do I need a pram? could I wait and just use a pushchair?

[buttershy]

Hi all,

I have a question regarding prams/pushchairs and safety. Please be nice :)

I'm on a tight budget as I'm a PhD student and not entitled to statutory maternity pay so I'm having to think very carefully about the big baby expenses.

I'm wondering whether a pram that converts into pushchair is really necessary for me..what do you think? I have a soft fabric sling and a more structured baby carrier for walking that have been recommended to me by a baby wearing group that I will use for around the house and for getting out for a walk each day. The village I live in doesn't have anything close by that I could walk to with a pram, we would have to go in the car so I would be taking her in her car seat.

So I'm wondering whether the expense of having a travel system (pram&pushchair) is worth it when potentially we would only actually use the flat lie down pram section for a stroll round town a couple of times a month. Additionally I could probably only use it as a pram at the weekend as my car is three door with a tiny boot.

How quick would she grow out of it?

Does anyone know of any pushchairs that come with or can be purchased with the baby nest type things and so accommodate a slightly smaller/younger baby?

Also, we have managed to acquire a cot bed, Moses basket and a bed side co-sleeper so definitely wouldn't use the pram for another sleep option for indoors.

Any thoughts?

I would keep looking for a good bargain..

I thought i had killed my immaculate mother care my3 as the tyres wouldn't stay inflated (been in the loft for 6 years since having ds).

So i bought a joie pram system from eBay. It was £60 instead of £400 new. It has an absolutely pristine solid baby carrycot bit, then lie flat pram/pushchair seat which can face forwards or backwards. It also came with car seat. All looks brand new.

(I then realised i could sort out the my3 for new inner tyres at £15.. so have ended up with two... will use the my3 for off roading with the dogs and the joie for cleaner trips shopping etc!)

With DS2 I used both the my3 and a connecta. Yes, they were days when only the connecta would do as he wanted to be carried, but it was so helpful when he wouldn't sleep to go marching with him in the pram for 30min until he drifted off and then park him up in the garden so i could have a tea/a wee in peace! He refused point blank to be put down elsewhere to sleep so I would have gone stir crazy without it. I used it until he was 2.5/ and on occasion 3.

I'd say wait and see how it goes with the baby.

Personally I couldn't have done without a pram in the early months- LO was in there til 5 months & then I put the pushchair seat on.

We do live in urban London tho, hardly used the car, just used to walk for miles round the local parks & LO slept in peace.

We had a Baby bjorn sling, but I never used it for longer than half an hour or so- found it made my back ache (don't have any previous issues). LO seemed happy enough in it. Later I used it for the nursery run once back at work, but never for long periods of time.

www.preciouslittleone.com/products/24/strollers&filt=243-/

All of these are suitable from birth as an idea so must all lay flat. There's hundreds

We had a pram that lay completely flat because we had no space to store a carry cot. DS was very comfy and cosy in there!

I didn't discover baby wearing until DS was three months old and since then used the Connecta a lot more often than the pram.

I think your plan sounds fine!

ps, i wouldn't advise using a second hand car seat btw, i was just trying to illustrate that great bargains are there to be found!

Oh my goodness, what on earth is a "full on baby-wearing commitment"? Mine is due in August, do I still have to learn this stuff??

I got a second hand graco evo without the basket bit. It worked great as was easy to steer, you can fit a shopping basket in the trolley and my baby just used the car seat attachment and then straight on to the pushchair. It's comfy and easy to use. I think we got it for £120.

Can you put the money away and decide once baby is here? My ds was in the buggy part of his pram from 7 weeks because he hates lying flat but he was freakishly string and could hold his own head up from day 1. I do know a few people who never used a pram personally I love a pram but went through 5 before finding the right one for us which was a second hand Luna mix.

I've bought the updated version for new baby at a huge discount (£568 - £275) for the whole thing including carry cot because the colour (sand) was being discontinued. If your not fussy on style/colour you can get some amazing deals.

I'm not dyspraxic, but I am quite clumsy and I would not have been comfortable carrying DS in a sling in icy weather. I did use a sling quite a lot, but a lie flat pushchair is really useful. The baby jogger city mini is great. We had a Bugaboo Bee to start with, but ended up getting a BJCM later and they're great. Easy to fold and built like a tank. They're not expensive second hand.

That is my plan. I have lots of slings and live in the mountains, so either we need a super sporty pram (expensive) or none at all. I figure if the baby gets here and we need a pram, I can order one from Amazon or John Lewis and it will be here the next day.

