Pram/pushchair/travel system recommendations?

[edgylemons]

I haven't got a clue where to start with the 'big stuff' - I'm expecting my first baby, so I'm a little overwhelmed looking at things,

I was just wondering what pram would you recommend? I want something that isn't too chunky/quite lightweight that will easily fit in our Ford Focus boot.

I was also wondering if it's worth getting a full travel system or to buy things separately? And if so which car seats do you recommend?

I'm so confused at the amount of brands, all the different stuff, just hoping for some guidance ❤️

I'd definitely recommend an infant carrier rather than something fixed into the car to begin with. It's quick and easy to get baby out using the full car seat in the rain and cold weather etc. It's also handy if you're doing a supermarket shop and they're sleeping in their car seat (at the point it's safe to) to put their car seat inside the shopping trolley.

Another reason for an infant carrier is it gives you time to gauge the weight centile before investing in a more expensive seat. My son hit 17.5kg (18kg in clothes and shoes) at 16 months and outgrew the Joie seat I had really wanted, so then I had to buy a 25kg weight limit seat.

I had a Cosatto travel system and it was good. Pros were that it was affordable (often in the sale), nice patterns, easy to strip down and clean, you can buy the isofix base to go with it. Cons were that I had to take the wheels off when I put it in the boot (Renault Clio, but it did fit in my brother's Focus fine), it's a pain to have a two piece when collapsing it in the rain.

If I was to do it again, I'd go for a pram that had the stroller complete, and the car seat clipped on to the stroller, to avoid having to collapse two pieces when using the stroller alone. It also took up a lot of boot space to have a chassis and separate pushchair attachment.

The pro of doing that is that you can choose a better infant carrier and buy the adapters to the stroller you want.

Isofix was an absolute must for us. Being able to click him into place in a matter of seconds was really handy and a luxury I enjoyed.

As PP said, an isofix base and car seat is a must. Being able to just click the seat in and out without waking baby up is a god send.
I have the cybex cloud z seat which rotates and faces you which is fab. It also lies down when out of the car so if baby is asleep and you don’t want to move them at your destination, you can put it flat without disturbing them.
I have the cybex priam pram which the car seat can click onto. The carry cot is really spacious and has great ventilation. I haven’t used the main buggy seat yet as baby is still tiny. Size wise it is quite big and you can definitely get smaller ones but the manoeuvrability is brilliant, you can turn it on a penny and it isn’t heavy to push.
In terms of getting it into the car (I have a seat Ibiza) I have to take one of the wheels off to get it in the boot (wheels just click off). The chassis and the carry cot fold down well and both fit in the boot together. It just pops right back up and is easy to put back together again. Hope you get sorted, pram shopping is a minefield!

Oh I forgot to say, a three-wheeler was a nightmare. The front wheel is a pain when trying to go up uneven kerbs, having to balance the weight of the pram on one wheel. Same for transport. I do drive but I get the train into the city centre and trying to get the pram onto and off the train balancing on the front wheel was so hard, and backing up onto the train with the back wheels meant the front of the pram was balancing on one wheel whilst pulling it up.

We have a bugaboo cameleon, used it with the maxi cosi pebble seat. Not sure about size wise but the carrycot is large, but all a good size if you know what I mean (some carrycots can be tiny)
It’s sturdy, long lasting and looks nice. We are debating a babyzen set up for baby2, as I’m not sure if we want something lighter for a toddler and a baby.

Def go somewhere like john lewis, to have a look and play around with what feels good to you.

I had a bugaboo Bee, it’s light weight folds easily and I never needed to buy a stroller when my babies got bigger because it makes a great pushchair for toddlers. I loved it!

First time mum here also looking at this stuff. It’s all so confusing isn’t it! Well at least that’s what I found lol

I like you asked for advice from people who recently had kids, although that is sometimes overwhelming too

I’ve also signed up to which.co.uk, it’s 8 pound for a month and you can cancel at any time but it gives you in depth none bias reviews that test out each product on pushchairs, car seats etc and they also come with safety ratings. I’ve found it to be really helpful and fully worth spending the 8 pound to find out!.

It was also recommended to me that I go in a shop like John Lewis or Mamas and Papas and test everything out to make sure I like the feel of the models. You can then go elsewhere to buy!

One final piece of advice I’ve also had is to buy these things sooner rather than later as they can apparently take months to come. Although some websites say delivery in a week so not sure how true that is

Good luck with your adventure!

