Footmuff for Bugaboo Bee

[OneTwoOrThree]

Need some help, please!

My baby is about to outgrown the newborn cocoon so I'm looking for a footmuff....

The bugaboo (bugaboo universal) one is v expensive, but what puts me off most is that it's really long. It goes all the way to the footrest and looks like it will end up getting filthy with mud splashes etc. I also think it looks too big for the bee - like it wasn't really designed for it.

I was thinking about the John Lewis universal fleece footmuff (the red one with white stars - does anyone know it this is the same shade of red as the red bee?). However, I'm not sure this will work... Most pushchairs seem to have a 5 point harness where the shoulder and waist straps are separate parts, and can therefore be slotted through two small shoulder holes / two small waist holes. The bee has the shoulder/waist strap in one piece, and as such the newborn cocoon has long slits in is so that the strap can be pulled through in one piece. I can't see how a 'universal' footmuff with small shoulder holes would work on the bee. It would be possible (I think) to undo the straps, slot them through, and then redo them but it looks fiddly/time consuming and not something I'd want to do regularly. I also worry that if I did this, then the bee wouldn't fold due to the extra bulk of the footmuff - hence it would need done everytime I wanted to fold the bee (which is several times a day!).

Any wisdom, gratefully appreciated!

[femmeaufoyer]

I have the universal footmuff for my Bee. I understand what you mean about it being long, but it really is a lovely footmuff and I haven't found that it gets dirty through being too long. I use it forward facing and i think this way fits better than rear-facing. When it does get dirty (muddy shoes etc) it's really easy to wash it in the machine and it comes up lovely. Unfortunately you do have to undo the straps at the back and feed them through the seat to attach it...it's a bit of a pain but I tend to put it on once the weather turns and then leave it on all winter. If you get a warm spell then you can unzip the top piece completely off, and the bottom piece stays on like a seat liner. It's really warm and cosy,my daughter calls it her snuggly pushchair when it's on. It can bulk up when you fold the seat but it doesn't stop you from folding it at all, just makes it a bit larger iyswim.

What are your thoughts on the cocoon? I'm having DC2 in December and am planning on getting one. I bought my Bee when DC1 was 14 months so never used it with a newborn.

[OneTwoOrThree]

Thankyou - that's loads of help. I guess that whatever I buy, I will need to undo the straps to get on and off, so the bugaboo footmuff is the same amount of faff as a universal one. Glad to hear it fits better facing forward, as am sure this DC will want to forward face soon enough!

I love my bee, and have loved the cocoon. My first DC was in an icandy which I found large, clunky and in general I just didn't like it. DC2 looks so so cosy in the cocoon and sleeps brilliantly in it (my first didn't like the icandy much either and kind of rolled around in the big carrycot part and didn't sleep!).

DC2 is nearly 6 months and still has plenty of room in the cocoon. I also find that I can put the seat up to a sitting position with the cocoon on so DC2 can sit up and look around - that's been really helpful for the 4+month stage when they start to get bored lying down.

The downsides? It doesn't have rigid sides, so you really do need to strap the baby in (particularly once they are able to roll over etc). You may also find that for a very young baby the bee wheels give a bit of a bumpy ride on rough terrain and your precious second born seems to get a bit shaken. Once mine was a bit more robust at 2+ months I stopped worrying about this.

You know more than me about the footmuff, but I wonder is this would 'do' from newborn age (perhap to gape-y around the neck?)