I plan to buy a Maclaren, and may or may not do that before the baby is born.

When my second baby was born, my first was only two. We hardly used the buggy for the second, he was happy in the sling.

Sling, car seat on bjcm frame when absolutely necessary then buggy too.

That's my plan third time around. Our BJCM is 5 years ild and still good condition!

You can definitely do without a pram. I barely used the second-hand travel system I bought with either of my DCs. Newborn DD currently goes everywhere in an Ergo. Rucksack on my back with change stuff (I bloody hate change bags too. Pointless).

DS went everywhere in a Babasling or BabyBjorn til he was too heavy for me, then we had a cheap lightweight stroller thing too.

Big prams are a bit crap in terms of practicality. They're tricky on public transport, a pain on stairs, impossible in the countryside with stiles etc, annoying in busy public spaces...I much prefer my Ergo. And I'm about the furthest you can get from the stereotype of a lentil-weaving "baby wearer." I just don't like faff!

You've absolutely got the right idea - just get a pushchair that's suitable from newborn. I managed and live in london so used it everyday, no car, walking miles. It's a shame not to have them facing you if the pushchair doesn't allow it but it sounds like you won't use it much anyway. It can also be useful if in and out car a lot to be able to clip carseat rather than risking waking a child who's just dozed off by transfering them

If you are on a tight budget and don't want anything at all fancy, the Mothercare Nanu lies flat and is suitable from birth up to toddler size!

Silvercross Reflex is good, it is a more expensive stroller but has a newborn accessory pack to make it more pram like for newborns.

Friends of mine have managed without any kind of buggy or pram for the first three months. Why not go without to begin with, and if it doesn't work for you, buy one when you know you definitely need one?

You can get buggies where the car seat actually fit on and then you can use the buggy as they get big enough. I know graco do a quite cheap one! :) my little one outgrew carrycot by 11 weeks as she is tall like her daddy.

Our - it isn't recommended now to use car seat on pram as they aren't good for baby spine or oxygen levels, so only recommended for minimal time possible in car

Get a secondhand BJCM - should be under 100 quid. My son (5 weeks) falls asleep very easily in ours. I also use a stretchy wrap when he wants to be up in arms.

I remember my sister couldn't wait to get rid of her pram and change to a cheapo umbrella pushchair as the pram was so bulky and heavy.

Because of this I'm planning on getting a Britax B Agile pushchair and then if I need to I will buy the carrycot to go with it which effectively turns it in to a pram. It will still be bulkier than an umbrella pushchair but I'm hoping it will be much more durable and I'll get a few years use out of it.

www.britax.co.uk/pushchairs/b-agile-4/b-agile-4/

www.britax.co.uk/accessories/hard-carrycot/

Another recommendation for the Babyjogger city mini GT. There's a Babyjogger buy/sell/chat group on FB and you often get them come up virtually new for around £200 from slightly obsessed pram ladies who buy new and then change their mind five mins later. A maxi-cosi car seat will clip on and it easily folds into the boot of a car one-handed.

You might well be fine with a sling. Our buggy comes into its own because DD (now 2.5) naps well in it and we can just bring her into the house asleep in it and leave her in the hall.

We have a sling and MacLaren techno xt. Never needed a pram.

Thanks everyone for your invaluable responses, so good to know even on a tight budget you all think we can make it work. Great push chair recommendations too! Thanks again! X

Baby jogger city mini lover here too.
Flat enough from birth as it is and you can get a graco soft carry cot off eBay that fits inside for about £15 if you like as a cheap travel system.
We mainly used the sling until about 4-5 months though as refluxy baby screamed when flat and hated car seat (and often pushchair too)

I know this is a bit off topic but are you sure you aren't entitled to any maternity pay (not SMP)? My research council funding provided it

Hi Lules..I get paid as normal (my monthly stipend) for 4 months (I'm school funded, not by an external research body) but as I will be taking six months, there will be two months unpaid :( I would love to take longer - they would suspend my PhD for a year if I wanted - but I can't afford more than two months unpaid and I felt six months I could get my head around, and begin to wean. I met with someone excellent from my university student finance team and she went through absolutely everything but unfortunately not entitled to statutory maternity pay or allowance during those two months, only entitled to child benefit. I did try and enquired whether I could sort of 'sign on' to any benefits during those two months but they take into account my husbands job so doesn't look like that's an option, either. We'll be okay though :)