@llol031

First time mum here also looking at this stuff. It’s all so confusing isn’t it! Well at least that’s what I found lol

I like you asked for advice from people who recently had kids, although that is sometimes overwhelming too

I’ve also signed up to which.co.uk, it’s 8 pound for a month and you can cancel at any time but it gives you in depth none bias reviews that test out each product on pushchairs, car seats etc and they also come with safety ratings. I’ve found it to be really helpful and fully worth spending the 8 pound to find out!.

It was also recommended to me that I go in a shop like John Lewis or Mamas and Papas and test everything out to make sure I like the feel of the models. You can then go elsewhere to buy!

One final piece of advice I’ve also had is to buy these things sooner rather than later as they can apparently take months to come. Although some websites say delivery in a week so not sure how true that is

Good luck with your adventure!

For car seat advice and testing, I'd follow the Car Seat Advice Facebook page. Which is notorious for poor testing on car seats. They give extra points for fancy fabrics when the car seat performs poorly in crash tests. Xx

I'd try and get to some shops to actually push prams - it sounds daft but some of them are so heavy/the bar is so low down etc. It's much better than buying blindly online. Some places might even let you try and fold and unfold them, I'm not sure.

We have a Cosatto Wow travel system and me and DH both love it. Admittedly we got it for half price when Toys R Us where closing down so it was a great deal but it's just a great pram system too. My DD still sometimes uses it and she's just turned 3 and our baby will be using it when they come along in the autumn. It's easy to push as it's got good wheels, light, not massive - I don't drive so something I could take on public transport easily was a must, the basket space is huge so you can fit loads of shopping or tons of stuff on it for days out, rain cover keeps the child completely dry and snug (sounds daft but the one on our little buggy is rubbish and DD often ends up with wet bottoms of her legs etc!), nice pattern/design, adjustable handle, versatile with all the ways you can have it (bassinet, car seat, forward facing pushchair or backwards packing pushchair), huge weight limit so comfortably fits older toddlers, the child is quite high up so at a comfortable eye level for you, huge sunshade...honestly we love it. I'm genuinely looking forward to getting to use it more often when the baby comes . Also we used the bassinet for naps a lot and overnight sleeping when I took her away for a bit when she was a few months old.

I promise I don't work for Cosatto

For car seats, the In Car Safety Centre is a good one. You can visit in person or look at their website/have a telephone appointment. You’ll need an infant carrier which goes up to around 13 kg (my youngest is chunky and was in his to 15 months), and it’s nice to have it with an Isofix base. After that, from a safety point of view it’s best to keep them rear facing for as long as possible. I mention this now because a lot of people get sucked into buying a car seat system where they get the base, the infant carrier and then the base is compatible with a forward facing toddler seat - but these are not necessarily safest for that age range. So I personally would just get the base and infant carrier, and think about the next stage when baby is ready for it.

We had a MaxiCosi Cabriofix which is an older seat but good, and was compatible with almost all travel systems with adaptors. There may be a more up to date version (this was six years ago).

For a pushchair, at the risk of sounding premature, you may want to think about whether you are planning two babies in very close succession and whether you might want something that can be used as a single or a double. If the thought makes you shiver, then move on!

You don’t need a travel system with a carrycot (unless you want one) but you do need a lie flat pushchair. Ideally one which takes a car seat using adaptors. Think about your lifestyle and whether you’re mostly city based or go for long rural walks off-road at the weekend. How much space do you have to store a buggy? How wide will your front door open? Do you need to navigate public transport?

We've gone for the babylo Luna it fits perfectly in our car and has the isofix which I'm so excited about as we didn't have that with our first child but definitely makes life sooo much easier. Definitely recommend getting a travel system which comes with everything we only paid £330 for it and it's lovely!

Vauxhall Astra here so similar size vehicle to yours.

We've gone for the uppababy vista v2 with the cybex cloud z car seat and base.

Best advice would be to find a store to go and have a look irl. I was set on a Nuna mixx from looking online but totally changed my mind after getting to try a few out.

As pp said, 3 wheels are a pain, we had one with first dd and I really disliked it.

I've just bought a joie litetrax 4. It's still fairly heavy but comes in one part, has big hood and doesn't take up the whole boot. Like it so far.

Previous to that I had venicci travel system which I loved but once she got to a year I started getting really annoyed with how. If and bulky it was. She 18 months and I've just bought the new buggy as I was so fed up. Seems a bit mad given her age but it's worth it to get my boot back too! Going to sell her old one now well I'll get round to it eventually 😂

Ul get consumed with love for a beautiful pram as did I but remember they aren't in the pram carrycot for long!