What kind of pram/buggy/car seat contraption do I need??

[captainshortie]

Hello all!!

So I dont drive and neither does DH, we know a lot of people who do tho.
And im wondering what kind of pram contraption would be best?
I think id prefer a one with a car seat built in?
I dont know, does anyone have any suggestions?

Just buy the pram you want. And then buy a separate car seat. If you won't be using it Al thatuch then you don't need a travel system as they are unnecessarily expensive. A carseat such as a Joie gemm or juva is a great option if you need it to fit a variety of cars (not all carseat fit all cars).

That leaves you free to buy whatever pram you like.

With the exception of some lightweight strollers most prams are travel systems these days. You might be able to buy the seat and pram together as part of a bundle but you don’t have to. Choose a pram that best suits your day to day needs and providing it’s a travel system, pick a compatible car seat and buy the adapters to dock it onto the frame. If you don’t personally drive but need the seat for other people's cars definitely look for an infant carrier you can fit with a seatbelt rather than isofix.

Do you mean a travel system? Where the car seat can be attached to the pram sometimes instead of the carrycot or pushchair seat? Lots of prams come with adaptors so you can attach a car seat to the pram chassis. You normally have to buy the car seat and adaptors separately from the pram. Although some brands (I think Silvercross is one) do their own car seats and possibly do a package where you get the car seat included.
However car seats aren't suitable for babies to spent long periods of time in, so using the car seat on the pram is really best only for short trips - popping to the shops, etc. Baby is best of in the lie flat carrycot, or completely lie flat pushchair seat for long periods.
I'd have a think about what you want to use the pram for - in cities and on public transport, or will you use it more on rough terrain, etc. And what features are important - big basket to hold lots of shopping, or being very light, one-handed fold, etc. and then look at what travel systems meet that criteria. Madeformums do some great reviews of prams/travel systems and I found the site really useful when we were narrowing down our pram choices.
From a practical point of view, if you will mostly be using your car seat in lots of different cars, the best type to go for is one that will fit with a seat belt, as not all cars have isofix and most infant carrier car seats need a separate isofix base. Also if you are going to be expecting to fit the pram into the boot of lots of different cars then something that folds small might be a good choice. Good luck!

We have a Baby Jogger (City Select model because twins 🙄) and it's amazing. So light, smooth to push and turns on a sixpence. Absolute pleasure to use.
We bought a secondhand iCandy Apple on EBay with DS1 and I really regretted it. It pulled to one side and was heavy.

Nothing against iCandy at all but I'm just sharing this to illustrate that your travel system / pram is a really important purchase and I now feel it's worth spending the money if you possibly can, for excellent engineering and ergonomics, simply because the damn thing is your gateway to having any kind of life outside the house when the DC arrives. Unless you use a sling or carrier of course, but I tried several and just couldn't get on with these when I had DS1 (and no good with twins obvs).

When we were looking for a travel system back when I was pregnant for the first time, we asked for recommendations from the lady in Mothercare and she said 'Well it depends what you want - it has to fit with your life'.
That didn't help much because my life to that point had been blithely working full-time, going out for cocktails, wandering around tiny tea shops in random locations with DH, sleeping in at the weekends and dancing at sweaty clubs with my gay best friend.
I had a suspicion that nothing about the logistics of my life would apply any more and should therefore have no bearing on my travel system choice. And you know what? I WAS RIGHT. 😄

If I could go back in time and advise myself, I would drop to my knees and implore pregnant clueless me to just spend the highest figure we could say out loud without flinching on whatever make and model would be the lightest, easiest to fold, most compact and nifty to steer. i.e. what would make my life easy.

Not sure if that helps any. Good luck!

Oh and most travel systems have adapters you can buy separately to attach whatever car seat you have, but be mindful it's best not to have your baby in a car seat for very long (breathing, spine development etc). Some sources say no longer than 2 hours in a 24 hour period but this isn't massively workable for many people.

Oops x-post re time in car seats with the splendidly-named @WhirlingTurkey

If you don’t drive do you need a car seat? I mean if you’re going to only be using public transport then maybe one handed fold/one piece fold would be more practical for example.

Dont you need a car seat for them to let you leave the hospital?
Everyone on my side of the family drives so wont not need one just unsure how they all come you know

If you’re walking home from hospital or taking public transport you don’t have to have a car seat - you can strap them in a pushchair and walk out of the hospital

If you want a pushchair you can put a car seat on then look for a travel system that has compatible adapters for the car seat you choose.