 2013, £150 for a second hand Phil and Teds in brilliant condition.

I don't remember there being pushchair snobbery and competitiveness in 2007 when my pfb was born. Or maybe I wasn't aware of it.

I envy mums who could use slings. I have enormous breasts so it wasn't possible to use one without killing my child or my back

Like PP have said; either choose a travel system that grows with your child and meets all the needs or buy a slightly cheaper buggy that will need to meet all your needs - all depends on your day to day life OP.

We paid around £400 - there was no way we could have paid nearly £1000, as nice as they were we just couldnt justify it

Each to their own, if you can afford it and want it, why not?

But if you can't and you feel pressured to, that's another story.

Do I need a £1000 buggy? Nope, we use the car a lot (bought a decent car seat) and we don't have any country walks to contend with, but totally understand that some do.

Also those that buy a £1000 have the option to sell it on after (depending on money and recouping some of the cost)

Using a sling isn't for everyone. Only two of my 4 liked it, the other two certainly did not. Even with the two who did I found them impractical for more than a short journey and really useless for running around after a toddler with. I don't drive so use a pram daily and do a full supermarket shop with it.

If you do your research and buy a pram to suit your needs it needn't be a rip off or only used for a couple of months.
I needed a double for DC3 and 4 and did loads of research but the one I wanted DH ruled too expensive.
So we got a cheaper one which was awful and heavy so swapped to a different one which was lovely but too big to fit in the car so we swapped again to another one but then had to buy a single for when we were out with only one DC. Then we bought a different single to use with a buggy board when DC3 was out of the pushchair.
If we had bought the original one I wanted then we would still be using it now as it converted to a single.

It was around £500, but is about to be used for the third time (baby no3 due late summer). It's had good innings!

Cost per use for our stroller = approx £33 (used 3 times on holiday).
Cost per use of our expensive but well researched travel system = £1.27 (average once a day since DD was born)

With the caveat that everything costs a fortune in Sweden and I need summat I can push around in snow and ice and minus thirty degrees....and that no one needs to spend this much but there's not the second hand market here that there is in the uk ... (Excuses excuses)

I'm looking at emmaljunga prams. They're about 800 quid, which is a lot for a pram but hey ho. I feel like splashing out . Probably get some accessories too which will damage the bank account further.