Help me find a pushchair!

[Cheeser]

Hi everyone. I need help. My first DC is due in July and I don?t know where to start thinking about pushchair. Or buggy. Or even what the difference is

If I outline what it is I think I need, could someone point me in the right direction?

• Must be lightweight as we have stairs
• Need to use from birth so lay flat but ideally accommodate a toddler-aged child comfortably as we only want to buy one, really
• I would like the top part to come away so we don?t need to move a sleeping baby when coming indoors from outside
• We live in central London so will be using public transport/walking on pavements but also have a car so perhaps a built-in car seat or something if that?s possible?

As you can see I don?t really know what I need. I?d also like to get a sling but want to sort the pushchair first.

Are there any websites that do a nice handy flowchart to narrow down the choices, but aren?t biased towards certain brands?

Budget is not too much of a problem as my lovely mother wants to buy one for us, but don?t want to look like I?m taking the mick. I?d be happy with the McLaren one for c.£200 but the top bit doesn?t detach.

Can anyone help me? in advance

go to john lewis and check out the pushchairs there - you might want a bugaboo from your specifications

Oh that?s a really good idea, thanks dinky, they won?t try the hard sell though will they? Would rather buy as little as possible if we can!

they are great - call and make an appointment (warning fridays and weekends get booked up loads in advance) and they'll take you through everything you might need for a baby (including going through the pushchairs), send you off for a free coffee and cake while they type up the list - and then leave it to you to purchase what you want (or not). We went there when pregnant with ds1 - ended up buying only 4 or 5 things from john lewis and the rest for cheaper prices online.

My suggestion is a Baby Jogger City Mini (or the new GT) with a carrycot. There are loads of carrycot options to go with it; small, big, soft ones. You could get an easier fold which will be useful if you need to take off the carrycot and carry it upstairs at the same time as the chassis.

The mclaren techno xlr has a coordinating cot that can be used in conjunction with it. Mother care sell it online. I don't know about car seats attaching though.

oh thanks everyone - really helpful. I'll check out your recommendations tonight and then see if we can get into John Lewis on Sunday. Exciting!

I agree with Hypatia :)

Hi,
totally agree with Hypatia and Tiggywunkle, I have the same criteria as you do and baby no 2 is due at the end of July as well and I am seriously considering the Baby Jogger City Mini GT, should be available in the UK at the end of this month, March 2012 at £329, looks very comfy, great manouverability (not sure about the spelling here), so easy to fold and use, light, soft or hard shell carrycot as an option if you want to take baby upstairs without waking him up, carseat adaptors, suitable for a toddler later on up to 22.5kgs (!). The only cons for me is that it is low, like most pushchairs/prams at a reasonnable price. Also a bit wider 62 cm so it might not fit all bus aisles.

Macaren Techno XLR can have a car seat fitted, it's a Recaro one if I remember. Also pushchair has a carry handle/strap which is useful for stairs.